14/15AC: Strengthening national capacities for sustainable housing in selected countries with economies in transition

• Midpoint report
• Annual progress report
  2016
  2015
  2014

Annual funds utilization report

EA 1:Strengthened national capacity of beneficiary countries to develop policies for sustainable housing

A1.1 Organize four joint UNECE/UN-Habitat national workshops to provide training on sustainable housing to representatives of national governments and stakeholders. These workshops will address the issues identified by the UNECE country profiles as priority topics for housing policies.

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Four national workshops were planned in 2014, however due to the political instability in the Republic of Moldova caused by elections in November 2014, the workshop in Chisinau was postponed to 2015.

Three workshops were organised in 2014 (reported in 2014: Yerevan, Armenia, 13-14 October, 2014; Dushanbe, Tajikistan, 28-29 October, 2014; Belgrade, Serbia, 12-13 November, 2014). A workshop in Republic of Moldova together with the validation workshop (Activity 1.4) was organised - Chisinau, 8-9 September 2015.

Detailed information on the workshops (meetings’ agendas, presentations and reports) are also available at the project website under each country page - http://www.unece.org/housing/unda.html.

All workshops brought together for the first time members of the national Steering Committees, national groups of experts and stakeholders. The workshops were aimed to discuss the governments’ and stakeholders’ priorities in housing and urban development as well as to map ongoing projects and activities implemented currently in the countries. Representatives of the UNECE and UN-Habitat shared information on international studies, guidance documents which could be useful for the preparation and later for the implementation of the National Action Plans (NAPs).

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A1.2 Organize four advisory missions by UNECE to provide advice to the governments in the establishment of the Steering Committees and work on the development of National Action Plans on Sustainable Housing. Following the advisory missions, the Steering Committees will be established in the beneficiary countries by decisions of the governments (through adopting ministerial orders etc.).

A1.3 Develop National Action Plans for sustainability measures in the residential sector in the beneficiary countries in consultation with the inter-ministerial coordination group members.

UNECE in cooperation with UN-Habitat focal points in respective countries prepared Guidelines for Drafting and Implementation of the National Action Plans on Sustainable Housing, Urban Development and Land Management in Transition Economies on the Basis of the Geneva UN Charter on Sustainable Housing and 4 National Action Plans on Sustainable Housing, Urban Development and Land Management.  

The draft NAP for Tajikistan was drafted in 2014. The NAP was focused on promoting energy efficiency of residential buildings and technical control of new construction. Since 2014, Agency of Architecture and Construction was working jointly with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development on energy efficiency in buildings. The NAP was finalized, commented by the international experts and launched in 2017. The NAP is focused on promoting energy efficiency of residential buildings and technical control of new construction. It is expected to be adopted as an Order by the State Committee on Construction at the beginning of 2018.

The NAP for Serbia was prepared and presented at the workshop in 2015. The NAP focused on establishing a comprehensive framework for the housing policy. The central tool for the future implementation of the NAP is a draft national law on housing which was developed under the NAP and was discussed at the workshop with the stakeholders. The NAP was launched in 2017. The Ministry of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure of the Republic of Serbia adopts it as an order annually. It is a living document, which is being amended and approved every year to reflect the changing context.

The priorities and main parts of the NAP for Republic of Moldova were discussed at the workshop in 2015. The priorities of the NAP are on management of multi-apartment buildings, especially on the issues of energy efficiency (developing financial mechanisms to promote energy efficiency in multi-apartment buildings). In addition, the NAP is focusing on the implementation of the Government Decentralization Strategy aimed at giving more responsibilities and power to local authorities. The NAP was prepared through the consultation process. It was planned to be adopted in October 2017. Two days before the planned adoption by the Ministry of Regional Development and Agency for Land Relations and Cadastre, the government reform was carried out. As a result, the Ministry was abolished and the adoption was postponed. As the Deputy Minister who was in charge of the project, was laid off, the UNECE is currently trying to re-establish the cooperation with the newly formed Ministry of Economy and Infrastructure.

The NAP for Armenia was developed based on the recommendations from the draft Country Profile prepared by UNECE and submitted to the Government of Armenia. As discussed with the Government, priorities of the NAP are on spatial planning, municipal management and smart cities. NAP was finalized through consultations process, commented by international experts, discussed by the Government and is expected to be adopted by the State Committee on Urban Development in 2018.

