MSMEs in cities can contribute to challenges common across all concentrated urban areas, such as affordable housing, waste management, and transport. Where cities have unique problems, the small scale of MSMEs can help to find local solutions and make cities more resilient and sustainable. Where the management of a firm is intrinsically linked to the area in which it operates, which is often the case for small businesses, they can be more motivated to contribute to improvements in the local environment and be more concerned with the quality of the local municipality. Enabling local businesses to pursue opportunities to upgrade their cities will contribute to the achievement of this goal (see box 5).
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Box 5. Daily Dump improves organic waste management in India Daily Dump is dedicated to empowering households, individuals and urban communities across India to convert their organic waste to high quality compost. One hundred and thirty Indian cities generate 120,000 tons of waste a day and over 50 per cent is wet/organic waste. Municipalities face huge challenges in handling this waste. Daily Dump started in 2006 with a core team of 3 members and 2 support members and potters who made prototypes. Their range of composting solutions has prevented 4,400 kg of waste from reaching land dumps. Once the organic waste production reaches a certain volume, they are transported to villages to support organic farming. Source: Daily Dump |
Policy measures to support Goal 11:
- Through local MSME associations or Chambers of Commerce, encourage MSMEs to take part in discussion and analysis of the problems in their local cities.
- Provide a conducive environment for startups and other MSMEs to recognize and take up sustainable and commercial activities that contribute to resilient and sustainable cities, such as by considering whether services which may have typically been provided by regional monopolies can be exposed competition at smaller scales.
