Our Work 2011- Policies and Products 2011 and MTSIP Focus Area Policy

our work

TABLE OF CONTENT FOREWORD INTRODUCTION FOCUS AREA 1: EFFECTIVE ADVOCACY, MONITORING AND PARTNERSHIPS

POLICY PRODUCTS

FOCUS AREA 2: PROMOTION OF PARTICIPATORY URBAN PLANNING, MANAGEMENT AND GOVERNANCE

POLICY PRODUCTS

FOCUS AREA 3: PROMOTE PRO-POOR LAND AND HOUSING

POLICY PRODUCTS

FOCUS AREA 4: ENVIRONMENTALLY SOUND BASIC URBAN INFRASTRUCTURE AND SERVICES

POLICY PRODUCTS

FOCUS AREA 5: STRENGTHENED HUMAN SETTLEMENTS FINANCE SYSTEMS

POLICY PRODUCTS

FOCUS AREA 6: EXCELLENCE IN MANAGEMENT RISK AND DISASTER MANAGEMENT THE ENHANCED NORMATIVE AND OPERATIONAL FRAMEWORK

This collection of documents outlines UN-HABITAT’s work in line with the agency’s Medium-Term Strategic and Institutional Plan (2008–2013). It also presents the agency’s comparative advantage in these times of rapid and often chaotic urbanization.

This folder summarizes all the work that UN-HABITAT does. On the left-hand side is a series of policy leaflets that explains the priorities of the agency. On the right-hand side are product leaflets that describe the key results and success stories from all our programmes.

With more than half of the world’s population living in urban areas and over a billion people living in slums, development challenges in towns and cities are enormous. The Medium-Term Strategic and Institutional Plan is a road map that helps UN-HABITAT meet the challenges and expectations of an urban world. It is also a vision for a better urban future – a world in which humanity can engage in social, economic, and cultural pursuits without compromising the ability of future generations to do so as well.

We want to marshal the goodwill, know-how, and resources of all spheres of government, civil society, the business sector, and international and domestic financial institutions to focus primarily on the key determinants for sustainable urbanization and inclusive urban development. To facilitate this process, UN-HABITAT works in five main areas:

� Effective advocacy, monitoring, and partnerships � Participatory planning, management, and governance � Promotion of pro-poor land and housing � Environmentally sound basic urban infrastructure and services � Strengthened human settlements finance systems

The World Urban Campaign, with its theme ‘Better Cities, Better Life’, spearheads these priority areas to galvanize political will and commitment concerning the agency’s work. Emerging issues that need special attention include urban

mobility, urban legislation, municipal finance, energy use within urban areas, and strategic urban planning.

Sustainable urbanization has become central to development because it builds on the growing realization of the international community that urbanization represents a unique opportunity and is a vibrant, positive force that must be harnessed to support economic growth and social development in a globalizing world economy. This is particularly important during economic downturns and climate change, both of which impact cities the most.

UN-HABITAT also places a lot of importance on the ongoing United Nations reforms, as well as on improving its internal management, which is guided by the norms of efficiency, effectiveness, accountability, and transparency.

Our development work to support towns and cities is complex, as the city is a human creation that requires a multidimensional approach and strategic thinking. UN-HABITAT also makes a strong contribution in the area of post-disaster and post-conflict recovery and development. Details of UN-HABITAT’s work, for which sustained funding is required, are presented in this catalogue, at both the strategic level and the output level.

We hope that you will find this folder useful. We look forward to joining with you to create a more sustainable urban future.

Dr. Joan ClosUnder-Secretary-General and Executive DirectorUnited Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT)

Foreword

Introduction

This brief introduction to UN-HABITAT highlights the agency’s institutional priorities and operational activities, which focus on the promotion of decent housing for all and sustainable urban development. All the programmes and projects presented in the different focus areas are part and parcel of the agency´s Medium-Term Strategic and Institutional Plan and are relevant to the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals and Targets relating to environmental sustainability, access to water, and slum reduction. The plan is a blueprint to help member states meet the challenges of rapid urbanization and climate change. Another important element is UN-HABITAT’s humanitarian and disaster management role. Responsive funding for this effort is crucial, given the enormity of land and housing needs and problems that result from conflict and natural disasters around the world.

20081970 2030

RURAL63%

URBAN37%

RURAL49%

URBAN51%

RURAL40%

URBAN60%

GLOBAL POPULATION RURAL/URBAN

The world is at the dawn of a new urban era, with most of humanity now living in cities. UN-HABITAT is tackling rapid urbanization, escalating poverty, unemployment, poorly managed disasters, and the effects of climate change. The agency addresses these challenges by turning innovative ideas into action. UN-HABITAT is flexible, focused, and responsive to the aspirations of cities and their residents. Its flagship publications are widely acknowledged as premier reference works on city trends and urban issues.

UN-HABITAT’s programmes in hundreds of cities around the world are designed to achieve a measurable impact on the lives of the urban poor, as a major contribution to the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals. Working towards affordable housing and sustainable urban development, UN-HABITAT’s Medium-Term Strategic and Institutional Plan concentrates on six mutually reinforcing focus areas; five of these are substantive, while the sixth concerns the agency’s internal management.

Focus Area 1Effective advocacy, monitoring, and partnerships to promote sustainable urbanization through education, communication, and evidence-based information and, specifically, through global campaigns, policy dialogue, strategic partnerships, and the collection and analysis of data.

Focus Area 2Promotion of participatory urban planning, management, and governance to strengthen the performance of national governments, local authorities, and other stakeholders in developing more liveable, productive, and inclusive cities.

Focus Area 3Promotion of pro-poor land and housing to assist national governments and Habitat Agenda partners to adopt pro-poor, gender- and age-sensitive housing, land management, and property administration through enabling policies and improved regulatory frameworks.

Focus Area 4Environmentally sound basic urban infrastructure and services to expand access to and sustain provision of adequate clean water, improved sanitation, waste management, and environmentally sound transport, energy, and appropriate technologies in urban and peri-urban areas.

Focus Area 5Strengthened human settlements finance systems to improve access to finance for housing and infrastructure, particularly for the urban poor. Innovative finance mechanisms and institutional capacity will leverage the contributions of communities, local authorities, the private sector, governments, and international financial institutions.

Focus Area 6Excellence in management to improve the implementation of the agency’s work through strengthened results-based management and improved communication and skills, as well as better financial, human resource, and knowledge management systems.

Governing body and meetings

The Governing CouncilUN-HABITAT’s work and relationships with its partners are periodically examined in detail by the Governing Council, which is subsidiary to the General Assembly and serves as the intergovernmental decision-making body of UN-HABITAT. It reports to the General Assembly through the Economic and Social Council, and its main functions are as follows:1. Setting UN-HABITAT’s policies by developing and promoting policy

objectives, priorities, and guidelines regarding existing and planned programmes of work in the field of human settlements

2. Overseeing working relations with partners by closely following the activities of United Nations agencies and other international organizations in the field of human settlements, and proposing ways through which the overall policy objectives in the field of human settlements within the UN system might best be achieved

3. Approving UN-HABITAT’s biennial work programme and budget

The Governing Council meets every 2 years and is composed of 58 member states, which represent 5 regional groups.

The Committee of Permanent RepresentativesThe Committee of Permanent Representatives serves as the Governing Council’s permanent intersessional subsidiary organ. Its main functions are as follows:1. To review and monitor, within the policy and budgetary framework provided

by the Governing Council, the implementation of the work programme of UN-HABITAT, as well as the implementation of Governing Council decisions

2. To review the draft work programme and budget of UN-HABITAT3. To prepare draft decisions and resolutions for consideration by the

Governing Council

The Committee of Permanent Representatives has at least four regular meetings, or sessions, in a year, and it is assisted by working group meetings on various topics. Its membership is open to all permanent representatives of the member states of the UN accredited to UN-HABITAT.

Funding

Most UN-HABITAT funding comes from voluntary contributions from governmental and intergovernmental donors, while UN member states provide the regular budget. Other UN bodies, local authorities, the private sector, and multilateral organizations provide funds for specific projects (termed earmarked or non-core activities).

