The city of Belfast is a designated member of the World Health Organization (WHO) European Healthy Cities Network and has been since its establishment in 1987. Belfast Healthy Cities (BHC) has worked successfully during these years to implement the WHO requirements for designated cities within the local policy, political and administrative arrangements.

As secretariat for UK Healthy Cities and Towns Network, BHC will lead PREPARE. A threeyear UK-wide programme, working with the members, including Glasgow City Council and the UK Healthy Cities & Towns Network, alongside community, voluntary and statutory sector partners.

The programme will support communities to prepare for climate and health emergencies by bringing together lived experience, community knowledge and statutory emergency planning. It will create opportunities for communities to influence preparedness planning, develop practical tools and resources, and strengthen connections between communities and emergency planning structures.

PREPARE will deliver community preparedness conversations in Belfast and Glasgow; develop a lived-experience evidence brief; co-produce and test a Community Preparedness Framework; develop training resources for community and voluntary organisations; and produce policy learning for local and national emergency planners. Learning will be shared across the UK Healthy Cities and Towns Network and the WHO Healthy Cities Network.