How can gender data help drive sustainable urban development? SKL International recently held a much appreciated event in Bogota on including a gender perspective in urban planning, to create more inclusive cities.  The ambition was to provide hands-on tools and inspiration to national and sub-national entities, and contribute to future gender policies in the country.

The event “Inclusive and sustainable cities: Talking about gender” was held in Bogota, Colombia on April 24th with great success. It drew almost 200 participants from academia, civil society, international organisations, ministries, and sub-national governments, convening to learn more about gender in urban planning.

The seminar shared experiences on how to effectively use statistics to address inequalities and how to include citizens in decision-making processes. It presented practical examples from Sweden with the very appreciated participation of Emma Vigren from Umeå Municipality, Victoria Percovich from White Arkitekter and the gender statistician Christina Ahlzen from Medida.

“This seminar shows the importance of including both women and men, boys and girls, as well as all ethnic groups in order to achieve sustainable development”, said Annika Otterstedt, Head of Cooperation at the Swedish Embassy in Bogota.

The event was organised in cooperation with different departments in Colombia’s National Planning Department (Departamento Nacional de Planificacion, DNP). It was also a joint venture of the two SKL Internationa projects FOINCIDE and SymbioCity, both financed by Sida trough the Swedish Embassy in Bogota.

The material and the video of the seminars will be available on FOINCIDE’s website.

The  FOINCIDE  project  is  designed  to  contribute  both  to  increasing citizen   participation   and   socio-political  inclusion,   as   well   as   to strengthen  the  decision making processes and provide tools  for improved administration and  public  policies, based  on  the  exchange  of  experiences,  and  in  clear articulation  and coordination between the municipal and national levels. The project will be implemented until December 2018 with a possible extension to December 2020.