UN-HABITAT thus has the following sources of funding: � Regular budget allocations, which are approved by the UN General Assembly

(core funding) � General purpose contributions, which are non-earmarked voluntary

contributions from governments to support the implementation of the approved work programme

� Special contributions, which are earmarked voluntary contributions from governments and other donors for the implementation of specific activities in the work programme that are consistent with the UN-HABITAT mandate

� Technical cooperation contributions, which are earmarked resources from governments and other donors for the implementation of country-level activities

THE MEDIUM-TERM STRATEGIC AND INSTITUTIONAL PLAN (2008–2013)The plan comprises strategic and institutional components. The strategic component envisages a world in which people living in urban settings can access decent housing, clean water, and basic sanitation services. The institutional component places UN-HABITAT at the forefront of reform so that accountability, transparency, and results-based management are streamlined throughout the agency. The plan’s vision is to help create, by 2013, the conditions for international and national efforts “to realize more sustainable urbanization, including efforts to arrest the growth of slums, and set the stage for the subsequent reduction in and reversal of the number of slum dwellers worldwide”.

� Delegates at the 22nd session of the Governing Council in Nairobi, Kenya.

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Programmes and projects

UN-HABITAT projects fall under various programmes, which are the platforms on which the agency bases its work. Programmes are designed to help policymakers and local communities find durable solutions to urban human settlement challenges. Programmes operate globally, regionally, and nationally and have huge potential for improving the lives of millions of urban poor. Therefore, programmes represent the agency’s core activities, for which increased and sustained funding is required.

UN-HABITAT runs its programmes from its headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, and its regional offices: � Regional Office for Africa and the Arab States (Nairobi, Kenya) � Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (Fukuoka, Japan) � Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) � Office for Central European Countries (Warsaw, Poland)

A Cairo office for the Arab states has recently been opened, with financial support from the Government of Egypt.

Trust funds

UN-HABITAT operates thematic trust funds aimed at helping beneficiaries achieve specific aspects of the Millennium Development Goals and other development targets. These trust funds are designed to facilitate contributions from multiple donors. In addition, they reduce transaction costs through a transparent and accountable governance system involving donor representatives and international and national partners.

The trust funds include the following: � The Slum Upgrading Facility, which provides advisory services, the

packaging of financial products, and referral functions to its clients. The concept of ‘credit enhancement’ is critical, guaranteeing local loans from commercial banks for slum improvement projects.

� The Experimental Reimbursable Seeding Operation, which provides seed money for pro-poor housing and related infrastructure projects on a reimbursable basis.

� The Water and Sanitation Trust Fund, which supports developing countries to achieve the internationally agreed development goal for water and sanitation in rapidly growing urban areas. It leverages policy advisory skills and local institution building with follow-up investments from regional development banks and the World Bank.

� The Palestinian Housing Fund, which is designed to improve the living conditions of the Palestinian people and promote peace building.

� A market street in Cairo, Egypt.

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Available Investment Opportunities: Key investment opportunities in UN-HABITAT that require committed funding are on www.unhabitat.org/pipelineprojects

DISCLAIMER: The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area, or of its authorities, or concerning delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries, or regarding its economic system or degree of development. The analysis, conclusions and recommendations of this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, the Governing Council of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme or its Member States. Copyright © United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT), 2011

United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) P.O. Box 30030, GPO 00100, Nairobi, Kenya � Tel: +254 20 7625159 � Fax: +254 20 7625015 � [email protected] � www.unhabitat.org UN-HABITAT is the United Nations body mandated to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities and to provide adequate shelter for all

WE HELP PLAN THE FUTURE.

AT THE DAWN OF A NEW URBAN ERA,

Countries where UN-HABITAT currently has field operations

Printing: UNON, Publishing Services Section, Nairobi, ISO 14001:2004-certified

MEDIUM-TERM STRATEGIC ANDINSTITUTIONAL PLAN 2008−2013Focus Area Policy and Strategy Papers

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Introduction to theFocus Area Policyand Strategy Papers

Preface

Cities and towns are growing rapidly. With every passing month, the equivalent of a new city the size of Madrid is created. Urbanization generates economic growth and social and political advances, as well as technical and scientific progress. But when poorly managed, it can generate poverty, social exclusion, and environmental degradation.

To address these challenges, UN-HABITAT’s Governing Council in 2005 asked the agency to prepare a Medium-Term Strategic and Institutional Plan. The vision of the plan is to help create by 2013 “the necessary conditions for concerted international and national efforts to stabilize the growth of slums and to set the stage for the subsequent reduction in and reversal of the number of slum dwellers”.

� Street scene in Shanghai, China.

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Strategy

The plan’s overall strategic goal is to support governments and their development partners to achieve more sustainable urbanization. It aims to promote policy and institutional reform in order to have impacts at the appropriate scale. The key cross-cutting issues of the plan are (i) gender, (ii) youth, and (iii) response to human settlements in crisis, all of which feature prominently in the first five focus areas of the plan.

Focus Areas

There are six focus areas in the Medium-Term Strategic and Institutional Plan, each of which has a plan of action (Focus Areas 1 to 5 have full policy papers detailing these):

Advocacy, Monitoring, and Partnerships1. Participatory Planning, Management, and Governance2. Access to Land and Housing for All3. Environmentally Sound Basic Urban Infrastructure and Services4. Strengthened Human Settlements Finance Systems5. Excellence in Management6.

Intro

Context and Approach

UN-HABITAT is the lead United Nations agency responsible for promoting sustainable urban development. At a time when the world is increasingly aware of this challenge, UN-HABITAT must play a leadership and catalytic role. In April 2007, the agency’s Medium-Term Strategic and Institutional Plan was approved and work began immediately to prepare for its implementation.

Through the medium-term plan, UN-HABITAT wants to see sustainable urbanization in cities and regions that provides all citizens with adequate shelter, basic services, security, and employment opportunities, regardless of age, sex, and social strata.

UN-HABITAT is working towards this vision by emphasizing partnerships and continuing to develop the Enhanced Normative and Operational Framework, which is ensuring greater harmonization between normative and operational work at the country level. The six mutually reinforcing focus areas represent an integrated approach to achieving sustainable urbanization. Each focus area has an overall strategic result and specific expected accomplishments, all of which are detailed in the separate focus area documents.

Getting It Done

UN-HABITAT’s success in achieving its strategic aims depends on its success in implementing important institutional reforms.

Priorities include integration within the ongoing UN reform process; institutional adjustments to align UN-HABITAT’s structure with the medium-term plan; a review of the agency’s governance structures; the implementation of results-based management; strengthened human resources management; strengthened knowledge management; and an improved resource mobilization and communications strategy.

The expected results of the medium-term plan focus areas include the adoption of improved sustainable urbanization policies, from the local to the global level, and the improvement of inclusive urban planning, management, and governance at national and local levels. There will also be improved access to land and housing, and expanded access to environmentally sound basic urban infrastructure services, focusing on unserved and under-served populations.

Additional results will include improved access to sustainable financing for affordable housing and infrastructure in targeted countries, and effective and efficient delivery, by UN-HABITAT, of the planned results of the medium-term plan.

Partnerships

UN-HABITAT’s Enhanced Normative and Operational Framework is an integrated approach to support governments and their development partners to achieve more sustainable urbanization through better alignment between normative and operational work. The framework builds on and strengthens existing synergies and partnership arrangements within a coherent structure that reduces transaction costs within the agency and vis-à-vis donors and partners.

� Participants at World Urban Forum 5, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

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The focus area policy papers identify some of the critical partners with whom UN-HABITAT is strengthening its strategic relationship. These partnerships inform the overall partnership strategy as well as the operationalization of the Global Campaign for Sustainable Urbanization and the Habitat Agenda Task Manager System. Collaboration with partners focuses on implementing the work programmes of each focus area and working together at the national level in selected pilot countries.

Focus Area 6: Excellence in Management

The Medium-Term Strategic and Institutional Plan’s Focus Area 6 is unique in its cross-cutting nature. Unlike the five other focus areas, the sixth applies to the whole medium-term plan and does not have its own policy paper. “Excellence in Management” relates to UN-HABITAT’s institutional and operational culture and is vital for the implementation of all the focus areas.

In essence, Focus Area 6 ensures effectiveness in UN-HABITAT’s work. This is being done through enhanced results-based management (a key element of the medium-term plan), improved communication, and better financial, human, and knowledge management systems and tools.

