Harare, Zimbabwe, 20 November 2025 (ECA) - The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), in collaboration with the Harare City Council and the United Nations Country Team (UNCT) in Zimbabwe, held a three-day workshop to strengthen the capacity of local authorities and other stakeholders in developing early-stage bankable urban economic resilience projects. The workshop forms part of the global Urban Economic Resilience project, implemented in selected pilot cities worldwide to help them better withstand, recover from, and transform in the face of economic, social, and climate-related shocks.
Over the last three days, representatives from more than 30 institutions, including national and local authorities, development partners, private sector actors, academia, civil society, and the UN system, participated in a 3-day workshop on economic resilience investment planning and early-stage project development.
Organized by the Economic Commission for Africa’s Urbanization and Development Section, within the Gender, Poverty and Social Policy Division and in close collaboration with the Harare City Council, the workshop created a practical space for partners to work together on shaping viable, investment-ready project concepts rooted in Harare’s priority needs. The sessions focused on real project scenarios, hands-on exercises, and collaborative design work to help local teams move from high-level ideas to actionable proposals.
The discussions underscored Harare’s significant opportunities to build inclusive and financially sustainable urban solutions. Participants explored how to strengthen the city’s project pipeline, how to align resilience priorities with funding opportunities, and how to create the enabling conditions needed to attract large-scale investment.
At the end of the workshop, partners left with greater clarity, stronger technical skills, and a renewed sense of shared purpose. The momentum generated over these three days sets the stage for the next phase: advancing the emerging concepts into fully developed, finance-ready urban resilience projects.
Harare’s journey is a reminder that resilient cities are built through collaboration across institutions, sectors, and with communities at the centre of the process.
Issued by:
Communications Section
Economic Commission for Africa
PO Box 3001
Addis Ababa
Ethiopia
Tel: +251 11 551 5826
E-mail: eca-info@un.org