The City of Cape Town has been given a shot in the arm in tackling the social, economic and physical challenges inherent in urban environments with its selection as a member of the Rockefeller Foundation’s 100 Resilient Cities (100RC) programme.

The city was now one of 100 cities worldwide set to gain access to the tools, funding, technical expertise and other required resources to build resilience to challenges such as climate change-induced extreme weather events, fires, floods, earthquakes, civil unrest, unemployment, inefficient public transport, endemic crime and violence, drug and alcohol abuse and energy shortages and outages.

“Cape Town’s selection as one of the final cohort of cities to join 100RC’s network will bolster our efforts to prepare our organisation and communities for the opportunities and challenges associated with urbanisation, globalisation and climate change,” the city said in a statement on Tuesday.

Selected from a pool of more than 325 applicants, Cape Town would now be eligible to receive grant funding to hire a chief resilience officer to lead a city-wide “resilience-building process” and engage stakeholders from different government agencies, the public and private sectors and various communities.

“Not only will we be provided with capacity and funding, but also technical support in developing a resilience strategy which reflects the city’s distinct needs,” it pointed out.

The resilience strategy would guide the city in planning for more integrated solutions to the challenges emerging from globalisation, urbanisation and climate change.

The programme’s “platform of partners”, including Swiss Re, Microsoft, the World Bank, and the International Rescue Committee, would provide critical tools, services and technical assistance valued at over $180-million in areas such as innovative finance, technology and infrastructure.

The membership also unlocked a global network of peer cities to share best practices and challenges.

“As a new member of 100RC, we can work with the best in the private, government and nonprofit sectors in developing and sharing tools to plan to and respond to the resilience challenges ahead.”

Other recent city additions to the programme included Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Melaka, Indonesia; Jaipur, India; Can Tho, Vietnam; Atlanta, Seattle and Washington, in the US; Nairobi, Kenya; Tel Aviv, Israel; Salvador, Brazil; Paynesville, Liberia; Seoul, South Korea; Yiwu, China; Lagos, Nigeria; and Luxor, Egypt.

The “highly competitive” application spanned more than 90 countries across six continents, with member cities selected based on a recommendation by distinguished judges from around the world, including Rockefeller Foundation president Dr Judith Rodin, Swedish International Development Cooperation director-general Charlotte Petri Gornitzka and International Finance Corporation VP for global partnerships Nena Stoiljkovic, besides others.