Bloomberg Philanthropies has announced the winning cities of its 2021-2022 Global Mayors Challenge.

Selected from among six hundred and thirty-one applicants in ninety-nine countries, the fifteen recipients are being recognized for innovations that emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic and which address one or more of four issue areas: economic recovery and inclusive growth, health and well-being, climate and environment, and gender and equality. Each city will receive $1 million over three years as well as technical support and coaching to evolve and scale their ideas into real-life programs that improve residents’ lives.

The selected cities include Kigali, Rwanda, in support of efforts to introduce a smart-waste system that improves sanitation and water quality in the city; Butuan, Philippines, to strengthen local food production by empowering farmers to make smarter decisions through a new agri-business model; Wellington, New Zealand, to create a “virtual twin” of the city to help residents better understand climate change impacts; Rotterdam, Netherlands, to use digital tokens to create incentives so local businesses hire vulnerable residents; Bogota, Colombia, to create “care blocks” that support female caretakers, shift more of the care burden to men, and shift more unpaid care work to paid care work; Amman, Jordan, in support of efforts to map available public assets and service infrastructures to improve the city’s emergency response and infrastructure investments; and Paterson, New Jersey, to assist residents struggling with opioid use disorder by fulfilling requests for lifesaving medication within 90 minutes.

“As the world works to address the profound public health and economic effects of the ongoing pandemic, cities can implement innovative ideas at a pace that national governments simply can’t match,” said Michael R. Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg Philanthropies and Bloomberg L.P. and former mayor of New York City. “Our fifteen winners offer bold, achievable plans to improve health, reduce unemployment, empower women, and more. Collectively, they have the potential to improve millions of their residents’ lives – and the most successful solutions will inspire cities around the world to embrace them.”

For a complete list of Global Mayors Challenge recipients and their projects, see the Bloomberg Philanthropies website.

(Photo credit: Getty Images/Vadim Nefedov)