Global Crises, Local Impact: City-Led Prevention and Response in South Asia Colombo, Sri Lanka

This two-day event will build on the South Asia Regional Hub’s work over the past two years, bringing together local elected leaders and other city officials, as well as representatives from national governments, civil society organisations and international partners to exchange insights, deepen collaboration and co-create innovative solutions. It will offer participants a platform to share the impact global crises have had on social cohesion in their city and learn more about human rights-compliant practices that have helped local governments address the proliferation of hate, violent extremism and polarisation. Participants will engage in dynamic discussions, peer-to-peer learning and breakout sessions on multiple topics designed to generate actionable outcomes for cities to take forward. 

Focus Areas Include:

• Maintaining social cohesion amid urban growth and often uncontrolled migration.
• Leveraging urban planning strategies to enhance inclusion, cohesiveness and resilience of cities in the face of natural disasters, violence, migration and population growth.
• Empowering women leaders to address pressing local issues through greater inclusion in decision-making processes and addressing structural barriers that prevent them from leading and/or contributing to local initiatives.
• Strengthening local government capacities to effectively engage young people to drive social cohesion and community resilience in their cities. This includes developing strategies for integrating youth voices into local decision-making, fostering civic engagement and equipping young leaders to address pressing urban challenges.
• Addressing online hate and threats to information integrity – and thus mitigating their offline harms -- by building digital resilience.