The Asia Foundation: Smart and Inclusive Cities Dialogues and Event
Many cities in Southeast Asia face enormous social and economic challenges post-COVID-19. Can cities in the region use digital technologies to overcome inequalities and improve the lives and livelihoods of the marginalized and disadvantaged? What can the public, private, and civil society sectors do to drive solutions that are at the intersection of technology and inclusion? How can we create smart inclusive cities?
Kore Global worked with The Asia Foundation to design and deliver a series of carefully facilitated discussions – the Inclusive Cities Dialogues - to explore and start answering these key questions. An initiative of the ASEAN Australia Smart Cities Trust Fund – a collaboration between the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Asian Development Bank and the Ramboll Group – the dialogues have been led by a diverse group of local government and non-government representatives from across 14 of Southeast Asia’s secondary cities. 185 participants joined from across the urban ecosystem: national and municipal government officials responsible for urban planning; service delivery ministries and agencies; persons with disabilities; members of women’s groups; representatives of the urban poor; academic specialists; tech start-up founders; and a diverse group of civil society organizations, including women’s groups and other representative organisations, all based in partner cities.
The dialogues focused on the exclusion experiences of women, persons with disabilities, the urban poor, and other marginalized groups, and the policies and programs made by different organizations and agencies in the region to address these challenges. The 9 dialogues culminated in an Inclusive Cities Event that featured key takeaways from the dialogues and showcased innovative smart solutions that can help improve public participation, access, spaces, and livability.
Kore Global’s role on the project was three-fold:
To work with Asia Foundation staff across SouthEast Asia to identify key themes and key stakeholders in the context of inclusive urban development and government,
To bring a strong intersectional feminist lens to the content of the dialogues and event, and
To design dialogue and event sessions to maximise inclusion, participation and learning.
In addition to the dialogues and event, Kore Global co-authored a blog with Asia Foundation colleagues featured in Oxfam’s From Poverty to Power that highlighted key learnings from these discussions.
