Seoul training meeting november 2016 Metropolis General Secretariat

Strengthening capacities: Seoul and training at the heart of Metropolis’s new strategic guidelines

The executive director of Metropolis, Octavi de la Varga Mas, and the manager of international relations and training, Agnès Bickart, met with Mr Chang-Beom KIM, the representative of the office of the mayor of Seoul, Mr Park, and with Mr Won, the director of the Training Institute (SHRDC) in the city of Seoul on the 4th of November of this year.

At this official meeting, the participants discussed the important role that Metropolis is going to play in the launch of the New Urban Agenda (NUA), as well as the Sustainable Development Goals. The issue of strengthening capacities is at the forefront of the NUA. The purpose of this meeting was to share with the city of Seoul (Metropolitan Government of Seoul) Metropolis’ expectations of the training programme and the role of the headquarters of the Metropolis International Training Institute and its four training satellites in Cairo, Mashhad, Mexico City and Paris.

Faced with the priorities imposed by ever-present urban growth and the need to facilitate and improve the competencies of city managers, political leaders, heads of policy and employees of the administrations at the core of city development, the Metropolis training programme is even more relevant than ever given the fact that it is an ineluctable tool to assist with decision-making and planning and management of large cities.

To launch a programme aimed at strengthening capacities, Metropolis currently has a variety of services and tools:

The training programme in conjunction with the Training Institute in Seoul and its four satellites in Cairo, Mashhad, Mexico City and Paris; the Policy Transfer platform developed by Berlin; and finally the City Managers community, a space of exchanges of experiences and knowledge among the city managers belonging to Metropolis. These three instruments will have the mission of working in a more integrated and coordinated fashion in the forthcoming Metropolis action plan for the period 2018-2020.

For more information on the training programme, please contact Agnès Bickart abickart@metropolis.org