At the World Bank, our teams working on social development, urban development, disaster risk management, and land issues have endeavored with countries and cities worldwide throughout the year to achieve a common goal: building inclusive, resilient, and sustainable cities and communities for all. How did they do? From our “Sustainable Communities” newsletter, we have captured 12 moments that mark the major accomplishments and lessons learned in 2017—and inspire our continued work to end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity in 2018. Below the last 6 moments are described.

#7: Indigenous Peoples

Worldwide, there are about 370 million Indigenous Peoples and ethnic minorities living in more than 90 countries. They make up only 5% of the global population, but account for about 15% of the extreme poor. On August 9, International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, we discussed – through a video blog and a Facebook Live – the challenges Indigenous Peoples faced and the progress made in the past 10 years in tackling them.

#8: International Day for Disaster Reduction

As we observed the International Day for Disaster Reduction on October 13, the world continued to undergo intensified and more frequent natural disasters. What can we do? Our work on disaster risk management tells us that secure land rights are key to reducing vulnerability and disaster risks. Resilient infrastructure is also crucial – replay a livestreamed discussion on this topic with Richard Branson, Christiana Figueres, and other influencers in October 2017.

#9: Winning photos capture the future of sustainable cities

On World Cities Day (October 31), we revealed the winners and finalists of our Sustainable Cities Photo Competition on the sidelines of the Second Annual Meeting of the Global Platform for Sustainable Cities (GPSC). Take a look at the winning photos, which visually speak to the urgent need for resilient infrastructure and a need to aspire to greener ideals of building sustainable communities for all in many parts of the world.

#10: Technology and civic engagement: new approaches

Discussions on #CivicTech took center stage at the World Bank-IMF Annual Meetings in October 2017. We brought together innovators from civil society and government to explore the potential use of frontier technologies in citizen engagement and social inclusion – to ultimately improve policymaking and service delivery.

#11: Getting to work on disability inclusion

At the Harkin International Disability Employment Summit in November 2017, World Bank Group President Jim Kim said: “Disability should not mean exclusion. Everyone deserves an opportunity for a better life.” Learn more about our work throughout the years to promote disability inclusion in education, employment, urban development, disaster risk management, and other areas of global Development.

#12: There is no Planet B

From the COP23 hosted by Fiji in Bonn, Germany in November to the One Planet Summit in Paris in December, we highlighted some of the transformational progresses in key climate action areas including urban resilience and hydromet, and announced new initiatives – such as the partnership with the Global Covenant of Mayors and the launch of the Caribbean Coalition – that will contribute to the global efforts to build a more resilient urban future. Watch our video blog to learn more.