Doppelmayr announces partnership with UN-Habitat

Doppelmayr, the global cable car company, is putting together a programme of joint transport training events with UN-Habitat as part of a partnership that was announced in Quito last month during the Habitat III conference.

As well as joining the UN agency’s advocacy platform, the World Urban Campaign, Doppelmayr plans to work with UN-Habitat to bring in development banks and institutes of technology to develop a training programme.

“We are planning to do publications together and also a training academy,’ said Katharina Bernard, Business Development and Marketing Manager at Doppelmayr, who is leading the partnership with UN-Habitat. “We want to give cities training on urban mobility and are in the process of selecting cities from different continents.”

A memorandum of understanding was signed in September and the first activities will begin in 2017 following a planning meeting next month in Nairobi, which will also focus on Doppelmayr’s assistance to UN-Habitat’s Slum Upgrading Programme.

In terms of financing the partnership, as well as providing funds itself, Doppelmayr is talking with development banks and also with representatives of the Transformative Urban Mobility Initiative, a programme backed by BMZ, the Germany Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.

“We want to be seen as a real transport mode not just for tourism and we are hoping that the [World Urban Campaign] network will help us to spread the word,” said Bernhard. “ We want to work with other modes of transport and be integrated into them.”