[DAY2]＜Session＞ Cities Initiatives in Working Toward the SDGs

＜Session＞ "Cities Initiatives in Working Toward the SDGs"
 

Anthony Pipa
Senior Fellow, Global Economy and Development, Center for Sustainable Development, Brookings Institute
Tony Pipa is a senior fellow in the Center for Sustainable Development at the Brookings Institution. He launched and leads the initiative Local Leadership on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which works with mayors and local government officials to advance sustainable development globally by solving local problems through application of the SDGs. He is also leading research on the emergence of city diplomacy and the impact of global cooperation among local governments on transnational issues.
Tony also launched and manages the Reimagining Federal Rural Policy initative, which seeks to modernize and transform U.S. federal policy to enable community and economic development in underserved and economically distressed rural places across the U.S. His analysis and recommendations are informed by successful changes in policy and practice in U.S. investments overseas.
Tony came to Brookings after serving in the U.S. Department of State during the Obama administration as special envoy to the UN to negotiate and adopt the SDGs. He also served in multiple senior policy roles at USAID, ending the administration as chief strategy officer. He has three decades of executive leadership experience in the philanthropic and public sectors addressing poverty and advancing inclusive economic development both in the U.S. and globally. He attended Stanford University, was graduated from Duke University, and earned a Master of Public Administration at the Harvard Kennedy School.
 

Toshikazu Yazawa
Deputy Director, Yokohama Office of the Americas
Toshikazu Yazawa is the Director for the Office of the City of Yokohama Representative to the Americas, an NY-based offshoot of the City of Yokohama local government. Since the establishment of the office in 2018, he has represented the City of Yokohama at the SDGs Leadership Cities Network, a network of cities initiated and managed by the Brookings Institution to promote local leadership on the SDGs, and also engaged in promoting bi-lateral trade and investment between Yokohama and the U.S.. In parallel, he has directly assisted many U.S. companies establish their base in Yokohama, and Yokohama companies enter into the U.S. market. He also played a leading role in developing Yokohama’s first Voluntary Local Review (VLR) of the SDGs in 2021, leveraging his experience as a member of the SDGs Leadership Cities Network and his study of the VLRs.
Before the opening of the Office of the City of Yokohama Rep. to the Americas in 2018, he contributed to strengthening sister city relations and setting the groundwork for the establishment of the Americas office as a manager for the Europe and Americas Region in the City of Yokohama’s International Affairs Bureau from 2016 to 2018, and engaged in Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) related meetings when he worked for the Ministry of Economy Trade and Investment (METI) in 2014 and 2015.
He started his career with the City of Yokohama in 2008, and engaged in managing the Yokohama Medium Term Plan at the Policy Bureau in 2008 and 2009, planning and coordinating various local projects at the Izumi Ward Office from 2010 to 2012, and developing the city’s budget at the Finance Bureau in 2013.
He earned a Master of International Studies at Utsunomiya University.
 

Aissata Camara
Deputy Commissioner for Policy and Strategic Initiatives and Chief of Staff, NYC Mayor's Office
Aissata M.B. Camara is the Deputy Commissioner for Policy and Strategic Initiatives and Chief of Staff in the NYC Mayor's Office for International Affairs. In this role, she provides international policy guidance to NYC agencies. She also works to strengthen NYC’s strategic leadership on the global stage through partnerships and best practice sharing with local governments, the United Nations, Consulates General, and civil society, and the private sector focused on cities leadership, the Sustainable Development Goals, equity, sustainability, health, education, technology, and diversity. Aissata also oversees the Diplomatic Parking Program and the protocol for the Mayor. She is responsible for the Office’s emergency response in collaboration with the General Counsel. Aissata is the main point of contact for Consulates from Africa, Latin America, and South America. She is also the liaison for Permanent Missions from Africa and the Americas.  
Aissata is a professional with over a decade of program development and management, strategic planning, operations, and relationship building experience in nonprofit, local government, and private sector. She is a recognized expert and excels in helping turn ideas into actionable steps.  While working in leadership and management positions, she developed and implemented successful programs that impacted the lives of more than 40,000 people, especially women and youth, and those living in extreme poverty.  She also launched the award-winning NYC Junior Ambassadors program reaching more than 3,500 youth and educators across the five boroughs. Aissata also led the movement for cities formal commitment to the SDGs through the Voluntary Local Review and its declaration which has more than 330 local governments committed.
Prior to working in the Mayor’s Office, she co-founded There Is No Limit Foundation, an international nonprofit organization focused on serving people living in extreme poverty, especially women, girls, and people with disabilities.  She previously worked at The Rockefeller Foundation, Grameen America, and the Research Foundation for the City of New York. She graduated from Bernard M. Baruch College (CUNY) with a B.A. in International Relations and Social Policy. She went on to earn a M.P.A. in International Public and Nonprofit Management and Policy at the New York University (NYU) Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. She has received numerous awards and recognition including the Jo Ivey Boufford Award for Innovative Solutions to Public Service Challenges. She was also named a Changemaker by the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Coodinator: Simon Mundy
Moral Money Editor, Financial Times
Simon Mundy is the Moral Money Editor at the Financial Times, covering environmental and sustainability issues for the award-winning Moral Money platform and the wider FT. He began his reporting career in Johannesburg, where he covered Southern Africa for the FT before a period writing on the London financial sector. He then spent seven years in Asia, heading the FT bureaux in Seoul and Mumbai, before two years travelling through 26 countries on six continents to research Race for Tomorrow, a book on the global scramble to respond to climate change.