U.S.–Cote d’Ivoire Training on ISO37101: Awareness Building for Sustainable Cities
The American National Standards Institute (ANSI), through its public-private partnership with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the
Standards Alliance, organized a one-day awareness building activity in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire on August 13.
This event showcased best practices for sustainable city planning and urban development as outlined in ISO 37101: Sustainable Development in Communities. This training was held in coordination with Cote d'Ivoire’s national standards body, CODINORM,
and the Ivorian Ministry of the Interior of Security.
The goal of this workshop was to provide an opportunity for Ivoirian and U.S. experts to exchange information and increase the understanding of various aspects of ISO 37101.
Two U.S. experts representing Eurasia Environmental Associates, LCC and The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC),
Tim Van Epp and Dr. Vatsal Bhatt, traveled to Abidjan to facilitate this training. Mr. Van Epp and Dr. Bhatt are participating members of the U.S. Technical Advisory Group (TAG) to ISO Technical Committee (TC) 268 for the development of ISO 37101.
The workshop outlined the value of the framework for city planning that is detailed in the ISO 37101 standard and was attended by more than 60 participants from the public and private sector in Cote d'Ivoire. U.S.
experts also discussed the impact and use of ISO37101 around the globe using case studies from Detroit and New York City to highlight the value of the standard to show effective strategies for improving planning and development.
The introductory training provided an opportunity for participants to discuss practical application of ISO 37101 as well as local and regional challenges to implementation in Cote d'Ivoire. Multiple institutions, ministries, and civil
society organizations attended the training. Following the event, U.S. experts and ANSI met with the Ivorian Ministry of the Interior to discuss potential next steps, including the selection of one to two communities to pilot sustainable city planning in Cote d'Ivoire.
In this meeting, the Ministry assembled a search committee to identify potential municipalities to participate in a pilot planning program.
About Trade Africa
Trade Africa was an initiative between the United States and sub-Saharan Africa that was initiated in 2013 with countries of the East African Community to increase continental and regional trade within Africa, and to expand trade and economic ties among the Unites States, Africa, and other global markets. In 2014, the Trade Africa Initiative expanded to involve new partners, including Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Mozambique, Senegal, and Zambia. In support of Trade Africa,
the Standards Alliance partnered with Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Mozambique, Senegal, and Zambia to improve compliance with the WTO rules on trade facilitation and technical barriers to trade.
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