Butuan City is one of the 50 champion cities named as finalists in the 2021 Global Mayors Challenge, 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, Butuan advances to the four-month Champion Phase of the competition. 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 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,” Bloomberg said.
Butuan proposes to create a catalytic mechanism along the agribusiness value chain ecosystem that will provide demand forecasts and create price prediction models linked to farmers’ planning of production.
“The pandemic has heightened our sense of food and nutrition insecurity. We felt the urgency to accelerate our city’s transformation from a net importer of vegetables to a net exporter. The I-ADAPT initiative radically improves the system of backward and forward linkages of resource and market accessibility of our agricultural sector. By doing this, we enable and empower our disadvantaged farmers and other value chain players,” said Butuan Mayor Ronnie Vicente “RCL” Lagnada. “By transforming our agri sector, we are able to promote food and nutrition security and thereby reduce poverty. “
The 50 champion cities submitted ideas addressing four of the most significant challenges borne of the pandemic: economic recovery and inclusive growth; health and wellbeing; climate and environment; and good governance and equality.
A prestigious selection committee co-chaired by Bloomberg Philanthropies board member Mellody Hobson, Co-CEO and president of Ariel Investments, and David Miliband, president and CEO of International Rescue Committee, assessed the applications to determine the champion city finalists.
“This is always an especially exciting phase of the Mayors Challenge, helping mayors push their innovations to even greater heights," said James Anderson, head of government innovation at Bloomberg Philanthropies. "While 15 cities will ultimately take home grand prizes, all 50 cities receive world-class coaching and support to improve their ideas and their potential to improve lives."
The 2021 Global Mayors Challenge builds on the success of four previous Bloomberg-sponsored Challenges in the U.S. (2013 and 2018), Europe (2014), and Latin America and the Caribbean (2016).
Bloomberg Philanthropies works in over 120 countries around the world to ensure better, longer lives for the greatest number of people. The organization focuses on five key areas for creating lasting change: arts, education, environment, government innovation and public health.
Bloomberg Philanthropies encompasses all of Michael Bloomberg’s charitable activities, including his foundation and his personal giving. In 2016, Bloomberg Philanthropies distributed $600 million.