Mayor’s Challenge: Message from Umuaka PG of PGs.
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Fellow Akalites,
I greet you all. i want to officially inform you that UmuAka is one of the 50 Champion Cities Bloomberg has selected as one of the finalists in the 2021 Global Mayors Challenge. Mayor’s Challenge is a global innovation competition that identifies and accelerates the most ambitious ideas developed by cities in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. These 50 urban innovations rose to the top of a competitive pool of more than 630 applications from 99 countries, in the first-ever Global Mayors Challenge.
As a Mayors Challenge finalist, UmuAka has now advanced to the four-month Champion Phase of the competition. This means that from June through October, the 50 finalist cities will refine their ideas with technical assistance from Bloomberg Philanthropies and its network of leading innovation experts. Fifteen of the 50 cities will ultimately win the grand prize, with each receiving $1 million and robust multi-year technical assistance to implement and scale their ideas. Grand Prize Winners will be announced in early 2022.
“These 50 finalists are showing the world that in the face of the pandemic’s enormous challenges, cities are rising to meet them with bold, innovative, and ambitious ideas,” said Michael R. Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg LP and Bloomberg Philanthropies and 108th mayor of New York City. “By helping these cities test their ideas over the coming months, we will have a chance to identify cutting-edge policies and programs that can allow cities to rebuild in ways that make them stronger and healthier, and more equal and more just.”
Umuaka proposes to develop an app that enables survivors, social workers, and service providers to report gender-based violence incidents, coordinate services including a city health insurance scheme and provide microfinance to support economic independence.
My name is Chief Nuel Okezuo Oguike, President-general Achara Aka and President General of Conference of Presidents-general in Umuaka City. Please be informed that this competition is all about innovation which creates positive impact on the people. As I have always said, it is the duty of we the servant leaders of the community to drive the city to a new height and phase of developments because we are here to take the people where they want to go, not where you want them to go. That is what the Mayor’s Challenge, UmuAka Municipal Council has come to achieve.
We need the support of every Akalite both in and outside the country to support this project until we record the final success.
May God bless you all.
Chief Nuel Okezuo Oguike, President-general Achara Aka and President General of Conference of Presidents-general in Umuaka City. PGs Umuaka City.
