City resilience in Africa: a ten essentials pilot

This publication reports on the outcomes of a pilot project to ‘operationalize’ the Making Cities Resilient Campaign in three cities in Africa – Narok and Kisumu in Kenya and Moshi in Tanzania, commenced in 2012 by the UNISDR regional office for Africa in Nairobi, Kenya. It also describes disaster prevention activities undertaken by pilot cities, and provides assessment and analysis of city resilience according to the Ten Essentials for Making Cities Resilient: 1. Institutional and administrative frameworks;  2. Financing and Resources; 3. Multi-Hazard Risk Assessment – Know Your Risk; 4. Infrastructure Protection, Upgrading and Resilience; 5. Protect Vital Facilities: Education and Health, (Food and Water) supplies; 6. Building Regulations and Land Use Planning; 7. Training, Education and Public Awareness; 8. Environmental Protection and Strengthening of Ecosystems; 9. Effective Preparedness, Early Warning and Response; 10. Recovery and Rebuilding Communities.

The report suggests broad actions for building city resilience in each pilot city, and also presents general recommendations for UNISDR and resilient cities campaign. It contributes to a better understanding of the Ten Essentials framework in a local African city context.

In 2010, the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) launched a global resilient cities campaign with the specific focus on improving urban cities’ capacity to withstand and recover from natural disasters. The campaign is guided by three central principles to "know more; invest wiser; and build safer", which are grounded in the five priorities of the Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015 (HFA).