The expected results of Focus Area 6 include increased impact at the country and global level, resulting from more cohesion and resource sharing. Efficiency and effectiveness will also be increased through better knowledge management, including systematic dissemination of policy and programme information. There will be improved policies and performance, based on feedback from better programme monitoring, evaluation, and reporting that focuses on results and lessons learned.

Additionally, there will be better funding from a wider donor base, resulting from a comprehensive resource mobilization strategy. Another expected result is better alignment between staff skills and functions, resulting from an improved human resource management system. Finally, there will be higher visibility of UN-HABITAT’s work through greater commitment by all staff to a common vision, culture, and branding.

Intro

DISCLAIMER: The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country,territory, city or area, or of its authorities, or concerning delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries, or regarding its economic system or degree of development. The analysis, conclusions and recommendations of this publication do not necessarily reflectthe views of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme,the Governing Council of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme or its Member States. Copyright © United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT), 2011

For more information or to obtain a copy of a full Medium-Term Strategic and Institutional Plan Focus Area Policy and Strategy Paper, contact us.

UN-HABITAT is the United Nations body mandated to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities and to provide adequate shelter for all.1Intro ENOF 2 3 4 5

Focus Area Policy and Strategy Paper Summary

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Focus Area 1:Effective Advocacy,Monitoring, andPartnerships

In Brief

Effective advocacy, monitoring, and partnerships are vital for achieving sustainable urbanization and reducing urban poverty, which are key aims of national development policies and strategies.

Improved monitoring of urban conditions complements efforts that bring sustainable urbanization to the attention of national policy and legislative debate processes. Involving strategic partners boosts these efforts.

� Schoolchildren in Kenya working together.

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Strategy

UN-HABITAT raises awareness of sustainable urbanization issues among governments, local authorities, and other Habitat Agenda Partners through major global mechanisms such as the World Urban Forum, the World Urban Campaign, World Habitat Day, the Global Urban Economic Dialogue series, and the Dubai International Award for Best Practices.

The agency engages in evidence-based global monitoring of urbanization conditions and trends, disseminating the results globally through the Global Report on Human Settlements, the State of the World’s Cities Report, and other major publications. UN-HABITAT collaborates with public sector, civil society, professional, and private sector partners to promote sustainable urbanization principles and practices.

Actions

UN-HABITAT is supporting regional, national, and local authorities, as well as partners, to achieve sustainable urbanization through evidence-based research and knowledge.

In order to achieve sustainable urbanization, UN-HABITAT undertakes advocacy and monitoring work in all dimensions of sustainable urban development, focusing on internationally agreed goals. Habitat Agenda partners actively participate in making and implementing urban policy locally and globally. In addition, UN-HABITAT promotes innovation to help achieve sustainable urbanization and encourages policy reforms at the institutional level. Programmes encourage the urban poor, including slum dwellers, to get directly involved in decision making and implementation as the most effective way to address their needs.

MEDIUM-TERM STRATEGIC ANDINSTITUTIONAL PLAN 2008−2013

Our Approach

Advocacy: The main objective is to raise awareness about global human settlement conditions and trends. The preparation of UN-HABITAT’s flagship reports, the Global Report on Human Settlements and the State of the World’s Cities Report, enable UN-HABITAT to organize a range of activities to advance global dialogue on human settlement issues. These include events such as the World Urban Forum and World Habitat Day.

Monitoring: Through assessment and analysis, urban issues and trends are monitored in order to produce evidence-based knowledge – the fundamental element of effective advocacy. The UrbanInfo Database System, Geographical Information Systems, the Urban Indicator Programme, and Urban Observatory tools are used for effective monitoring, from the local level to the global level.

Partnerships: UN-HABITAT supports the partnership model in four key areas: youth, civil society, the private sector, and parliamentarians. Partnerships spur institutional innovation and provide better responses to urban challenges by seeking external expertise and resources. The main types of partnerships are i) advocacy partnerships, ii) partnerships that help to develop norms, standards, and tools, and iii) partnerships to share and coordinate resources and expertise.

Expected Accomplishments

The expected accomplishments of Focus Area 1 are as follows:

Improved awareness of sustainable urbanization issues at 1. the national and global levelsHabitat Agenda partners actively participate in the 2. formulation of sustainable urbanization policyMonitoring of sustainable urbanization conditions and 3. trends improved

Getting It Done

Focus Area 1 is cross-cutting. Each contributing division, branch, section, or unit is clear on their roles and responsibilities through the intra-agency agreement of cooperation. The monitoring and analysis of urbanization trends and of the impact of urban policies place particular emphasis on age- and gender-disaggregated data. The monitoring, advocacy, and partnership framework is harmonized with UN-HABITAT’s Strategic Framework and Work Programme.

Working Together

The goals of Focus Area 1 cannot be achieved without engaging a whole range of partner groups at all levels (global, international, regional, national, and local). They include civil society, research institutions, the private sector, parliamentarians, women, and youth. The partners are selected strategically in order to maximize the impact.

ENHANCED NORMATIVE AND OPERATIONAL FRAMEWORK PRIORITY COUNTRIES

UN-HABITAT’s work in the following countries is specifically related to Focus Area 1.

BANGLADESH | EGYPT | INDONESIA | IRAQ | KENYAPHILIPPINES | SUDAN | TANZANIA | UGANDA | VIETNAM

� A pre-planned protest for housing rights at World Urban Forum 5, Rio de Janerio, Brazil.

� A women’s forum at World Urban Forum 3, Nanjing, China.

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For more information or to obtain a copy of the full Medium-Term Strategic and Institutional Plan Focus Area Policy and Strategy Paper, contact us.


World Urban ForumBringing together policymakers and non-governmental actors in sustainable urbanization

The United Nations Millennium Declaration recognizes the world’s urban poor. It articulates the commitment of member states to improve the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers by the year 2020. This is directly relevant to the UN-HABITAT mandate of uplifting the living conditions of the urban poor and ensuring sustainable urban development. Given the importance of interaction among policymakers and urban actors at every level who tackle urban challenges and ensure human and civil rights, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution calling on UN-HABITAT to hold a World Urban Forum every two years to bring all these actors together. The forum has become the world’s premier platform for interaction between policymakers at all levels of government and non-government actors of diverse categories, all of whom are valuable interlocutors and implementers of the Habitat Agenda in a world that is increasingly urban, and one in which social inequity is deepening.

The relevance of the biennial forum may be seen on two levels: (i) encouraging participant engagement through dialogue, debate, and enhanced networking; and (ii) having an impact on participants by providing ideas that can be applied in their individual work. Participant surveys and interviews reaffirm that the approach of the forum is very relevant.

HIGHLIGHT: FRESH INTERACTION BETWEEN MAYORS AND GOVERNMENTS IN BRAZILIn 2010, the World Urban Forum’s informal nature once again created a platform for international conversations and cooperation on urban issues at every level and across social and economic divides. For example, in quiet meetings away from the fray and sometimes at networking events, government ministers from a variety of countries met to discuss the problems of a rapidly urbanizing world, thus forging new north-south and south-south cooperation. The forum also provided a chance for fresh interactions between mayors and governments. Not least, it was also a vehicle through which grassroots women´s groups, youth, and slum dwellers were able to interact with government representatives, global parliamentarians, and municipal leaders. Quite a significant number of participants were attending the forum for the first time and almost all were inspired by initiatives and programmes for improving conditions, including in Brazil’s favelas. The 2010 forum offered three key messages and opportunities for new partnerships: building communities more sustainably; restoring security to housing markets; and incorporating innovative and sustainable approaches into the way we plan for disaster and offset climate change.

World Urban Campaign – Better City, Better LifeFostering stronger partnerships for sustainable urbanization

The World Urban Campaign is a global coalition of public, private, and civil society partners with a common vision: to promote and reinforce sustainable urbanization policies, strategies, and practices. Launched in Rio de Janeiro at the fifth session of the World Urban Forum in March 2010, the campaign is coordinated by UN-HABITAT and governed by a steering committee that represents the range of Habitat Agenda constituencies.

