Nairobi, 15 July 2020 – In the three months since its launch on 15 April, UN-Habitat’s COVID-19 Campaign ‘Take Action in Cities and Communities’ has attracted a wide range of organizations working on the front line of the pandemic and the future of cities.

Tagged #TakeAction4Cities, the Campaign has brought together a wide diversity of actors including city and community leaders, social workers, grassroot leaders, planners and researchers, scientists, business leaders and journalists  who have committed online to act in solidarity to fight the pandemic in cities and help the most vulnerable communities.

So far, more than 80 organizations have joined the Campaign to share their actions, solutions, lessons and stories which are promoted on the UN-Habitat COVID-19 Campaign page. These organizations have also organized a series of events to reflect on the crisis and on ways to strengthen the future resilience of cities and communities. A series of more than 30 COVID-19 Urban Thinkers Campus has been held engaging more than 2,000 participants on facing urban vulnerabilities and reflect on the many gaps faced during the pandemic: the basic services gaps, the shelter gaps, the safety gaps and, the wage and social security gaps. The sessions have generated a very productive dialogue that has led to a set of recommendations compiled in a first report.

The COVID-19 Campaign global crowdsourcing survey was launched in May to help continuously collect data from city residents on the COVID-19  situation where they live  in order to inform current response and recovery plans in cities and communities. 

UN-Habitat is calling upon more organizations to join the campaign in order to generate more dialogue and promote alliances and initiatives that will help strengthen the future resilience of cities and communities, learning from the pandemic.