By the end of 2020, over 200 cities and institutions from Africa, Arab States, Asia and Pacific and the Europe and the CIS regions actively participated in Cities Project network activities, and their development solutions and innovative experiences have been showcased. Over 40 knowledge sharing and capacity development initiatives and webinars were organized in 2020, which received over 3.3 million live views globally, and connected over 1000 cities from across 140+ countries.

The Cities Project worked with more than 80 development partners, including close to 20 UN entities, namely, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), International Trade Center (ITC), World Food Programme (WFP), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), International Telecommunication Union (ITU), UN- Habitat, and UNRCO in many countries, as well as many other institutional partners from within and beyond the United Nations system are directly or indirectly support the Cities Project implementation.

Report of the Secretary-General: Role of South-South cooperation and the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: Challenges and opportunities（A/73/383) pointed out that the number of actors in South-South and triangular cooperation have expanded, including subnational entities such as municipal and provincial governments, as important stakeholder in development cooperation that can be instrumental in scaling up the implementation of the 2030 Agenda through South-South and triangular cooperation efforts.

The United Nations General Assembly, in its resolution (A/RES/72/237) on South-South cooperation, also welcomed the New Urban Agenda adopted at the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III), and urged the United Nations to continue to support South-South cooperation projects that contribute to the implementation of the New Urban Agenda.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about important changes and exposed several points of fragility in the to the international system. It has also showed the importance of South-South solidarity when responding to common challenges. Throughout 2020, the Cities Project has worked to continue promoting city-to-city collaboration in the Global South. It has organized over 40 webinars, launched several publications and knowledge products, and mobilized donations of masks and other PPE from Southern partners, to a number of cities of the global South. These and other accomplishments have been compiled in the Cities Project 2020 Highlights, which you can access here.