On Friday, Minister of Planning and Development, Pennelope Beckles, met with Mr. Roi Chiti, Coordinator, UN-Habitat Andean Countries HUB, who is visiting Trinidad and Tobago. Mr. Chiti and a support team, who are implementing aspects within the project ‘Inclusive Cities, Communities of Solidarity,’ discussed programme progress and challenges faced during implementation of the project in the area of Longdenville, Chaguanas.
Inclusive Cities, Communities of Solidarity project is being conducted by United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations Settlements Programme (UN Habitat).The project is being financially supported by the European Union (EU). This interagency project aims to strengthen the response of host countries to the mixed migratory flows from Venezuela, in order to mitigate any negative fallout and take advantage of the potential that it can offer to host countries.
The purpose of the meeting was concentrated on the provision of updates on the project and the commonalities between the project objectives and the Ministry’s priorities. Emphasized by both groups was the importance that data collected will complement the Ministry’s drive to digitize, innovate and modernize planning and development services for all persons living in Trinidad and Tobago. Another important priority indicated was the promotion of diversity and inclusion throughout the progress.
Inclusive Cities, Communities of Solidarity is designed to show that refugees and migrants from Venezuela can make a real contribution to socio-economic and cultural diversity in their host cities and communities across Latin America. Through an inclusive urban planning perspective and action that gives refugees and migrants a voice and a chance to take part, urban communities can promote intercultural dialogue, social cohesion, and integration. The project seeks to help build strategies that local authorities could implement to this effect.
The project uses an innovative territorial approach to identify refugees and migrants interactions with local communities, and in doing so, enable local authorities to boost socio-economic opportunities for the population as a whole. The technical assistance provided by the three UN agencies and the European Union for the Inclusive Cities, Communities of Solidarity project is intended to be a pilot with a multi-scale scope at three levels:
· National Level: Supporting the strengthening of migration governance and state public policies for inclusion.
· Local Level: Join local governments and support the generation of competencies at the city and metropolitan area level, in order to develop more prosperous cities.
· Intra-Urban Level: Promote comprehensive interventions in territorial polygons on an intra-urban scale, which accelerate socioeconomic integration, protection and access to rights for refugees and migrants, and host communities.
The UNHCR started implementing capacity building and anti-xenophobia activities in the framework of the Inclusive Cities project in Chaguanas which was identified as the city with the highest concentration of refugees and asylum-seekers in Trinidad and Tobago. Inter-agency initiative is in keeping with the Roadmap to Recovery Reports (RRRs) and the Community Recovery Reports (CRR) recommendations. These priorities have served to help align projects and programmes along with the specific interventions detailed in these Reports and is also in keeping with the goals and strategies outlined in the National Development Strategy 2016-2030 (Vision 2030).