Join us for our upcoming SDG Local Solutions webinar on 23 July 2025 at 8:00 AM (New York time). This session, organized by UNDP SDG Local Action, will showcase how the city of Rourkela in India is tackling three urban challenges at once: post-harvest food losses, unstable farm incomes, and women’s economic exclusion. The event will officially launch the new guideline: “The Rourkela Cold Room Project”.
When? 11 June 2025 at 8:00 AM New York time / 5:30 PM Rourkela time
To join the webinar, please register here
UNDP’s new report, “The Rourkela Cold Room Project”, summarizes the city’s experience into a step-by-step guideline for local governments that want to replicate this integrated, gender-responsive approach to food-system resilience.
The document shows how an intermediate city in India (Odisha’s state third-largest city) turned the lack of a food cold chain into an opportunity for climate-smart infrastructure and women-led entrepreneurship. Before 2022, up to a third of Rourkela’s fruits and vegetables spoiled daily during peak temperatures; today, most of that produce reaches markets, homes, and institutional kitchens at stable prices.
Download the concept note here
Speakers
Roma Sahoo
City Mission Manager, Rourkela Municipal Corporation
Bewin Tom
Project Supervisor, Rourkela Global Mayors Challenge
Moderator
Angela Mwai
Chief of the Human Rights and Social Inclusion Unit at UN-Habitat
Join the upcoming webinar to learn about practical innovations and policy approaches from Rourkela and UNDP’s work with local governments worldwide.