ICMA is pleased to announce that the application process for CityLinks’ 2015 Climate Adaptation Partnership Program (CAPP) is now open.

This is an opportunity for communities that have begun to grapple with climate challenges to share best practices and lessons learned with their colleagues in developing countries. If selected to be a resource city, city staff will have the opportunity to further hone their technical and management skills and apply their creativity to generate solutions for development challenges many cities worldwide currently experience.

CityLinks is proud to offer an innovative professional development opportunity that not only creates new global connections but also grows a community of resource cities that can learn from each other.

Seeking Resource City Applicants

The 2015 CAPPs are open to all urban sub-national entities in developed countries. This includes but is not limited to local and regional governing bodies, cities, counties, municipalities, and districts. Governing areas can have a combined urban/rural population, but must be based around an urban core.

The application deadline for resource cities is February 25, 2015. To apply, download the Resource Cities application. Save it to a local computer, complete it, and submit it by e-mail to Jessica Cho (jcho@icma.org).

Partnership Activities

Resource cities will be paired with their international partner city in March 2015. The first of three exchange trips will occur within 4-6 weeks after selection. During the initial trip, a work plan will be developed for a 9-12 month period that focuses on specific climate related objectives, delineates the partnership goals, and defines concrete action items for the subsequent technical exchanges and periods in-between the exchange visits. 

Between exchange trips, resource city staff will be expected to consult on the work plan for the international partner city on an as needed basis. ICMA can facilitate webinars and conference calls to support the partnership objectives.

The CityLinks Program

The CityLinks program is based on the premise that well-managed cities are the key to efficient service delivery, economic growth, sound management of resources, community health, and political stability – and that cities learn best from other cities. ICMA designed its CityLinks program to allow city officials in developing and transitioning countries to draw on the resources of their international counterparts to find sustainable solutions tailored to the real needs of their cities.

To learn more about the CityLinks program, visit the CityLinks website and the Notes from CityLinks blog, follow us on Twitter at @ICMACityLinks, like us on Facebook, and join the climate change discussion in the Climate Preparedness, Adaptation, and Resilience group on the Knowledge Network. 

What Past Participants Are Saying

The current iteration of CityLinks has paired local governments and technical experts together from cities all over the world. Resource cities often find that working in their international partner city unleashes creative solutions to challenges they face at home.

• "The trip to Chiang Rai was a very informative and enjoyable trip and I am grateful for the Thai hospitality...What was so striking to me about Chiang Rai is its commitment to collaboration:  to engaging and listening to what community leaders have to say about their experience and concerns, and how to learn and move forward together. This is a great model from which we can all learn." - Lisa Peterson, Deputy City Manager, City of Cambridge
• “Fort Lauderdale’s interaction with Legazpi has been and continues to be an opportunity to consider their climate adaptation issues and put it in the context of ours.  It challenges our assumptions and, in doing so, makes us look at the situation differently… By changing the conversations, these partnerships are vital to expand our knowledge base by exploring useful solutions to strengthen our resiliency and ensure the long-term sustainability of our cities.” – Nancy Gassman, Assistant Public Works Director - Sustainability Division, Fort Lauderdale
• “We often think that the “developed” world has the answers, or will be the ones to promulgate solutions, to major issues like climate adaptation in the face of rapid urbanization.  What was apparent after speaking with my peers from the ASEAN cities, is simply that we, here in the US, are not far ahead – if ahead at all – on adequately addressing these issues.  There are many lessons we need to learn from our ASEAN peers.  Only through collaborative efforts, like CityLinks, will we create the understanding and tools to address the issues of climate adaptation on a global level.” – Lee Feldman, City Manager, City of Fort Lauderdale