Resilient Systems of Secondary Cities and Migration Dynamics

The mission of the Cities Alliance is to improve the lives of urban populations by delivering integrated, citywide and innovative solutions to urban poverty in cities where it matters the most. Cities Alliance’s vision is to provide technical support and grants to local and national actors to deliver policies and programmes that directly address urban poverty and gender inequality in cities. Cities Alliance is an agent for urban change with a clear focus on secondary cities, which are increasingly instrumental to economic and social progress in rapidly urbanising economies.

Cities Alliance is the global partnership supporting cities to deliver sustainable development. For over 20 years, the Secretariat has convened partners from civil society, local and national authorities, and development actors with an urban focus to combine complementary strengths and expertise. With its programmatic approach and diverse membership, Cities Alliance has the capacity to coordinate the efforts and core competencies among partners to leverage this collective expertise to advance urban thinking and solutions.

Background

The Cities Alliance initiated a Global Programme Cities and Migration as part of its 2018–21 Strategic Plan, with support of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and extends this strategic priority for the new 2022-2025 Strategic Plan.

In Phase I (2018-2022), nine secondary cities across five countries in the Horn of Africa, Tunisia, and Guatemala partnered to design and test local migration management approaches. Phase II (2022-2026) will consolidate the cooperation with these partner cities within their respective systems of cities and migration corridors.

Over the past decade, migration and forced displacement have become one of the most contentious but poorly understood political issues across the globe. The objective of the Cities and Migration Programme is to enable partner cities, local governments, private sector, host communities and migrants to manage challenges and leverage opportunities arising from migration to cities for sustainable and inclusive development. 

Migration and forced displacement to cities is complex and spans various disciplines, sectors, levels of intervention and geographic spaces. Cities Alliance will build new partnerships and dialogues among urban migration stakeholders at the local, national, regional and global levels. 

Objective of the Call for Proposal

At its core, the Programme seeks to advance global thinking on the role and potential of cities in managing and seizing the opportunities and contributions arising from migration to and from secondary cities. 

The specific objective of this Call for Proposals is to enable partner cities, local governments, the private sector, host communities, migrants and forcibly displaced to design and implement approaches to provide equal access to quality public services, labour market integration and economic opportunities to migrants, forcibly displaced and vulnerable host communities in secondary cities of low-income countries.

The programme focuses on secondary cities in developing countries. The concept of secondary city systems allows for a better understanding of migration corridors and the benefits of cooperation between cities. This perspective allows to conceive local development beyond boundaries and focuses on connections with neighbouring towns and villages as well as with more distant communities in order to take better advantage of mobility patterns. The programme is based on a corridor and catchment area or city systems approach; a continued focus on flexibility and the promotion of collective projects; strategic peer learning and technical training; and partnerships with respected institutions at the local level. 

Local partnerships between various stakeholders in the city are essential as the lives of vulnerable migrants and host communities are largely characterised by informality, which no single actor can effectively and durably address on its own to improve well-being, socio-economic integration and social cohesion. The programme facilitates endorsement and support at national level and serves as a platform for dialogue between different stakeholders at national, local and international level.

Please submit a full proposal including:

• The Full Proposal Form – One per city, addressing all stated objectives and targets per Lot.

• The Project Schedule

• The Budget Template

• The Cities Alliance Gender Marker

• The Integrated Assessment Framework (please use the revised IAF doc uploaded on 07 Nov 2022)

• Acceptance of Submission 

Deadline for submission: 14:00, Central European Time on 9 December 2022.

Submit via e-mail only to the Cities Alliance Secretariat at

ca-proposal@citiesalliance.org with the subject line including Cities and Migration CFP 2022.

Language: The proposal should be submitted in English.

Estimated Start: 1 March 2023.

Duration: 3 years

Questions can be submitted to [ca-proposal@citiesalliance.org] between 7 to 25 November 2022 . Answers will be replied in 3 batches as follows: 

1. Questions received  from 7 to 11 November 2022, answers  will be posted on 14 November 2022.

2. Questions received  from 12 to 18 November 2022, answers  will be posted on 21 November 2022.

3. Questions received  from 19  to 25 November 2022, answers  will be posted on 28 November 2022.