The Kesho Trust has partnered with the International Centre for Sustainable Cities [ICSC] in the second phase of their initiative “The Sustainable Cities: Partners for Long-term Urban Sustainability (PLUS) Program in Africa” funded by CIDA. International Centre for Sustainable Cities has brought together the cities of Durban, South Africa, Dakar, Senegal, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania as part of the PLUS network in Africa. The Kesho Trust has joined in the network as the local community partner organization with ICSC in Tanzania.

The purpose of the project is threefold:

• to improve governance through capacity building of local governments and their stakeholders, including women
• to address poverty and environmental impacts of rapid urbanization through community based initiatives, and
• to accelerate the transfer of learning from city to city through the Sustainable Cities: PLUS Network

The activities related to the three main program components are:

• Governance: capacity building through peer exchanges, training & workshops; multi-stakeholder and participatory processes at the local government level;
• Environmental Sustainability: Planning and implementation of activities related to Community Demonstration Seed Funds; Capacity building through training workshops, local peer exchanges particularly between women’s groups and youth groups.
• Transfer of Knowledge: Training workshops, consultations and peer exchanges between cities in the Sustainable Cities: PLUS Network; a Biennial Conference, web dialogues, and documentation and sharing of cases, policies, plans, programs and technologies.

Staff in the Kesho Trust office in Dar es Salaam will take on project leadership and administrative responsibilities in the implementation of this project over the next 3 years.

For more information visit the ICSC website: Sustainable Cities