The campaign aims to combine and foster the many exciting efforts being undertaken by the partners to contribute to the well-being of cities throughout the world. The campaign will help them advance strategically together to achieve policy change, investment, and changed mindsets, which are needed for a sustainable urban future. The campaign also intends partners to learn from each other, emphasizing and encouraging sustainable development in urban places.

The campaign is a key instrument in UN-HABITAT’s quest for sustainable urban development and will enhance the organization’s catalytic role, with a systematic

Focus Area 1Effective Advocacy, Monitoring, and PartnershipsUsing education, communication, and evidence-based information to promote sustainable urbanization.

Five sessions of the World Urban Forum have been held to date:

Session Venue Theme Dates No. of participants No. of countries Total budget (USD)

1 Nairobi, Kenya Sustainable Urbanization May 2002 1,200 N/A 413,547

2 Barcelona, Spain Cities: Crossroads of Cultures, Inclusiveness and Integration? September 2004 4,400 N/A 633,738

3 Vancouver, Canada Our Future: Sustainable Cities, Turning Ideas to Action June 2006 11,41 8 100 3,983,044

4 Nanjing, China Harmonious Urbanization: The Challenge of Balanced Territorial Development November 2008 8,000 146 2,986,290

5 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil The Right to the City: Bridging the Urban Divide March 2010 13,795 150 5,185,246

� The World Urban Forum in 2010 inspired participants with initiatives and programmes for improving conditions in Brazil’s favelas such as the one pictured above in Rio de Janeiro.

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approach towards partnership, advocacy, and networking. The campaign will drive substantive coherence, linking UN-HABITAT’s Medium-term Strategic and Institutional Plan focus areas; amplify key messages of the plan through targeted advocacy and awareness tools, including global reports, the World Urban Forum, and World Habitat Day; mobilize partners, providing the glue that keeps everyone working together; increase the visibility of urban issues and keep them high on the global agenda; and guide and motivate all stakeholders, ensuring allocation of adequate resources to urban development, continuity, and growth.

The 100 Cities Initiative is one of the World Urban Campaign’s first building blocks. It is a forum for the best stories of change in cities that all aim for a smarter urban future. The UN-HABITAT Business Award for Better Cities is another campaign initiative aimed at recognizing outstanding practices by the private sector that contribute to sustainable urbanization. The campaign is also creating a user-friendly Catalogue of Tools and Methods which focuses on those that have been developed, tested, and applied in support of sustainable urban development. A Global Observatory of Good Policies and Enabling Legislation will also be established to offer cities and countries a state-of-the-art tool to assess and review their laws and policies on the right to the city.

RESOURCES2009

APPROX. TOTAL BUDGET PER YEAR (USD)AS OF NOV. 2010

231,480

HIGHLIGHT: THE WORLD URBAN CAMPAIGN EXTENDS TO ALL CORNERS OF THE GLOBEThe World Urban Campaign has expanded its outreach by increasing the number of umbrella organizations that have committed to work on the agreed principles relating to sustainable urban development. A network of professional journalists (Citiscope and South-South News) has been brought on-board to promote the positive news about cities throughout the world and spread campaign messages. Collaboration with other UN agencies, particularly with related campaigns they are promoting, has been established. These include the campaigns on resilient cities (UNISDR) and fostering creative economies (UNDP). A partnership has been developed with an initiative of the Government of the United States of America on developing indicators that demonstrate the progress that American cities are making towards sustainable urban development and inform supportive policy, planning, and investment.

Global Report on Human SettlementsRaising awareness on human settlement issues

The Global Report on Human Settlements, published every two years, is now recognized as the most authoritative and up-to-date global assessment of human settlement conditions and policy trends. For instance, Enhancing Urban Safety and Security: Global Report on Human Settlements 2007 was selected by Choice, a leading review journal in the USA, as an ‘Outstanding Academic Title’. The report is also widely used by relevant university and research institutions in their training and research programmes.

So far, seven issues of the Global Report on Human Settlements have been published. The first issue, released in 1987, was comprehensive and analysed worldwide and regional developments, trends, and prospects in the field of human settlements. It reviewed the concept of human settlements as it had evolved from the first United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat I), convened in 1976 in Vancouver. An Urbanizing World was the

second issue, published in 1996. The third issue was published in 2001, titled Cities in a Globalizing World. The fourth issue covered The Challenge of Slums (2003) and is in high demand up to now, necessitating a reprint in 2009. The 2005 issue was titled Financing Urban Shelter and the 2007 issue focused on Urban Safety and Security. Planning Sustainable Cities was the seventh issue, published in October 2009. The eighth issue (to be published in 2011) will be on cities and climate change, while the ninth issue (to be published in 2013) will be on sustainable urban transport.

Typical budget for one issue of the Global Report on Human SettlementsActivity Cost (USD)

Core chapter inputs by experts 180,000

Regional and thematic assessment studies 150,000

City case studies 75,000

Global Research Network on Human Settlements Advisory Board meetings (two) 170,000

Publishing (including abridged edition, English) 105,000

Abridged edition translation into five UN languages and publication 225,000

Global launching and dissemination 75,000

TOTAL 980,000

HIGHLIGHT: THE 2009 GLOBAL REPORT INVOLVED MORE THAN 100 INTERNATIONAL EXPERTSThe preparation of the 2009 Global Report on Human Settlements: Planning Sustainable Cities involved 56 top scholars from 48 institutions around the world and 49 expert advisers from 40 institutions. Partner universities and professional institutions in countries such as Canada, Chile, India, Lebanon, and South Africa were involved in launching the report on behalf of UN-HABITAT. The Royal Town Planning Institute (UK) and the American Planning Association (USA) made particularly important contributions during the launch. A recent achievement is the publication of the Policy Directions series, which consists of abridged editions of the Global Report on Human Settlements. These are published every two years alongside each issue of the report. Three Policy Directions issues have been published so far (2005, 2007, and 2009). The series targets policymakers and has been popular, especially with national governments. The 2009 report is currently being used as a reference text on urban land use planning by the World Bank Institute.

State of the World’s Cities ReportCalling attention to increasing urban challenges

The State of the World’s Cities Report conveys substantive, evidence-based knowledge and data, but this information is made reader-friendly and accessible to the wider public – laypeople, mayors, decision makers, non-governmental organizations, and the media. As such, it includes visual media and is written and formatted in a journalistic style that avoids jargon. The cost of this biennial report is approximately USD 2 million, which is very low compared to similar authoritative global reports.

The 2004/2005 issue, Globalization and Urban Culture, was also selected by Choice journal as an ‘Outstanding Academic Title’. The 2006/2007 report broke new ground by showing that slum dwellers in developing countries are as badly off as, if not worse off than, their rural compatriots. While the 2008/2009 report was titled Harmonious Cities, the 2010/2011 report analysed the urban divide through its different forms: e.g. inclusion and exclusion, wealth and poverty, and equality and inequality.

HIGHLIGHT: STATE OF THE WORLD’S CITIES REPORT GETS AUDIENCE IN PARLIAMENTS IN INDIA, BRAZIL, AND MEXICOThe State of the World’s Cities Report 2010/2011 – Cities for All: Bridging the Urban Divide was launched in Rio de Janeiro at World Urban Forum 5. The report was also launched in Paris, Geneva, Brussels (in the European Parliament, resulting in the request for a joint publication with DG Research), London, New York, Nairobi, and Honolulu. The report’s topic and the initial publicity through various outlets generated much more media attention than previous reports, with 5,360 English-language media articles mentioning the report. Articles or advertisements on the report were printed in the Guardian Weekly, the Financial Times, the Economist, the International Herald Tribune, the New African, and Newsweek, among others. Major television stations, including BBC, CNN, and Al Jazeera, also featured the report.

The report was officially discussed in the Indian parliament, in relation to slum-upgrading policy. In Brazil, the report was discussed in the local parliament of Guiana, the most economically unequal city in Brazil. The Mexican parliament translated the abridged version of the report into Spanish to facilitate its use in planning and is now translating the full report. The Government of Brazil plans to use the report’s poverty-analysis guidelines for their own poverty research in ten Brazilian cities. As a research reference, the report has been quoted in 20 publications, and 5 requests were received for substantive use of the report in publications.

