аIJʿª½±

SURGE supports four types of activities across five thematic pillars:

1. Knowledge creation and innovation: Creating a knowledge base of best practices and proven policies for national and local policymakers to help them address urbanization challenges and accrue the benefits of agglomeration.
2. Capacity building and training: Assisting developing countries in building their capacity to formulate policies and strategies aimed at improving sustainable urban and regional development.
3. Supporting finance mobilization: Asissting national and local governments in building their capacity to carry out finance mobilization and finance diversification for investment projects to support sustainable urban and regional development.
4. Stakeholder collaboration and knowledge sharing: Establishing and facilitating stakeholder collaborations to promote synergies and share knowledge with other players at global, regional, and national levels for green, resilient, and inclusive cities.

The program¡¯s activities support governments of developing countries at different levels in strengthening and prioritizing their investment portfolios, through knowledge creation, capacity building, and stakeholder collaboration. The program also facilitates the mobilization of additional resources.

These activities are reflected in SURGE¡¯s five pillars:

1. City management, governance, and financing: Strengthening the financial and institutional dimensions of urban and regional development and management in developing countries.
2. Territorial and spatial development: Supporting the adoption of spatial and territorial dimensions to spur local and regional development and growth.
3. Sustainable and climate-smart cities: Promoting low-carbon, climate-smart urban development by fostering innovation and technical excellence.
4. Urban poverty and housing: Fostering more inclusive urban areas and to improve the living conditions of the urban poor, including for forcibly displaced people in urban centers.
5. Urban and regional resilience: Strengthening cities' and regions' resilience to climate change and disasters.

These pillars channel operational and technical support to аIJʿª½± teams and clients. While each pillar has its own thematic focus, all five pillars are closely interlinked and are complementary, aiming to collectively achieve the development objective of the SURGE Umbrella Program.

SURGE is comprised of six trust funds: one global anchor trust fund, and five associated country trust funds in Bolivia, Peru, Serbia, South Africa, and Indonesia.

The global anchor trust fund funds the Urban Analytics and Technical Assistance program, City Planning Labs, and the Global Smart City Partnership Program (GSCP), along with the regional Europe and Central Asia Cities and Climate Change program and the pending second phase of the Rwanda Urban Development Project, focused on climate adaptation and urban resilience. Collectively, these programs fund activities in 23 countries across six regions, mainly supporting the SURGE territorial and spatial development and sustainable and climate smart cities pillars.

The five associated country trust funds contribute to the SURGE city management, governance, and financing, territorial and spatial development, sustainable and climate smart cities, and urban and regional resilience pillars.