Bogota won the Urban Innovation Award in China for the Care Blocks

This Thursday, Bogotá received the Guangzhou International Award for Urban Innovation, an accolade that recognizes innovation in public policies that enhance social, economic, and environmental development and stability in cities, as well as governance practices aimed at improving people's quality of life.

For this edition of the award, a total of 274 initiatives from 193 cities and local governments in 54 countries competed. Out of these submissions, an international jury selected Bogotá's Care System and its primary operational component - the Care Blocks - as one of the 5 winning initiatives, based on criteria of innovation, effectiveness, context, replicability, and their relevance to the local implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals and the New Urban Agenda. The Award is co-sponsored by UCLG, Metropolis, and the city of Guangzhou, with the support of ICLEI and C40.

In this way, Bogotá achieved recognition as one of the winning cities, thanks to the Care Blocks, a pioneering model globally that organizes the city around caregiving to address the needs of caregivers, those in need of care, and also to promote a cultural transformation under the idea that 'Caring is Learned.' In less than four years, the administration of Claudia López has inaugurated more than 20 Care Blocks, two Care Buses (urban and rural), and implemented the Home Assistance program. The Bogotá's Care System has served over 480,000 women and their families, ensuring they receive the care they need, as well as opportunities for rest, education, work, and the autonomy they had lost.

In this post, the Mayor of Bogota shared additional details about the award ceremony for the Guangzhou International Urban Innovation Award.

Bogotá ha ganado el premio internacional de Guangzhou a la mejor innovación urbana del mundo con las #ManzanasdelCuidado!
Un reconocimiento al movimiento social, al consejo consultivo de mujeres y a las y los servidores públicos de @Bogota liderados por @secredistmujer que en 4… pic.twitter.com/L62YN7Qi21

— Claudia López Hernández (@ClaudiaLopez) December 7, 2023

"A thousand thanks to the jury, congratulations to the social movement, the advisory council, and all the women of Bogotá who have made the achievement of the Care System possible; from a lifelong struggle to an idea that began in 2020 and now encompasses more than 20 Care Blocks, changing the lives for the better and forever of 480,000 women and their families, with a deep conviction: 'Caring is Learned!' so that all of us can live in the just and sustainable cities we want to inhabit. This is a legacy from the women of Bogotá to women around the world," she emphasized.

With this sixth edition of the Guangzhou International Award, Bogotá will receive recognition in the form of $20,000, a scholarship for the International Education Program in Design, and a Leadership Thought Workshop aimed at exchanging knowledge and experiences on urban innovation and sustainable development.

The resources from this award will be invested in the information system to identify the one million women that the system aims to cover, provide identification cards, and track the services they and their families access. The technological and information solutions, developed by the Secretariat of Women Affairs  in collaboration with the Bogotá Innovation Laboratory (IBo), enable:

1. Digitally register users and their families in the Care System (both in the Care Blocks, buses, and home assistance) as a one-time process for all services and entities within the Bogotá's Care System, eliminating the need for users to repeatedly provide their information.
2. Electronically capture data from the barcode on the ID card or a caregiver's identification card, which recognizes and acknowledges their participation in the Bogotá's Care System community.
3. Expedite the attendance registration process for classes and services, and maintain a real-time record of the most requested services.
4. Have access to real-time, high-quality, and comprehensive information that enables analysis for decision-making regarding the evolution of the Bogotá's Care System.
5. Provide real-time information to service providers so they can identify the attendees of their classes.
6. Create alerts based on recurring attendance and generate attendance certificates.

This award represents a significant recognition of one of the major legacies of this administration, the Bogotá’s Care System. It serves as an inspiration for both the citizens and the City Government to continue striving for innovative and sustainable urban development, particularly in terms of recognizing and caring for the youth, women, and the planet.

Furthermore, it acknowledges the management undertaken over these past four years, embracing sustainable approaches that are people-centered, sensitive to gender and age, and integrated into urban and territorial development through the implementation of policies, strategies, capacity building, and actions at all levels.

Winning the Guangzhou International Award opens up opportunities for collaboration with other cities and organizations, fostering partnerships and knowledge exchange. It also provides international visibility and positioning in the context of initiatives aimed at achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

The awarded cities were:

• Bogotá, Colombia.

• Kampala, Uganda.

• Xianning, China.

• Gwuanju, Republic of Korea.

• Chalandri, Greece.

Learn more about the Care Blocks at: www.manzanasdelcuidado.gov.co