On Friday 19 May, the Cape Town Central City Improvement District (CCID) was invited to join Mayor Patricia de Lille, City councillors and guest from the Rockefeller Foundation in New York for Cape Town’s first 100 Resilient Cities (100RC) workshop.
With the 100RC concept having been pioneered internationally by the Rockefeller Foundation, the City of Cape Town became a member in 2016 after it was chosen from more than 325 applicant cities. Cape Town’s selection, according to the Rockefeller Foundation, was the result of the city’s willingness, ability and need to become resilient in the face of future challenges.
The agenda-setting workshop on 19 May brought together a diverse set of stakeholders from across local government, academia, non-profit organisations and the private sector in an effort to identify the resilience vulnerabilities that Cape Town faces. Examples of organisations that participated include the Black Management Forum, academics in the fields of environmental and geographical science and climate change adaptation, the Western Cape Police Ombudsman, Habitat for Humanity, the Development Action Group, the CCID, Sustainable Energy Africa and GreenCape, among others.
Participants identified and discussed Cape Town’s priority challenges and the extent to which further resilience can be attained. More information on the identified stresses and shocks will be shared with the public as the process of crafting the City’s first resilience strategy unfolds.
The City of Cape Town also used the workshop to announce the appointment of Craig Kesson as its first chief resilience officer (CRO). This is an innovative new position in the City of Cape Town that will lead the City’s resilience efforts and engage with stakeholders, resilience experts, and 100RC staff in developing a comprehensive resilience strategy.
Kesson’s designation as CRO is an addition to his existing duties as Executive Director in the Directorate of the Mayor. During his six years with the City, he has fulfilled a number of senior strategy, policy, management, and communication roles and has also advised a number of metro governments. He is a graduate of the University of KwaZulu-Natal, the University of Stellenbosch Business School, the University of Liverpool, and the University of Oxford where he was a Rhodes Scholar. His specialisations are in public policy and strategy, project portfolios, and operations modelling.
Commenting on his appoint, Mayor De Lille said: “We have high expectations of the CRO. Craig has impressive abilities to align strategy with implementation, monitoring, and evaluation and hence I am confident that he will be able to institutionalise improved resilience responses into the City administration.”
Mr Kesson’s appointment has also been welcomed by the 100 Resilient Cities president, Michael Berkowitz, who said: “City governments are on the front line of dealing with acute shocks and chronic stress. Cape Town is part of a group of cities leading the way on resilience to better prepare for, withstand, and recover more effectively when disruption hits. Craig joins a network of peers from cities across the globe that will share best practice and surface innovative thinking. Through this partnership, Craig will become a global leader in resilience, and will be an asset for Cape Town and other cities around the world – forging new partnerships and new solutions for the city.”
The City’s engagement with the diverse set of organisations represents a commitment to participatory democracy, inclusiveness, and the principles of the City’s Organisational Development and Transformation Plan to become a more progressive, responsive, proactive and customer-centric administration.
Each city in the 100RC network receives four concrete types of support:
- Financial and logistical guidance for establishing an innovative new position in city government in terms of a chief resilience officer, who will lead the city’s resilience efforts
- Technical support for development of a robust resilience strategy
- Access to solutions, service providers, and partners from the private, public, and non-governmental organisation sectors who can help them develop and implement their resilience strategies
- Membership in a global network of member cities who can learn from and help each other
Added Mayor De Lille: “We are thrilled to formally begin our partnership with 100RC. With the support of 100RC, we will identify some of the key resilience challenges that the city is facing, develop a strategy to address these challenges, and put resources in place to implement that plan. For the City of Cape Town, urban resilience is a core factor in achieving our strategic objectives to build a caring, inclusive, safe, opportunity and well-run city. Cities are the drivers of change and we stand ready to tackle the challenges and create a better Cape Town for the people of our great city.”
For more information on 100RC visit: www.100ResilientCities.org
Pictured above, from left to right, Dana Omran and Liz Agbor-Tabi of the New York office of 100RC, with Executive Mayor Patricia de Lille and the City’s new chief resilience officer, Craig Kesson. Image supplied by Bruce Sutherland, City of Cape Town.
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