Regional state of cities reportsInforming global and regional state reports

In 2007, UN-HABITAT’s Governing Council mandated an expansion of the agency’s existing flagship reports, the Global Report on Human Settlements and the State of the World’s Cities Report, to include a new biennial report series that looks at urban and housing issues at the regional level. Whereas the successive State of the World’s Cities Reports are considered highly worthwhile publications, the Governing Council stated that a report with a global outlook cannot always do full justice to very specific regional urban and housing conditions and trends.

UN-HABITAT thus prepared and launched in 2008 its first regional state of cities report, The State of African Cities 2008: A Framework for Addressing Urban Challenges in Africa. The second report, The State of African Cities 2010: Governance, Inequality, and Urban Land Markets, was launched in 2010 at the African Ministerial Conference on Housing and Urban Development. This series is the most authoritative and up-to-date assessment of human settlement

conditions and policy trends in African cities and towns, reviewing these issues at regional, national, and local levels. Depending on the region, the approach involves outlining subregional common current conditions and emerging trends in housing and urban development along six major themes: population and urbanization, urban economy, urban poverty and housing, urban environmental challenges, urban governance, and emerging issues. The series’ main objective is to raise awareness about the most important human settlement-related challenges and to identify areas for policy intervention.

In line with the mandate from the Governing Council, additional biennial regional reports have been prepared: � The State of Latin American and Caribbean Cities 2010, launched at

World Urban Forum 5 in Brazil.

� The State of Asian and Pacific Cities 2010, launched at the 2010 World Habitat Day at the Shanghai Expo.

� The State of European Cities in Transition 2010–2011, to be launched in 2011.

The 2012 round of regional state of cities reports will include a first: The State of Arab Cities 2012.

Global Urban Observatory ProgrammeMonitoring and managing global information for the Habitat Agenda

In 1997, UN-HABITAT established the Global Urban Observatory to help find scientific solutions to the urban information crisis. Charged with generating ‘better information for better cities’, the observatory initiated its partnership with local and national authorities in selected countries. It was to develop systems for urban data collection that are locally relevant and globally linked in order to produce evidence-based knowledge and information, the fundamental elements of effective advocacy.

The Global Urban Observatory is currently assisting countries and cities to improve their capacity to design, access, manage, and analyse their information to enhance existing policy, planning, and decision-making mechanisms. It aims to do the following: enhance the use of knowledge and urban indicators for policy formulation, planning, and urban management through a participatory approach; support the national and local authorities to localize Millennium Development Goal and Habitat Agenda indicators to achieve sustainable urbanization; provide technical assistance to localize urban observatory, Geographic Information System, and UrbanInfo (software) tools to enhance monitoring and planning mechanisms; systemize the results of global, national, and city-level monitoring activities, as well as city-level best practices, in the use of worldwide urban information.

The main objective of the Global Urban Observatory is to regularly update the urban indicator database and provide urban statistical analysis for the flagship reports (the State of the World’s Cities Report and the Global Report on Human Settlements), all the regional state of cities reports, reports on youth and gender, and the annual Millennium Development Goals Report.

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2010

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539,155

N/A 896,882

666,726

470,000

HIGHLIGHT: UN-HABITAT SUPPORTS AND ESTABLISHES EFFECTIVE LOCAL URBAN OBSERVATORIES AROUND THE WORLDOne hundred cities in Vietnam have requested UN-HABITAT to provide technical assistance to establish a Local Urban Observatory in each city. Meanwhile, the Local Urban Observatory in Medina Munawara, Saudi Arabia, won the UN-HABITAT Scroll of Honour Award in 2009 for their contribution to the city’s development strategy and the Urban Indicators Programme. Another Local Urban Observatory in Belo Horizonte in Brazil is continuously supporting the municipality with reliable data, indicators, and statistical analysis for municipal planning, especially through the Slum Upgrading Programme. In Sudan, a Local Urban Observatory is supporting the spatial planning process through the Urban Indicators Programme.

The State ofAfrican Cities

2010Governance, Inequality and

Urban Land Markets

Best Practices and Local Leadership ProgrammeShowcasing examples of good policies and enabling legislation with 3,000-plus best practices

Best practices are actions that have made a lasting contribution to improving the quality of life and the sustainability of communities, cities, and regions. The Best Practices and Local Leadership Programme is a global network that includes local authorities, professional and academic institutions, and civil society organizations dedicated to the identification and exchange of successful solutions for sustainable human development. This programme’s objectives are to raise the awareness of decision makers on critical social, economic, and environmental issues and to better inform decision makers of the practical means and policy options for improving the living environment. It does so by identifying, disseminating, and applying lessons learned from best practices in ongoing training, leadership, and policy development activities. Best practices are identified in the following thematic areas: housing and urban development, urban governance, environmental planning and management, urban design, economic development, social inclusion, crime prevention, poverty reduction, women, youth, cultural heritage, municipal finance and management, and infrastructure and social services. The policy implications and lessons learned from the best practices are incorporated into the State of the World’s Cities Report and the Global Report on Human Settlements, among other publications.

The programme has resulted in the identification of more than 3,000 good and best practices. Many of them have been replicated, either in part or in whole. Information has also been used in case studies and training materials, as well as in direct city-to-city exchanges. Awards have been used as the incentive for submitting and documenting best practices. Since 1996, the number of main awards has grown to three: the Dubai International Award for Best Practices to Improve the Living Environment (1996), the Shaikh Khalifa Bin Salman Al Khalifa UN-HABITAT Award (2007), and the Rafik Hariri UN-HABITAT Memorial Award (2009).

RESOURCES

201020092008200720062005


100,000 100,000

75,000 125,000

75,000

125,000

HIGHLIGHT: LINKING PROBLEMS TO PROVEN SOLUTIONS IN MEDELLÍN, COLOMBIAFundación Hábitat Colombia is a Bogotá-based NGO that is engaged in large-scale networking and exchange of best practices. Since 2005, the NGO has been developing and implementing methodologies and formats for active learning exchanges based on best practices. In 2005, UN-HABITAT established a partnership with Medellín Municipality in Colombia, and this resulted in the Latin American and Caribbean Competition for Best Practice Transfer. Through the Medellín exercise, a best practice transfer methodology was designed and tested. The elements of the methodology and the tools for its application aimed at matching supply (best practices) and demand (problem). This included guidelines on the transfer process, as well as impact indicators.

These methodology components have been used continuously since then through similar exercises carried out by Fundación Hábitat Colombia. From 2005 to 2009, the organization has applied these methodological and technical resources in 19 pilot cases of transfers in Colombia. These 19 practices come from 11 countries: India, Spain, Germany, Argentina, Brazil, Peru, Cuba, Costa Rica, Uruguay, El Salvador, and Colombia.

Various national, regional, and international agencies and networks have applied, promoted, or disseminated the methodologies and tools developed by Fundación Hábitat Colombia, including the Colombian Federation of Municipalities, the Ibero-American Forum of Best Practices, and UNDESA. Some of the transferred initiatives have become best practices and even award winners in the receiving localities. For example, the Youth Participatory Budgeting concept transferred to Medellín from Brazil won a UNESCO award.

Youth Empowerment ProgrammePutting young people at the centre of development

UN-HABITAT regards young people as key to a better world and as active partners in meeting the challenges posed by the global process of rapid and often unplanned urbanization. The agency’s work with respect to youth is guided by the Habitat Agenda, which mandates that the needs of children and youth have to be considered specifically, enhancing their skills and training them for decision-making roles and sustainable livelihoods. UN-HABITAT’s Strategy for Enhanced Engagement with Youth, adopted by the Governing Council in 2005, provided a framework for designing and implementing the Youth Empowerment Programme, which is supported by the Government of Norway and other member states. The strategy has seen considerable success, with four key initiatives implemented: � The Urban Youth Fund provides financial support for youth-led development

initiatives in developing countries. Initial donors include the Government of Norway, and the fund hopes to engage more partners. About 115 youth groups have benefited globally. Almost USD 1 million a year goes towards funding successful applicant organizations from around the world that are led by the youth and have innovative projects. More than 50 percent of the beneficiaries are from African and Arab states and most focus on vocational training and entrepreneurship.

