This Project aims to strengthen capacities of policy makers in four selected Arab States for more informed, sustainable and inclusive National Urban Policies (NUP). It works with national, sub-national and local governments to strengthen their policy-making processes while promoting a participatory and inclusive approach. Given UN-Habitat’s conceptualization of NUP as an effort to rally multiple stakeholders (governments, professionals, academia and civil society organizations) to collectively define a common urban vision, the Project’s outreach has a much broader scope that goes beyond building capacities of government authorities (primary beneficiaries). NUP facilitates the role of cities in the transformation of the national economy by providing a coordinating framework and action plan to bring coherence across various urban sectors and scales of urban management. The Project will increase awareness of countries in the region about tools and best practices in NUP making and provide platforms for interactions between state and non-state actors as well as between levels of government. An innovative aspect of the Project is that unlike other agencies assisting governments in selected aspects of NUP, UN-Habitat supports countries throughout the public policy cycle (feasibility, diagnosis, formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation) while promoting capacity development, participation and demonstration projects throughout the policy cycle. The Project is relevant for the Subprogramme 2 (Urban Planning and Design) of the UN-Habitat Strategic Plan 2014 - 2019, and particularly the related work programmes of UN-Habitat (2016 - 2017 and 2018 - 2019). It is a timely demonstration of actions that development partners and countries can take to support the implementation of the New Urban Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goal 11, specifically targets 11.a and 11.3.