Resilient Governance: Chief Resilience Officers' Roundtable
14. September 16:00 - 17:30
Working towards building resilient cities is not just a government’s job, but it implies the unified approach of all the pieces and stakeholders that are part of a city. This means engaging a wide range of stakeholders to identify and implement potential actionable solutions to strengthen these systems and build holistic and cross-cutting strategies that bring together key challenges and priority agendas.
To achieve this, cities need to change their internal governance structures and how they work. Within this context, the role of the Chief Resilience Officer and its Resilience Office within a city administration is key to bridge that gap between achieving sectoral change and ensuring systemic and long-lasting change.
The objective of this session is to create awareness on the importance of the CRO/resilience office role within city government, increase the understanding of how the CROs are creating change within their cities across geographies and give an outlook of the “future” of resilience governance.
Speakers
Chief Resilience Officer, Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA)
Kathryn Oldham, Chief Resilience Officer, Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA)
Kathryn currently heads up a specialist unit delivering disaster risk reduction and emergency response services for Greater Manchester’s ten local authorities. She has led the development of Greater Manchester’s Resilience Strategy and provides a strategic advice function to the multi-agency Greater Manchester Resilience Forum partnership.
Kathryn heads up Greater Manchester’s participation in the international Resilient Cities Network, UNDRR’s Making Cities Resilient 2030 (MCR2030) initiative, within which Greater Manchester has been recognised as a Resilience Hub, and also the Counter Terrorism Preparedness Network (CTPN).
With over 15 years’ experience in resilience, Kathryn has been engaged in drafting national, British, European and International Standards on resilience.
Kathryn holds a medical degree and has previously held a wide range of positions in local government.
Principal Resilience Officer, City of Cape Town
Tamsin Faragher, Principal Resilience Officer, City of Cape Town
Tamsin Faragher is a built environment specialist with experience both locally (Cape Town) and internationally (London, Dubai and Abu Dhabi). She has worked across disciplines in the private and public sector (provincial and local government) within the planning, built environment, landscape architecture, infrastructure planning, environment, water and most recently - food “spaces”.
Tamsin is interested in the nexus between policy, practice and implementation, particularly as it relates to water resilience, food systems and public space in city-making and the contrasting, competing demands between the environment and development.
Chief Resilience Officer, Lagos State Resilience Office
Folayinka Dania, Chief Resilience Officer, Lagos State Resilience Office
Dr Folayinka Dania is the Chief Resilience Officer for Lagos State and the Chief Executive Officer of the Lagos State Resilience Office (LASRO). She coordinates the implementation of the Lagos Resilience Strategy in collaboration with other State Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies with the goal of ensuring that the State continues to thrive, adapt and grow sustainably. She was previously the State’s Deputy CRO and during her tenure she supervised the development of the Lagos Resilience Strategy by the multi-disciplinary LASRO team. Prior to joining LASRO, she served at the State Ministry of Health in various capacities, leading and developing State health programmes.
Dr Dania holds a bachelor’s degree in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Lagos and a master’s degree in Public Health from Imperial College London.
Chief Resilience Officer, City of Rotterdam
Arnoud Molenaar, Chief Resilience Officer, City of Rotterdam
After graduating in Physical Geography, Arnoud started his career with ambitious trainee posts and jobs abroad. As deputy head of the Rotterdam Water Management Department, he was responsible for the Waterplan2Rotterdam. In 2008, he was appointed Manager of the Rotterdam Climate Proof program. Arnoud is first editor of the book “Resilient Cities and Climate Adaptation Strategies” (2014). He was responsible for Rotterdam’s first Resilience Strategy (2016) and joined the Global Center on Adaptation as lead Cities (2018). In 2019 he hosted the Global Urban Resilience Summit in Rotterdam and joined the Global Steering Committee at the Resilient Cities Network. Recently (2022) he coordinated the development of the ‘Resilient Rotterdam Strategy 2022-2027’.
HEAD OF RESILIENCE, STRATEGIC FORESIGHT, RESEARCH & INNOVATION, CITY OF PARIS
Noemie Fompeyrine, HEAD OF RESILIENCE, STRATEGIC FORESIGHT, RESEARCH & INNOVATION, CITY OF PARIS
Noémie Fompeyrine is Head of Resilience, Strategic Foresight, Research and Innovation at the City of Paris’ Department of Ecological Transition and Climate. Her team ensures a role of anticipation of the challenges and city transformations, scientific and strategic support, and contributes to strengthening the systemic nature of local public policies. She has been Chief Resilience Officer for the City of Paris, steered Paris Resilience Strategy and its flagship initiatives. She also was Advisor the Deputy Mayor of Paris in charge of roads, transportation, mobility and public space, with whom she led public policies in favor of air quality and better sharing of public spaces. Graduated with a master's degree from the Urban School of Sciences Po in Paris, where she teaches today, she has also worked with the French Development Agency, the Institute for Research on Contemporary Southeast Asia Est and the think tank La Fabrique de la Cité.
City Director & CRO, City of Ramallah
Ahmed AbuLaban, City Director & CRO, City of Ramallah
Moderator
Regional Director EME, Resilient Cities Network
Lina liakou, Regional director eme, resilient cities network
Lina Liakou leads the resilience practice in Europe and the Middle East for the Resilient Cities Network, working with member cities across the region in developing their resilience thinking through long term City Resilience Strategies and actionable initiatives. Before joining the Network, Lina was Deputy Mayor and Chief Resilience Officer for the City of Thessaloniki, Greece. As a Deputy Mayor, Lina Liakou initiated collaborations with the European Commission, the EIB and the World Bank.