The SAIC Exchange 2017 held in Nairobi, Kenya showcased the findings of the SAIC research program, co-funded by IDRC and DFID. The conference socialised the research findings from 15 different research teams, spanning 16 countries into over 40 cities worldwide, with a wider audience. The conference was organised in collaboration with the African Leadership Centre in Nairobi.
The conference convened over 100 researchers, policymakers, practitioners and program staff to explore and unpack the topic of urban violence.
The SAIC cities map captured the geographic reach of the conference, with participants travelling to Nairobi from over 30 cities across the world.
The conference gathered together ideas and solutions from both experts and participants about what they envisaged would make cities safe and more inclusive.
"My #safecities solutions" included:
The first day of the three day conference was a deep dive into the SAIC research projects and their findings from across Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
Caroline Moser spoke during the lunch break about the contribution that the SAIC research program has made to both research and policy communities. She noted that it makes a threefold contribution, as it simultanesouly:
Watch a video interview with Moser about the importance of gender transformation and her solution to making cities safer and more inclusive.
The second day of the three day conference was opened with a keynote speech delivered by Joan Clos, Executive Director of UN-Habitat. Clos spoke about the many competing needs that cities have, stressing that resources should be used in a way that maximises value and how urban planning should to be focused on income generation. Watch a web recording of the session on Youtube.
The final session on the second day presented a variety of lessons from interventions that work in global cities. Watch a web recording of the session on Youtube.
On the third day of the conference the topic of informal settlements and planning for inclusion in East Africa was discussed.
The first roundtable held on the final day explored donor priorities, the SDGs and the New Urban Agenda. The session took a forward looking perspective and unpacked the policy implications of the SAIC research program findings. Watch a web recording of the session on Youtube.
The final session of the conference discussed the emerging and intersecting themes of: migration, climate change, municipal governance and public-private partnerships and how they related to urban violence. Watch a web recording of the session on Youtube.
The conference was made accessible in a compelling visual format by illustrator Jorge Martin, below you can see an excerpt of the finished banner capturing the key conference themes.
Find all of the photos from the lively three day conference on the SAIC Flickr account. Find all of the research presentations and policy briefs on the outputs section of the conference website.