� One Stop Youth Resource Centres provide space for youth to receive key services and training and to lead initiatives. The centres in East Africa have so far trained over 4,500 youth in entrepreneurship in Nairobi, Kampala, and Dar es Salaam.

� Moonbeam Centre provides construction training and support for young female and male entrepreneurs from slums in and around Nairobi, Kenya. Through the Youth Empowerment Programme, 385 youth from informal settlements have been registered at the Moonbeam Youth Training Centre for vocational skills training that focuses on production of building blocks,

� UN-HABITAT has awarded grants from its Opportunities Fund for Urban Youth-Led Development to 115 youth groups globally.

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landscaping, and basic road construction. Three construction brigades have been established by the centre, and their formal registration is underway.

� The Urban Entrepreneurship Programme focuses on creating self-employment or growth-oriented businesses.

Key publications include the State of the Urban Youth 2010/2011; ‘Levelling the Playing Field: Inequality of Youth Opportunity’, a supplement of the State of the World’s Cities Report ; Habitat Debate Vol. 9, No. 2: ‘Young People in an Urbanizing World’; Youth Entrepreneurship and Employment; Mapping Urban Youth-Led Development; Ideas to Action: Best Practices in Youth-Led Development; and Urban Youth Centres Set-Up.

RESOURCES

20102009200820072006


3,094,806 3,094,806

1,150,000 1,650,000

1,891,666

HIGHLIGHT: SUPPORTING PROFESSIONAL YOUTH DREAMING OF A GREEN AND GROWING NIGERIA“Oil has disorganized the psyche of many young people, and they abandon agriculture,” laments Nnaemeka Ikegwuonu of Nigeria. His moment of awakening to the importance of farming came in childhood, when his family survived a period of civil unrest and violence by growing their own food. He later established the Smallholders Foundation, teaching youth to run small-scale agriculture businesses. With help from the UN-HABITAT Opportunities Fund, Smallholders Foundation is expanding its School Gardens Programme. The programme inspires young people to take up careers in agriculture, offering them a hands-on learning process that includes establishing and maintaining school gardens and managing profitable, sustainable small-scale agriculture businesses. Nnaemeka’s dream of a green and growing Nigeria is now being taken up by a new generation of youth.

Private sector partnershipsRallying the corporate world to the cause of sustainable urbanization

From global leaders to small and medium-sized enterprises, UN-HABITAT has engaged in a decisive effort to bring the business community on board in the drive towards sustainable urbanization. The private sector has the power to spearhead innovation and responsible business practices to deliver sustainable and liveable cities. UN-HABITAT’s business partners have also understood the comparative advantages of UN-HABITAT, including the flexibility of its modest programme and its responsiveness, addressing concrete needs on the ground for tangible and visible results.

UN-HABITAT is fostering partnerships between the agency and the business community by promoting dialogue and cooperation: � UN-HABITAT provides avenues for the private sector to participate as

partners towards the implementation of the Habitat Agenda. UN-HABITAT regularly consults with the private sector to seek new ways of improving

living conditions and achieving harmonious cities by collaborating with the urban poor, developing the market chain at the bottom of the pyramid, designing innovative business models, and creating affordable and flexible technologies that are adaptable to climate change.

� UN-HABITAT brokers solutions between partners in cities, promoting the role of the private sector in partnerships around specific global, regional, and local initiatives. A number of operational projects in the areas of water and sanitation, housing, and urban data management have been implemented with private sector firms.

� The Habitat Business Forum is a gathering of private sector companies in order to showcase and debate urban challenges and solutions. It is organized at each session of the World Urban Forum, which also offers opportunities for dialogue and exploring partnerships with governments, local authorities, and civil society partners.

� The UN-HABITAT Business Award for Better Cities promotes business practices, models, and technologies that provide smart and viable solutions for the challenges of urbanization. The award recognizes outstanding initiatives in the following areas: affordable and replicable housing; sustainable water, sanitation, and waste management; efficient and lasting urban energy and transport; innovative and transformative information and communication technologies; proactive development of entrepreneurship to boost urban economic activities; innovative and affordable financial services; and any other area contributing to better cities.

Some of the key private sector partners include Arcadis NV, BASF and BASF Social Foundation, CISCO Systems, Coca-Cola, Electrogaz, GDF-SUEZ, Google Inc., Oxiana Limited, Siemens and Siemens Foundation, Starbucks, Veolia Environnement, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, and Zerofootprint.

HIGHLIGHT: UN-HABITAT AND ARCADIS THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX WITH ‘SHELTER’‘Shelter’ is an innovative partnership initiative with Arcadis, an international Dutch company dedicated to infrastructure, environment, and buildings that enhance mobility, sustainability, and quality of life. Shelter is the name Arcadis chose to bring their 15,000 employees together around the goal of providing shelter and creating a platform to make the partnership visible and tangible. Arcadis commits its employees, expertise, and skills to help bring the UN-HABITAT mission forward. Arcadis’ talents span the fields of infrastructure, water, environment, buildings, and urban planning at the highest levels. The partnership coincides with Arcadis’ aim of playing a meaningful role in communities and using their services and expertise in ways that positively impact the world.

The partnership between UN-HABITAT and Arcadis focuses on two activities. The first is the pro-bono participation of Arcadis professionals in UN-HABITAT projects such as the recovery programme for Haiti. The second is transferring urban planning and development knowledge by contributing to some of the normative activities of UN-HABITAT such as training, seminars, or inputs to publications. Arcadis is also a main sponsor of the World Urban Campaign; the company wants to contribute to raising public awareness on the positive role of cities and to address the social, economic, and environmental challenges of urbanization.

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Available investment opportunities: key investment opportunities in UN-HABITAT that require committed funding are on www.unhabitat.org/pipelineprojects





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Focus Area 2: ParticipatoryPlanning,Management,and Governance

In Brief

Simply put, well-managed urbanization brings economic growth, social harmony, and political and scientific progress. However, poorly managed urbanization creates social exclusion, poverty, urban sprawl, and pollution. It also encourages the unsustainable use of land, water, and other natural resources.

UN-HABITAT supports sustainable urbanization by helping to develop inclusive and participatory urban planning and local development practices. Taking poverty, gender, and age into consideration, it promotes improved policy-making and strategy development.

� A waterfront neighbourhood in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

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Strategy

By encouraging more inclusive urban planning, management, and governance, UN-HABITAT wants strategic change through improved policies, legislation, and strategies; strengthened institutions; and improved capacity of cities to function in a holistic, integrated, and sustainable manner.

UN-HABITAT uses three programme themes to push towards the agency’s overall goal of promoting sustainable urbanization:

Developing local capacities to deal with climate change1. Enhancing urban safety and reducing vulnerability2. Promoting economic development3.

Actions

Policies, tools, and methodologies are being developed for better institutional and organizational development and resource management. Linking the public, private, and civil spheres is central to Focus Area 2, with a focus on finding ways to promote transparency, accountability, and civic engagement.

UN-HABITAT promotes positive urbanization through legislation on political and fiscal decentralization. Capacities at the local level are being improved to spur local economic growth and development. These goals are being met by engaging all partners under the global Sustainable Urban Development Network.

2


Our Approach

UN-HABITAT addresses the city as a whole. Focus Area 2 calls for uniting planning, management, and governance and avoiding treating them simply as steps in a development process. It emphasizes the use of equity, the ecology, and the economy as entry points to urban processes.

For sustainable development to happen, planning and governance activities must merge. Citizens should participate, come up with creative options, and make their own ideas work. This means changing basic monitoring and accounting into a day-to-day activity that upholds this vision.

Sustainable urbanization needs institutions that support sound governance and regulatory regimes and efficiently deliver public infrastructure and basic services.


UN-HABITAT aims at inclusive urban planning, management, and governance at the national and local levels. Through networking with partners, the accomplishments expected under Focus Area 2 are improved policies, legislation, and strategies; strengthened institutions; and improved implementation of urban planning, management, and governance.

Getting It Done

Activities focus on strengthening the analytic capacities of public institutions with respect to sustainable urbanization, and strengthening the public information and communication skills of municipal governments.

Additional activities strengthen the linkage between policy and strategy innovation, as well as the capacity of public institutions involved in urban development to formulate and implement plans. Others strengthen the capacity of urban institutions to assess the impact of public policies and programmes and various private initiatives.

