Haskovo (Bulgaria)-Douala 1st district (Cameroon) | Unesco heritage for sustainable cities

[Update: on 6 December 2022, Haskovo and Douala won the 3rd prize at the PLATFORMAwards]

For the third time, the PLATFORMAwards will put under the spotlights the best practices in city-to-city and region-to-region development cooperation. 8 projects have been shortlisted out of 18 applications. Everyday, we are presenting you two of them (sorted by alphabetical order). The 3 finalists will receive their trophies at the ceremony in Grenoble (France) on 6 December.

Discover how Haskovo in Bulgaria is presenting its partnership with Douala 1st district municipality in Cameroon:

The Unesco Heritage for Sustainable Cities (USC) project promotes integrated urban development through partnerships between the cities of Montemarciano in Italy, Haskovo in Bulgaria, Saint-Louis in Senegal and the municipality of Douala 1st in Cameroon.

More specifically, the project aims to:

1. Setting up a Local Agenda 21 for sustainable cities and taking the initiative to decide on the policy measures to be adopted and how to implement them
2. Fighting against poverty, urban exclusion, social inequalities, marginalisation and segregation, particularly of women, young people and indigenous people, in access to housing through the establishment of a communal brickworks providing cheap access to local building materials via participatory urban planning
3. Promoting inclusive employment and growth through the construction of the first municipal brick factory in sub-Saharan Africa
4. Making the Douala 1st municipality a smart city in terms of cultural urban development where the operational efficiency of ICTs allows information to be shared with the public while improving the quality of cultural public services
5. Ensuring cultural urban development through the enhancement of ancestral and colonial tangible and intangible heritage and prepare the application file to make the historic colonial urban centre of Bonanjo with its colonial port a potential UNESCO world heritage site.

11 main outputs are being obtained in the framework of the implementation of the project:

1. The Local Agenda 21 of Douala I, drawn up in accordance with the guidelines of 2030 Agenda, Agenda 2063 of the African Union and the New Urban Agenda of the UN Habitat, is implemented;
2. School Agendas 21 of the Douala I commune drawn up in accordance with Local Agenda 21 of Douala I;
3. The nomination file for the inscription of Bonanjo and its colonial port on the UNESCO World Heritage List is submitted to the World Heritage Department in Paris;
4. A new organisation of the municipal services of Douala I is drawn up to ensure that it is in line with the standard governance of municipalities in line with the UN-Habitat’s SDGs and New Urban Agenda;
5. Roadmap of Douala smart city is elaborated which will improve the participation of the populations in the sharing of information on cultural assets;
6. A municipal brick factory in Douala I designed for an industrial brick production process;
7. An architectural competition in eco-construction for a low cost and ecological habitat in Douala;
8. The construction of 3 low-cost model eco-homes in Douala;
9. The creation of a platform of Cameroonian architects and urban planners for decent housing and eco-construction;
10. A communal crowdfunding platform following the PPP (Population, Public, Private) partnership;
11. A communal office for access to decent housing for the underprivileged in the Commune of Douala I;
12. The Douala I Municipal Office for the promotion of creative industries.