Linking UN-Habitat and universities

<p><strong>Linking UN-Habitat and universities: Harnessing the potential of knowledge partnerships</strong></p> <p><em>A study of university-UN partnerships around urban change</em></p> <p>University partnerships are key to UN-Habitat’s ‘centre of excellence’ aspiration when it comes to convening discussions and action on urban change on a global scale. They can act as drivers of capacity building, innovation, and transformative urban development and are present a cross a wide variety of what this United Nations agency does on a daily basis. These partnerships are enacted through a wide array of ‘knowledge products’ and across a vast geography of collaborations internationally. A reform and enhancement of Habitat UNI, as the university partnership initiative of UN-Habitat, could be pivotal to reap the benefits of this multifaceted engagement. </p> <p>Between November 2021 and March 2022, the Centre collaborated with UN-Habitat’s <strong>Capacity Development and Training Unit </strong>(CDTU) to provide UN-Habitat with an assessment of both challenges and opportunities to strengthen university partnerships, looking also more specifically to the role and opportunities afforded by <a href="https://unhabitat.org/network/habitat-uni" target="_blank">Habitat UNI</a>, as UN-Habitat’s “main mechanism for partnerships with academia”.</p> <p><a href="https://unhabitat.org/linking-un-habitat-and-universities-harnessing-the-potential-of-knowledge-partnerships" target="_blank">The Study</a> involved a mixed method approach including desk reviews of 29 documents, 13 case studies, 12 key informant interviews, and a wide survey of 84 UN-Habitat staff alongside 121 academics, rounded off by 2 focus groups internal to, and with academic UNI partners of, UN-Habitat.</p> <p>Linked here are the main report of that study, including recommendations for UN-Habitat, as well as its two annexes on the history of Habitat Uni and on Case Studies of UN-Habitat-University partnerships in practice.</p>