UN-HABITAT is strengthening its work in post-conflict and disaster areas and highlighting the needs of smaller cities and towns. It is intensifying work on urban–rural linkages and looking at urbanization from a regional perspective.

Working Together

UN-HABITAT currently works with a wide range of urban stakeholders and institutions in networks that exchange knowledge and promote capacity building. On each continent, the Sustainable Urban Development Network works with key partners in urban development, involving the private sector, non-governmental organizations, and community-based organizations.



COLOMBIA | ECUADOR | EGYPT | HAITI | INDONESIA SENEGAL | SRI LANKA | TANZANIA | UGANDA VIETNAM

� Participatory planning in Nepal.

� An initiative by market vendors in Nairobi, Kenya.

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Cities and Climate Change InitiativeCalling on governments to build capacity to tackle climate change effects

The Cities and Climate Change Initiative seeks to enhance climate change mitigation and climate change preparedness of cities in developing and least developed countries. This programme is currently active in Ecuador, Mozambique, Philippines, and Uganda. Five cities have been added in sub-Saharan Africa, and a fully fledged strategy has been prepared for Asia and the Pacific, with nine cities already engaged. Additional components are being prepared for subregions with high levels of vulnerability to climate change. This initiative is being implemented with other relevant agencies of the United Nations system.

The Shelter Initiative for Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation is a component of the Cities and Climate Change Initiative. In partnership with academia and the private sector, the shelter initiative supports local authorities and housing ministries to develop building codes, local knowledge, and alternative building practices to mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change. The shelter initiative promotes the use of low-cost, green building materials, construction technologies, and design, with a specific focus on hazard-resistant housing in urban areas affected by disasters related to climate change.

In the 2008–2009 start-up period, the Cities and Climate Change Initiative became a promising global reference point on cities and climate change. Some of the milestones and highlights so far include regional meetings and roundtables in Pretoria, Marrakesh, Nairobi, and Bangkok; a series of successful advocacy meetings; climate change assessments and scoping studies in the Philippines, Ecuador, Uganda, and Mozambique; active engagement of urban actors in national climate change debates in focus countries; various partnerships with international organizations; development of three tools; partnership with

ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability regarding the Resilient Cities Congress; and the development of a city greenhouse gas emission standard and urban risk assessment methodology.

RESOURCES

2010

2009

2008


2,530,252

593,485

2,218,814

Urban Planning and Design ProgrammeImproving inclusive urban planning management and governance

The quest for sustainable urbanization in the wake of the urban transition witnessed over the past three decades has brought urban planning to the centre stage of development. In order to strengthen the role of urban planning in sustainable development, UN-HABITAT has developed over the past few years a coordinated urban planning programme aimed at supporting member states to improve their planning capacities, systems, and approaches.

Building on the Global Report on Human Settlements 2009 and the principles of New Urban Planning under the 2006 Vancouver Declaration, as adopted by planning associations worldwide, UN-HABITAT’s work focuses on (1) supporting national and local governments, planning professionals, and other stakeholders in the review of urban planning frameworks; (2) strengthening local and regional capacities; (3) developing and piloting tools for urban planning that target policymakers, practitioners, and communities; and (4) providing advisory services.

HIGHLIGHT: SORSOGON CITY IN THE PHILIPPINES TAKES ON CLIMATE CHANGEIn the Philippines, tropical cyclones will increase in frequency and intensity as a result of climate change. In response, Sorsogon City conducted a comprehensive and participatory vulnerability assessment. In a series of meetings, including several citywide consultations, climate change adaptation and mitigation options were agreed upon and prioritized based on the wider needs of the city. Sorsogon City is now drafting a shelter plan, revising its disaster risk management procedures, working to improve the livelihoods of the most vulnerable groups, and starting to implement energy-saving measures. The initiative has contributed to the Climate Change Act of the Philippines (2009), which is an exemplary attempt to bring clarity to the institutional approach to climate change. It stresses the multi-sectoral dimension and emphasizes the role of local governments in the implementation of the act. Meanwhile, a vulnerability assessment tool has been developed to share the lessons learned in the Philippines. The Local Government Academy of the Philippines will include the tool in its curriculum, and it is also being applied in vulnerability assessments in Mongolia, Sri Lanka, Fiji, Samoa, Papua New Guinea, and Vanuatu. � A father and his two children try to salvage whatever they can after a typhoon in the Philippines in 2010.

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Focus Area 2Participatory Planning, Management, and GovernanceStrengthening the performance of national governments, local authorities, and other stakeholders for more liveable, productive, and inclusive cities.

The Urban Planning Programme collaborates with UN-HABITAT’s regional and country offices to ensure that New Urban Planning principles are mainstreamed agency-wide and at the country level. The Lake Victoria Urban Planning Programme was a precursor to the programme and was born out of the need to provide spatial frameworks for physical interventions being implemented by UN-HABITAT programmes, all of which are geared towards promoting environmental sustainability and reducing poverty in the Lake Victoria region. The Lake Victoria programme has implemented planning processes and developed prototype urban plans in 13 towns in 3 countries in the Lake Victoria region.

Under the Urban Planning Programme, UN-HABITAT has conducted planning legislation reviews in three countries (Philippines, Tanzania, and Colombia), developed a work plan with the African Planning Association, and produced a compendium of UN-HABITAT practices in urban planning. RESOURCES

2010

2009

2008

2007


202,000 (APA and Review)

174,000

174,000

100,000 (Quick Guides)

HIGHLIGHT: URBAN PLANNING EXAMINED IN THE LAKE VICTORIA REGION UN-HABITAT undertook a rapid appraisal of the status of urban planning in eight sample secondary towns in the Lake Victoria region (Kisii, Homa Bay, and Mumias in Kenya; Masaka, Kyotera, and Mutukula in Uganda; and Bukoba and Muleba in Tanzania), and the required planning interventions were identified.

Urban plans, including long-term Strategic Urban Development Plans and short-term detailed plans, have been developed for the eight towns to support physical interventions under various UN-HABITAT projects and those by other partners in the Lake Victoria region. The respective local authorities and their central government ministries have found these urban plans to be key tools and have appreciated UN-HABITAT’s value-added development support through the Lake Victoria Urban Planning Programme.

Training and Capacity Building ProgrammeSupporting local government capacity building through more than 40 training institutions

Many local authorities lack the human resources required to meet sustainable urban development needs. Without strong local institutions and motivated staff, decentralization and human settlements reform will not deliver the desired development outcomes. Local governments need to practice and promote good urban governance by performing their enabling, regulating, and empowering roles while ensuring equity, participation, transparency, and accountability. With emerging global issues such as climate change and economic crises, cities need to do more with fewer resources.

UN-HABITAT supports capacity building through the following: � Developing cutting-edge, action-oriented tools on topics such as leadership,

financial management, local economic development, land, participatory planning, and conflict management. In the past decade, UN-HABITAT has developed high-impact training tools in a number of areas, based on demand.

� Supporting training institutions through training, curriculum development, organizational development, and networking

� Supporting the development and implementation of national capacity-building strategies, programmes, and projects

UN-HABITAT has developed 13 cutting-edge training tools. Popular tools include the Local Elected Leadership series, which has been translated into over 25 languages and used in more than 40 countries; the award-winning Local Economic Development series; the Local Government Financial Management series, which was the first of its kind; Participatory Budgeting; Gender in Local Government; and Quick Guides for Policy Makers on Housing the Poor in Asian Cities, a joint product with UNESCAP currently in the process of being adapted for sub-Saharan Africa in three languages.

Between 2002 and 2009, over 100 national training institutions were supported in 40 countries. Support is provided through various means, including curriculum development, provision of tools, training of trainers, business plan development, and networking support. For example, the International Urban Training Centre, the result of an ongoing partnership between UN-HABITAT and Korea’s Gangwon Province, regularly offers courses on sustainable urban management for the region. In 2009, a total of 81 participants from 16 countries participated in courses such as Ecological Urban Restoration, Sustainable Urban Energy, and Sustainable Urbanization.

