Program for Local and Urban Sustainability Quarterly Progress Report – FY2024 Q1

The program aims to promote inclusive green urban development by addressing the interconnected crises of climate change, pollution, biodiversity loss, and inequality. The goal of PLUS is to foster healthy, prosperous, and resilient cities for all people and the planet. PLUS serves as a flexible global support mechanism to fill critical gaps and enhance the ability of USAID partner countries to tackle complex urban development challenges. The program promotes inclusive green urban development by addressing the interconnected crises of climate change, pollution, biodiversity loss, and inequality. The program works to modernize and scale USAID's urban programs and enable USAID to invest in "green city" strategies to advance five critical urban transformation objectives. The program is designed as a buy-in mechanism, allowing USAID Missions and Operating Units to utilize the PLUS mechanism to implement unique Buy-in Activities that align with the project's goals and objectives. The report provides updates on the status of both the overarching project and buy-in activities, results, and challenges for the period of October 1, 2023 to December 31, 2023 (FY24Q1). In FY24Q1, PLUS delivered several Buy-in Activities to advance the program's objectives. The Buy-in Activities range in terms of USAID sponsoring entities, alignment with PLUS objectives, budgets, geographic focus, and implementation status. The Buy-in Activities include: * Cities Climate Governance and Finance Toolkit (USAID DDI): Closed * Peru Solid Waste Management Assessment (USAID Peru): Active * Ibu Kota Nusantara Forest City Planning Activity (USAID Indonesia): Active * Guidance to Reduce and Measure Greenhouse Gas Emissions in the Solid Waste Management Value Chain (SOSI) (USAID Green Cities Division): Active * Performance Evaluation of USAID's Oceans Plastics Portfolio to Inform the Save Our Seas Initiative (SOSI) (USAID DDI/EEI/Green Cities Division): Active * Sustainable Urban Mobility (USAID DDI/EEI): Active * Sustainable Action for Climate and Health (SACH) Initiative (previously Urban City Climate Health Alliance) (USAID India): Active * Addressing Climate Migration Pressures on Cities through Urban Adaptation and Resilience in Latin America and Caribbean (USAID LAC): In Design * Assessment of Opportunities to Incorporate Urban Resilience into Tashkent's One Health Response (USAID Uzbekistan): In Design In FY24Q1, PLUS worked to identify opportunities aimed at advancing gender equality and women's empowerment and empowering other marginalized and underrepresented populations in developing Buy-In Activity work plans. The program included this commitment to GESI in four new Buy-in Activity Work Plans. The Uzbekistan Assessment of Opportunities to Incorporate Urban Resilience into Tashkent's One Health Response work plan incorporates questions aimed at better understanding the roles, unmet needs, and risks to marginalized and underrepresented populations across Tashkent city for their health response. The Sustainable Urban Mobility buy-in activity work plan includes proposals for work on bus contracting to provide bus service better aligned with the transport needs of women, who often travel shorter distances and during off-peak hours. The team also developed a framework for a resource library to be housed on urban-links.org for the urban mobility Buy-in Activity that will include a dedicated section with materials directly related to GESI. The PLUS team identified and cataloged multiple urban transport resources related to GESI to include in the resource library. In addition, the Sustainable Urban Mobility activity was working to identify an indicator for the buy-in MEL plan that will capture the GESI impact of the pilots and will be finalized in the next quarter before pilot selection and implementation. Furthermore, in FY24Q1, PLUS continued to incorporate a GESI lens in the implementation of current buy-in activities.