MEC Bentley Vass responsible for Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements, and Traditional Affairs (COGHSTA) in the Northern Cape, led the Provincial delegation to the 12th session of the World Urban Forum (WUF) in Cairo, Egypt, from 04 to 08 November 2024.
The WUF is convened by UN-Habitat and hosted by a member state on a rotational basis every two years. It is a high-level, open, and inclusive platform for addressing the challenges of sustainable urbanisation and a unique shared space to envision new positive trajectories for urban life collectively. It offers an opportunity to find ways to address global challenges collaboratively for the benefit of all people.
Participants in the World Urban Forum 2024 included representatives of national, regional, and local governments, academics, businesspeople, community leaders, urban planners, and non-governmental organisations from around the world.
MEC Vass, said ‘’We are happy to be here in Egypt as part of the South African delegation to this important Forum. Our delegation has actively participated in several dialogues and roundtable discussions since the start of the Forum. We shared our experiences and learned from our counterparts from across the globe, how to build better partnerships between government and all of society, to ensure better quality human settlements for our people and address the issues of rapid urbanisation’’.
Vass continued to say, ‘’Transforming human settlements and the national space economy in South Africa requires collaborative planning, coordinated investments, delivery, and shared objectives, as opposed to sectoral interests and goals within and beyond government’’.
The WUF activities focused on addressing, and sharing experiences and best practices on current global urban challenges such as the availability and cost of housing, the ease of commuting, the safety of water supply, access to safe public spaces, the impacts of climate change, as well as urban crises and conflicts.
