NICIS Institute and WOTRO sign Letter of Intent on sustainable urban development
20 maart 2007
NICIS Institute, dedicated to Urban Research and Practice, and WOTRO intend to combine their expertise to strengthen sustainable urban development in Asia and Africa. The two organisations have signed a Letter of Intent to collaborate on knowledge exchange and development (research) with partners in India, China, Indonesia, Kenya and South Africa.
Prof. W.A. Hafkamp (Nicis Institute) and Prof. W. van Genugten (WOTRO)
The intended cooperation is in line with the mission of both organisations to encourage science for the benefit of society, including the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. They will do so by creating the necessary focus and mass to generate scientific output that will enhance the social and economic strength of cities. To realise their ambitions the two partners will develop an international knowledge network with top universities and research institutes in the five countries, leading to a network of National Focal Points (NFPs). These NFPs will do excellent research and exchange knowledge, and will also act as an interface between the academic world, government and NGOs in the mega-cities of their country.The network of NFPs in Asia and Africa will be aligned to the already established European network of NFPs of the European Urban Knowledge Network (EUKN), whose secretariat is managed by NICIS. The new initiative thus contributes to South-North, as well as South-South knowledge exchange and development. A business plan is currently being developed that will be used to initiate the actual plans over a period of five years.
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