Resilient Cities and Communities – Technical Assistance to Municipalities in Earthquake Affected Provinces

Project Title 1

Resilient Cities and Communities – Technical Assistance to Municipalities in Earthquake Affected Provinces

BYS Grup

Türkiye

German Development Cooperation

(Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH, GIZ)

GIZ

05.06.2024–31.12.2024 ONGOING

BYS Grup

The Technical Assistance to Municipalites in Earthquake Affected Provinces project covers Hatay Metropolitan Municipality and Adıyaman Municipality which were among the worst affected provinces in the February 2023 earthquakes.

The primary goal of this project is to empower Hatay Metropolitan Municipality (Hatay M.M. in short) and Adıyaman Municipality to effectively manage their reconstruction efforts through digital transformation and the adoption of evidence-driven methodologies. The assignment has 4 pillars: Smart Cities Approach for the two municipalities, alleviating the needs for Water Resources Management for Hatay M. Municipality and for Urban Mobility for Adıyaman Municipality among the priority issues, and stakeholder management/community engagement while carrying out the assignment.

Objectives of the assignment are :

Overall objective (impact) for Hatay M. Municipality: Supporting Hatay M. M. in overcoming the damages of the February 2023 earthquakes and contributing to building back better efforts by promoting community engagement practices.

Specific objective for Hatay M. Municipality: Alleviating the damaging effects of the earthquake through contribution to the Urban Information System and water resources management in Hatay M. M. – by capacity building of the Municipality.

Overall objective (impact) for Adıyaman Municipality: Supporting Adıyaman Province in overcoming the damages of February 6, 2023 earthquakes and contributing to building back better efforts by promoting community engagement practices.

Specific objective for Adıyaman Municipality: Alleviating the damaging effects of the earthquake through contribution to the Urban Information System and mobility sector in Adıyaman Municipality by Capacity Building of the Municipality.

The overall objectives show the expected impact / the raison d’etre of the assignment. Specific objectives show what needs to be done for the assignment:  transformation of the urban information system of the two municipalities into data warehouse format and development and deployment of software for rational management of water resources and urban mobility issues, and two pilot proposals for these two sectors. In the assignment, critical issues related to the pilot proposals will also be clarified: which institutions may finance the two proposals and proposal timelines. Financing will depend on the cost of the proposals and investment programs of possible institutions among other factors.

It is aimed that with the digitalization of urban information systems, urban mobility and water management issues of the two municipalities; flexible and modular urban management systems will be created and decision support mechanisms and strategic plans of the municipalities will be realized efficiently. Contractor’s final aim is making Hatay and Adıyaman Municipalities to be best practices for  earthquake affected provinces throughout Türkiye.

Key areas of focus are:

• Knowledge documentation and transfer: From the contractor to the municipalities.
• Digital integration: Using advanced digital tools and platforms for the urban information system of the municipalities.
• Promoting Innovation: Particularly for focusing on rebuilding and resilience.
• Practical implementation: Continuous learning and improvement, Capacity building, Collaboration and stakeholder management.

Impact on future projects: By documenting and disseminating knowledge, leveraging digital tools, developing replicable models, and fostering innovation, a robust framework for sustainable development will be created.

The following activities will be carried out to realize the objectives of the project:

Activity 1: Inception Phase and Needs for the post-earthquake situation:

Activity 1 initiates the project by focusing on the inception and comprehensive needs assessment regarding the water resources management in Hatay Metropolitan Municipality and urban mobility in Adıyaman Municipality, following the devastating earthquake. This phase is critical to ensure that all subsequent project actions are based on a solid understanding of the existing needs and challenges of both municipalities. It has two sub activities: classical Inception phase and Needs Assessment for Hatay and Adıyaman municipalities. Emphasis will be on Hatay‘s damaged water resources infrastructure & both Adıyaman & Hatay becoming a smart city to cope with future and present challenges. 

Activity 2: Software deployment for the identified needs:

This activity is for developing data warehouse software for repurposing the present urban information systems of Hatay and Adıyaman municipalities. Then development and deployment of software for Water Resources Management of Hatay Municipality and to meet the urban mobility needs identified in the previous activity for the Adıyaman municipality. The solutions involve development of data warehouse in lieu of present urban information system and development and deployment of software for water resources management and urban mobility.

Activity 3: Trainings:

Trainings will be carried out for relevant staff of Hatay municipality for the new perspective. The aim is to train the staff for the smart cities approach including vision for build back better and resilient urban development, repositioning of the urban info system into data warehouse and its training, training on the software produced and water resources management and urban mobility respectively for Hatay and Adıyaman municipalities.

Traning Needs Analysi will be carried out and face to face trainings will be delivered to 25 and 15 Hatay and Adıyaman municipalities respectively. And also on -the-job trainings for one week each will be given to both municipalities.

Activity 4: Preparation of Project proposals and ToRs: 

Problems related to water supply/distribution & data loss in Hatay municipality is to be studied and a project proposal prepared to meet the needs of some of the priority areas in water resource management. It will be the subject of the proposal and its ToR. It should be borne in mind that inputs are expected to come from Activity 5, Knowledge Exchange Event also. Needs of Hatay municipality, stakeholder input in the post-earthquake time line.

In case of Adıyaman Municipality one of the areas in which the municipality has suffered in the earth quake is the mobility aspect. Therefore, a project related to urban mobility is to be prepared for the municipality. Aside from the inputs of the project activities, outcomes from Knowledge Exchange Event (Activity 5) to take place are also expected. Interaction with stakeholders, data validation and holistic approach is most important for this activity.

Activity 5: Contributing to the knowledge exchange events:

GIZ will organize Knowledge Exchange Events both for Hatay and Adıyaman municipalities to showcase and disseminate information on the assignment’s key findings and activities, mainly data warehouse, software and water resources management proposal.  It is also expected to encourage stakeholder collaboration. Contractor will implement the supporting tasks for the Events.