Reaching out one step beyond the local authorities, our team has visited United Cities and Local Governments – Middle East and West Asia Section (UCLG MEWA). In this meeting, TCDSE and other project components and work so far have been introduced to regional stakeholders.
UCLG representatives were very impressed by the presentations. With great appreciation of the levels of expertise and competence of the visiting scientists, they have invited our colleagues Prof. Dr. Eser Çaktı and Dr. Emin Yahya Menteşe to be speakers in the upcoming session of the webinar series titled Local Governments in Disasters on May 4th. Moreover, they had been asked to contribute to the Trabzon Resilience Declaration which acknowledges the need for a comprehensive disaster preparedness strategy with precautions, disaster risk reduction plan, emergency action, and recovery plans, and the importance of building cities that are evidence-based and adaptive to changing circumstances. It also highlights the need for partnerships and cooperation among various stakeholders to build resilient, sustainable, and thriving cities. Already provided their inputs, they will be attending the MEWA Forum on Resilience that will take place in Trabzon, Türkiye on 21-22 June as well.
It was an exciting moment for us to discuss how Tomorrow’s Cities can be an inspiration to a variety of actors at the local and regional levels and how TCDSE can be incorporated to member municipalities’ governance approach and practices. Fruitful ideas on potential pathways to collaborate with municipalities were exchanged. Having been given the space to address higher level actors and to be vocal in platforms where the audience can resonate to a wider area of impact is very valuable for the team. Undoubtedly, it is a great opportunity for the sake of both the legacy of Tomorrow’s Cities and, in addition to all the efforts put into the international domain, benefitting Türkiye in terms of disaster risk reduction in middle and long terms.