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A.1.4 Organize four national validation workshops to review draft chapters of the respective National Action Plans with members of the inter-ministerial Steering Committees and relevant stakeholders and discuss their implementation. The national validation workshops will review draft chapters of the Action Plans by the inter-ministerial Steering Committees in each country.

Three national validation workshops were organised: Armenia (Yerevan, 9 April 2015), Republic of Moldova (Chisinau, 8-9 September 2015), and in Serbia (Belgrade, 9-10 November 2015). The workshop in Tajikistan, which was postponed by the Government of Tajikistan for 2016, was organised (Dushanbe, 26 April 2016).

Detailed information on the workshops organised (meetings’ agendas, presentations and reports) are available at the project website under countries’ pages at http://www.unece.org/housing/unda.html. 

At the validation workshops, proposals for the NAPs were presented by the governments; those were based on policy recommendations of the country profiles and other relevant projects and studies. Representatives of UNECE and UN-Habitat shared information on international studies, guidance documents which could be useful for the preparation and later for the implementation of the NAPs. Then the proposals for the NAPs were discussed by the national and international experts who informed on existing experiences and practices which should be taken into account in the NAPs.

EA 2: Strengthened national capacity of beneficiary countries to implement policies for sustainable housing through inter-ministerial coordination

A2.1 Organize four national workshops in the beneficiary countries. These workshops will launch National Action Plans on Sustainable Housing; discuss the implementation of the Action Plans and possible ways of monitoring the implementation.

Four national launch workshops were organized in the beneficiary countries: Armenia (http://www.unece.org/housing-and-land-management/projects/housingunda/a…, workshop 2017), Moldova (http://www.unece.org/housing/unda-moldova.html, National Workshop 2017), Serbia (http://www.unece.org/housing-and-land-management/projects/housingunda/s…, National Workshop 2017), Tajikistan (http://www.unece.org/housing-and-land-management/projects/housingunda/t…, National Workshop 2017).

Detailed information on the workshops organised (meetings’ agendas, presentations and reports) are available at the project website under countries’ pages at http://www.unece.org/housing/unda.html.

At the launch workshops, pre-finalized drafts of the NAPs were presented by the governments; the drafts were based on the feedback collected in the aftermath of the previous validation workshops and reviews prepared by the international experts. While the discussions at the  workshops covered all aspects of NAP preparation, they were particularly focused on the next steps necessary for implementation and monitoring planning.

Four regional workshops were also organized to facilitate inter-regional discussion and exchange of experience and best practices: (http://www.unece.org/housing-and-land-management/housingmeetings-and-ev…, Serbia, 31 January 2017, back to back to the national workshop; http://www.unece.org/housing-and-land-management/housingmeetings-and-ev…, Geneva, Switzerland, 9 March 2017; http://www.unece.org/housing-and-land-management/housingmeetings-and-ev…, Paris, France, 16 May 2017, a side event to the Second International Conference on National Urban Policy; http://www.unece.org/housing-and-land-management/housingmeetings-and-ev…, 5 October 2017, Chisinau , Moldova.

EA 3: Strengthened national capacity of other countries in the UNECE region to develop policies for sustainable housing through application of the project’s lessons learned

A3.1 Develop a policy paper, which will contain an analysis of best practices and lessons learned and guidelines on the preparation and implementation of National Action Plans for Sustainable Housing based on experiences and lessons learnt from the beneficiary countries.

The policy paper was drafted, reviewed by the international experts and finalized.

Two sets of Guidelines were finalized and can be downloaded from the UNDA website of HLM - http://www.unece.org/housing/unda.html

A3.2 Organize a regional meeting to share best practices and lessons learned on the preparation and follow-up of National Action Plans and the set-up of inter-ministerial Steering Committees between the beneficiary countries and other countries in the region. The policy paper with best practices and guidelines will be presented at the regional meeting.

The final workshop was organized by UNECE and UN-Habitat back to back the 78th session of the Committee on Housing and Land Management and Ministerial Meeting.

The workshop discussed experiences and lessons learned in the implementation of the project. The workshop participants formulated best practices in building capacities to achieve the urban related SDGs, implementation of the New Urban Agenda and other relevant global and regional agreements as well as the next steps in cooperation of UN agencies and other international organizations in supporting countries with economies in transition to achieve the urban related SDGs and to implement relevant global and regional commitments. More information is available here: http://www.unece.org/housing-and-land-management/housingmeetings-and-ev…