DIG Hosts Third Urbis Workshop in Barcelona, Spain
The third annual Urbis workshop was held from June 8–10, 2010, in Barcelona, Spain. At the workshop, the Urbis team reviewed the results of the Urbis program and lessons learned about how to build the capacity of urban, pro-poor organizations around the world. Thirty participants attended, including a representative from the Gates Foundation, DIG staff members involved in the Urbis program, and leaders of the program’s pro-poor partner organizations from Luanda, Durban, Sao Paulo, Casablanca, Mombasa, Dhaka and Abidjan.
On the first two days of the workshop, Urbis partners presented lessons from each of the seven cities, accomplishments to date, challenges and the program’s legacy. On the final day, the participants were divided into four working groups. Each group discussed which types of capacity building were most effective in their city, and also had a specific topic on which they focused. The various groups discussed challenges and best practices for advocacy in politically sensitive environments; best practices for accessing devolved funds; best practices for tapping government subsidies; and the circumstances under which networks are more effective than professional NGOs at empowering the urban poor. Following the discussions, each group presented its findings to the rest of the workshop participants.
