As part of the Regional Program for Post-pandemic Recovery and the Implementation of the New Urban Agenda in Central America and the Dominican Republic, capacity-building sessions have been implemented aimed to provide tailored advisory services to small municipalities in Central America.
Our City Plans team participated in the sessions with the municipality of Soyapango in El Salvador, that received technical guidance concerning urban development, climate change, and Nature-based Solutions, and the municipality of Quimistán in Honduras, that received advice focused on zoning, inclusive urban expansion, and disaster risk reduction.
During both sessions, participants were introduced to diverse tools and methodologies from UN-Habitat, including "Our City Plans Central America", with the objective of showcasing its practicality and implementation potential. As part of the outputs, the goal will be to jointly revise how the platform's activities and tools could be effectively implemented to facilitate the urban planning process of each municipality, considering their unique contexts and technical skills.
Furthermore, the municipality of La Palma, El Salvador expressed their growing influx of tourism and interest on finding ways to solve its highly coveted public space. This could be translated into the definition of Sectorial Plans, such as mobility and public space. In order to be able to work on these plans it was suggested to develop first a Strategic Development Plan, in which a Vision and clear project portfolio would allow them to acquire finance for both sectorial plans.