Commonwealth Sustainable Cities Coalition (CSCC) Pilot, Closing Event

The closing meeting of the Commonwealth Sustainable Cities Coalition (CSCC) pilot, held on 31 March 2026, brought together policymakers, practitioners and experts from across the Commonwealth to take stock of what the pilot had demonstrated and to consider priorities for the next phase. The event was convened as a moment of both reflection and forward commitment, to consolidate findings from the four Action Groups, draw out cross-cutting conclusions, and affirm the case for continuing the coalition’s work beyond the pilot.

In her opening remarks, Commonwealth Secretary General, the Hon Shirley Botchwey said: “”What began as a shared commitment has now become something more tangible, a coalition in motion, moving from declaration to delivery, from intent to implementation. No single institution, no single level of government, no single sector can solve challenges of this scale alone.”

The CSCC pilot was developed in direct response to the 2022 Commonwealth Declaration on Sustainable Urbanisation, and built on the consensus reached at the Wilton Park dialogue that followed it. Working through four Action Groups, Housing Systems, Integrated Planning, Urban Finance, and Skills and Competencies, the coalition brought together professional bodies, governments, academics and practitioners across member states in Africa, Asia, the Americas and the Asia-Pacific.

Each Action Group developed and tested practical tools and approaches in specific national and city contexts: the Rapid Planning Toolkit in Belize City; housing system analysis across India, Kenya and Fiji; urban finance frameworks at the city level; and skills gap assessment connecting higher education to delivery needs. The Secretary-General noted that by 2050, nearly half of global urban population growth, around 2.5 billion people, will occur in Commonwealth countries, underscoring both the urgency and the scale of the task.

Across all four Action Groups, a consistent diagnosis emerged: the barriers to sustainable urbanisation are systemic, rooted in fragmentation between policy, institutions and delivery — not isolated failures within any one sector. Housing, planning, finance and skills do not operate independently; where they are aligned, cities are better placed to manage growth, climate risk and inequality; where they are fragmented, each compounds the others.

• Housing: Formal housing systems are structurally misaligned with the reality of incremental, household-led construction that dominates delivery across Commonwealth cities. Constraints in affordable supply, rental markets and coordination between land, finance and regulation compound this gap.
• Integrated Planning: Planning systems are frequently fragmented and under-resourced, limiting institutional capacity to respond to rapid urban growth. Participatory and time-bound approaches, as piloted in Belize City, offer practical pathways for more coordinated development.
• Urban Finance: Sustainable urbanisation is fundamentally constrained by weak local fiscal capacity, unpredictable intergovernmental transfers and limited access to climate finance. Urban finance must be addressed as an integrated system, not a set of isolated instruments.
• Skills and Competencies: There is a persistent and growing gap between the skills needed for urban development, particularly in urban finance, and what current educational provision supplies. Closer alignment between universities, governments and industry is urgently needed.

Participants agreed that the pilot has established a credible proof of concept, demonstrating both the value of cross-sector, cross-disciplinary collaboration and the practical traction it can achieve. The next phase will focus on scaling practical solutions, deepening partnerships with national and city governments, and sustaining the coalition’s advocacy ahead of CHOGM 2026 in Antigua and Barbuda.

In his closing remarks, the Rwandan High Commissioner, HE Johnston Busingye said: “This coalition demonstrates what is possible when we bring together knowledge, experience and commitment across the Commonwealth. The challenge now is to sustain this collaboration and translate these insights into action at scale.”