Engaging Cuban children in environmental education.

The International Partnerships centre manages programs and projects worldwide. Our goal is to link people, resources, and ideas to build strong communities and equitable, sustainable, and competitive urban regions. We form partnerships with institutions and civil society groups at the community, municipal, regional, and national levels, to strengthen local governance. We have extensive international experience in the design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of local government capacity development and urban management programs.

CUI’s Canadian-based programming provides the knowledge base and professional network on which the Institute’s international programming is built. Through our applied research, conference, education, leadership, and awards programs, CUI has developed into a clearinghouse of Canadian best practices and leading-edge approaches to tackling the challenges of urban management.

Drawing on our Canadian expertise, CUI focuses its international work in three areas:

1. Civic Engagement – supporting the development of a culture of civic engagement in our partner cities and regions, improving women’s participation, and planning and implementing initiatives that enhance the public realm and promote investment in community assets.

2. Urban Leadership and Capacity – building leadership and capacity for good urban governance within our partner cities and regions (local authorities and communities) through education and organizational strengthening, with the end view of creating an enabling environment for change.

3. Ideas for the City – building a body of development knowledge on good urban governance, urban sustainability and renewal of the public realm of cities and regions through applied research, urban symposia and the creation of information and toolkits.

The International Partnerships Centre has received funding and support from numerous sources, including the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), UN-HABITAT, the World Bank, Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) , Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), and others.

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CUI’s work aims to support the achievement of the UN’s Habitat Agenda and the Millennium Development Goals, globally agreed-upon strategies for addressing the most pressing problems in a rapidly urbanizing world. Gender equality, environment, and HIV/AIDS are included as cross-cutting themes in our programming and are an important aspect of all of our work in addressing global issues.

Our experience has shown that strong local ownership of development work is key to its success. For this reason, the International Partnerships centre maintains locally staffed project offices in our countries of operation. Our local teams consist of highly trained nationals of the countries where we work – planners and urban professionals who find innovative ways of linking CUI’s and Canada’s experience to the realities of the local political and planning context.

Our partners – civil society, elected officials, and civil servants - are working hard to meet local, regional, national, and global development priorities, and we support them in this undertaking. We achieve this by bringing together multiple stakeholders and supporting them in building relationships, starting dialogue, and bridging bureaucratic structures, to reach their shared goals.

The International Partnerships centre provides opportunities for Canadian local government and urban professionals to volunteer on our international projects – a direct, in-the-field sharing of their technical expertise. By drawing on our broad network of members and associates, we provide our overseas partner organizations with access to Canadian expertise and knowledge, supporting locally led processes through on-the-job coaching and other types of capacity development.

We also organize study tours that provide an opportunity for representatives of our overseas partner organizations to meet their peers in Canada and other countries, and to see first-hand how local governments in other parts of the world are tackling similar issues and challenges. CUI’s international programming feeds information back to our membership and to other Canadian urban professionals, providing lessons for Canada from other places.

Cuba
F#24 Apto. 202 entre 1a y 3a
Vedado, Plaza
La Habana, Cuba
Tel: + (537) 205-9073
Fax: +(537) 830-2291
Alt Tel: +(537) 832-6247
Manager: Rafael Betancourt
Email: rbetancourt@canurb.com

Philippines
3/F ATM Business Center
Jalandoni-Ledesma Streets
Iloilo City 5000 Philippines
Tel: +63 33 336 7827
Fax: +63 33 336 7827
Manager: Francis Gentoral
Email: cuiphils@canurb.com
Website: www.philippines.canurb.com