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UBC Executive Board met online
UBC NEWS & FACES
The UBC Executive Board met online
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by Irene Pendolin | irene.pendolin@ubc.net
The 85 th UBC Executive Board meeting was held on 17 April 2020 – online for the very first time due to the coronavirus epidemic. The historical meeting hosted around 30 participants from all UBC countries.
On the agenda were, among others, action plans of the Commissions, UBC budget as well as strategy, policy, and projects.
Due to the coronavirus situation, the UBC Commissions have been forced to put some of their activities on hold, such as seminars and other live events, although also online seminars have been hosted e.g. by Safe Cities Commission and Sustainable Cities Commission.
“These days we are living now show that the UBC is needed. The changes we are going through will only strengthen us”, emphasized UBC President Mantas Jurgutis in his opening speech.
The Executive Board decided that Paweł Żaboklicki would continue as Secretary General in the next 4-year period.
The Board was informed that the UBC has established a page on the website www.ubc.net concentrating on the cities’ solutions and measures during the coronavirus epidemic.
Other topics discussed in the meeting included digitalisation in UBC member cities, questionnaire to member cities and UBC pool of experts, HA Capacity, information from Brussels on forthcoming events and consultations, the severe wastewater treatment problem in Guatemala and the 11 th EUSBSR Annual Forum in Turku (19–20 October 2020).
Questionnaire “Mapping the needs of UBC Member Cities” and UBC pool of experts
An important and inspirational topic during the meeting were the results of the survey conducted earlier this spring among the UBC member cities, “Mapping the needs of UBC Member Cities”.
The survey questions included: • What does UBC do best? • What can be improved? • What is the motivation of your city to be part of UBC? • What does your city expect from UBC? • What are the main external trends and challenges UBC should address in the future? • How do you see the future role of UBC?
The survey results are available online on www.ubc.net and will be used when planning the new UBC strategy process.
In addition, the Executive Board decided to start mustering a UBC pool of experts so that the considerable expertise in the member cities could be better utilised.
The decision about the venue of the next UBC Executive Board meeting will be taken soon.
