MedCities participates in the project “Strengthening and disseminating strategic urban planning initiatives in Tunisia”, an initiative defined and implemented within the framework of the Cities Alliances country program and in partnership with UNDP, FNVT, CFAD, GIZ and CILG -VNG.

The project, therefore, defines a cycle of 15 days training of trainers spread over 4 sessions. The training of 16 trainers aims at creating a network of experts in strategic urban planning available for public administrations (notably MALE, CFAD, CPSCL, DGCL, MDICI, ODS, and the municipalities) to accompany the strategic planning process at the local level and to train the local teams in charge of the strategic process management.

The training, organised by GIZ, foresees 4 sessions:  

• 1^st   session – 3 days : 14-16 January  2017
• 2^nd  session – 4 days : 23 – 26 January 2017
• 3^rd  session – 3 days : 14-16 February 2017
• 4^th  session – 5 days : 24 -28 February 2017

The first training session took place over three days divided into four parts:

1. The framework and the organization of the City Strategy project,
2. Participatory approach to territorial planning
3. City Charters
4. The cross-cutting themes in the development of City Strategies

This first session aimed to introduce the basics of the City Strategy project and discuss its key elements and approaches. On the basis of an interactive approach, future trainers are involved in these debates through practical case studies.

The second part of the training, under the auspices of MedCities, took place from 23 to 26 January in Sousse and aimed to deepen the methodological aspects of the project in order to ensure understanding of the methodology to be implemented in the 8 cities of the project. This methodology was proposed by MedCities based on the experiences of the Mediterranean cities and validated by the project partners.

The training was based on the following components:

• Launch preparation and pre-diagnostics
• The Facts / Challenges / Projects for Strategic Diagnosis
• The Strategic Framework (Vision, Objectives and Purposes)
• The transversality of Local Economic Development

This second session was based on participatory and interactive methodologies with the participants with practical exercises that allowed a better understanding of the content. Ms Maria Sisternas, an urban expert from Barcelona who was involved in the process of drawing up the Tetouan Communal Development Plan, among others, was participated in the methodological training.

The third training session took place from the 14^th to 16^th February in Hammamet and dealt with the following phases of strategic urban planning. The participants had the opportunity to work on the Action Plan and the Monitoring and Evaluation phases through participatory techniques regarding:

• The identification of strategic projects and the preparation of project sheets
• The timeframe of urban strategic plans (short term, medium and long term)
• The consultation of strategic projects
• The animation of Networks of Project Follow-up
• The identification of indicators for the evaluation of projects’ and strategy implementation and impact
• The creation of political and technical structures for the implementation of the strategy

The programs of the sessions are available below.