Between 2002 and 2007, training was delivered directly to 2,133 participants through some 70 training activities. This amounted to a total of 10,871 participant training days. In 2008, 12 training workshops on different thematic areas were delivered globally; in 2009, 20 workshops were completed. Training events have also become a permanent feature of the World Urban Forum. At each session of the Forum, UN-HABITAT coordinates at least 20 training events, which are delivered by Habitat Agenda partners.

Training and capacity building are being further expanded in new and growing thematic areas such as land, climate change, green economy, planning, gender, urban safety, and public administration. Learning and education are also an increasing focus. The learning entails developing cutting-edge research, knowledge, and tools on how people and organizations learn. Pedagogical and learning techniques are stressed, along with e-learning platform management and course design/development, support for the development and usage of online workspace/collaborative platforms, adult education approaches, communities of

� An elevated skytrain revamped the transport of the once chaotic city of Bangkok, Thailand.

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practice and networks of practitioners, and substantive knowledge on north-south and south-south learning approaches and practices. In education, due emphasis is being given to partnerships with universities through the Habitat Partner University Initiative, which bridges the gap between research and practice (see Habitat Partner University Initiative box). RESOURCES

2010

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2007


777,348

515,615

195,310

980,967

HIGHLIGHT: NO MORE ‘BIG MEN’! TRANSFORMING THE FACE OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN LIBERIA THROUGH TRAININGAt a recent workshop for local government, the Minister for Internal Affairs, Hon. Harrison Karnwea Sr., challenged participants to engage with the common man and woman. “The days of the ‘big man’ deciding everything without consulting with their people are over!” he said. The roots of the recent Liberian conflict can in part be traced back to the exclusion of segments of society by overly centralized government institutions. But where to begin decentralization in a country plagued by 14 years of civil war? The few pre-war county administration buildings were either damaged or destroyed. In addition, many local government officials lack the knowledge and skills required to oversee development in their towns or cities.

In partnership with the Government of Liberia and the United Nations Mission in Liberia, UN-HABITAT has been working since 2008 to build the skills of local government staff. Having undertaken a rapid assessment of local government capacities, the agency is supporting the Ministry of Internal Affairs to radically redesign the way it serves the needs of its citizens. One priority area is developing local leadership skills, and there is now an impressive network of over 50 Liberian trainers who train staff right where they work, saving considerable time.

“These workshops have taught me how I can use different kinds of power to make things happen in my city,” said Esther Warbey, Mayor of Gbarnga. “I used to think that having power meant a leader talked while others listened. Now I know that empowering others is not the same as giving power away. The sky is the limit when we are all working together – and my job is to make sure everyone is part of the solution.” To date, 50 events have taken place, reaching over 2,000 professionals in all corners of the country.

Safer Cities ProgrammePromoting urban safety and social cohesion and preventing urban crime and violence

Rising levels of urban violence and crime worldwide are not only socially harmful, but are also an obstacle to the attainment of development goals and a deterrent to local and foreign investment. It is estimated that 60 percent of urban residents in developing countries have been victims of crime. Crime and violence restrict urban social and economic development, and poverty and social exclusion compound the situation. The impacts of crime and insecurity are pervasive and widespread, often jeopardizing opportunities and pro-poor policies. Launched in 1996, the Safer Cities Programme provides support to local governments towards sustainable urbanization by: 1) improving policies, legislation, and strategies for urban safety and local crime prevention; 2) strengthening urban institutions in

charge of violence and crime prevention; and 3) improving the implementation of public policies and programmes related to urban safety and social cohesion.

The Habitat Agenda acknowledges the responsibility of local authorities in preventing crime and violence. Firstly, the programme aims to make ‘safer cities’ know-how and experience accessible to the whole international community and build capacities in local and national governments to address urban safety challenges. Secondly, it develops responses to specific demands on urban safety related to the core UN-HABITAT mandate, enhances urban safety through the reduction of urban vulnerabilities and through urban planning and management, and strengthens the governance of urban safety. Finally, it develops regional strategies and frameworks for increasing impact through systematic inter-institutional action on urban safety and social cohesion.

In line with the Millennium Development Goals on the living conditions of the urban poor and women’s equality, the programme focuses its work on reducing the vulnerability of the urban poor and women to crime and violence. It has developed tools and methodologies for crime prevention strategies; it has built local authorities’ capacities in developing countries and organized international conferences on the issue. Finally, it has contributed to spreading a culture of prevention. At present, the Safer Cities Programme focuses on consolidation, at the global level, of existing knowledge and awareness on urban safety through a normative approach and the development of innovative tools and instruments from a social cohesion perspective in order to improve the quality of life in human settlements.

RESOURCES

201020092008200720062005


1,582,000 1,454,000

233,000 33,000

787,000

254,000

� Street families spend their nights in the open in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

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HIGHLIGHT: A COLLABORATIVE APPROACH IN INDIA IMPROVES WOMEN’S SAFETYIn 2009, the Safer Cities Programme partnered with Jagori, a Delhi-based women’s resource centre, to address women’s safety. The programme first organized a meeting with representatives of civil society organizations and women’s groups, as well as youth leaders and government officials. As a result of this collective and participatory strategic discussion, and according to the Safer Cities Programme approach, a decision was made to conduct safety audits for women. The safety audit tool, developed by experts within the UN-HABITAT urban safety network, was applied among women to measure the personal perception and fear of violence and the characteristics of their vulnerability in terms of physical security in public spaces. The community participatory process then helped to design, with the assistance of Safer Cities Programme experts, a strategy and an action plan to solve the problem. With the participation of youth leaders and local authorities, some information materials on women’s safety were produced and actions taken. Tools and methodologies for developing guidelines on violence against women were developed. Finally, UN-HABITAT and Jagori organized, for both women and youth, clean spaces for recreation, theatre, and sport events, as well as a community radio programme and film screenings.

Decentralization ProgrammeSupporting local governments in promoting decentralization

The Decentralization Programme advocates three elements necessary for better urban local governance: 1) policy and legislative reform; 2) financial autonomy; and 3) adequate capacity and motivated human resources. The programme promotes policy and legislative reforms, which enable and empower national governments and local authorities to improve urban governance. Through the programme, UN-HABITAT facilitates the sharing of best practices and provides technical support on decentralization to enable better delivery of and access to basic urban services and to improve the governance and management of cities. Capacity-building activities and assistance to local authorities in monitoring and assessing the effectiveness of decentralization efforts complement policy development. Furthermore, UN-HABITAT is helping to improve dialogue between local and central governments, through facilitating and backstopping regional meetings of mayors at which special sessions are organized for engagement among mayors, ministers, and development partners. It does this also through the activities of the United Nations Advisory Committee of Local Authorities (UNACLA), an important political platform for mayors and local authority associations. UNACLA advises the UN system – through UN-HABITAT – on concrete issues, trends, and effective responses to urban development in general. The Advisory Group of Experts on Decentralization is a technical group that contributes to the international dialogue on decentralization and the strengthening of local authorities.

RESOURCES

2010

2009

2008

2007


200,000

114,069

212,726

1,125,565

HIGHLIGHT: STREAMLINING RELATIONSHIPS WITH LOCAL AUTHORITIES THROUGH GUIDELINES AND FORUMSUN-HABITAT’s support of local authorities focuses on promoting decentralization and strengthening local governance capacities for implementing the Habitat Agenda. UN-HABITAT Governing Council Resolution 21/3: Guidelines on Decentralization and Strengthening of Local Authorities, adopted in 2007, provided the basic framework for promoting reforms. Its implementation includes advocacy, awareness raising, capacity building, synergy development, and monitoring and evaluation. Using the principle of subsidiarity, the outcome is to increase the number of local authorities that have a streamlined relationship with other levels of government and perform effectively, efficiently, and in a participatory manner.

Governance ProgrammePromoting accountability, transparency, and civic engagement in urban development

The Governance Programme is a broader initiative that encompasses both relations among different levels of governance (decentralization) and the embedded institutional relations within each level and among key actors. The programme promotes subsidiarity, accountability, transparency, civic engagement, and effectiveness in urban development. The programme involves advocacy, normative debate, capacity building, and knowledge management. The key results include mainstreaming governance in the programmes of UN-HABITAT and in all deliverables on the ground; developing a set of tools for capacity building; and contributing to increased involvement of the urban poor in planning, budgeting, and programme implementation. For instance, the Association of Local Authorities of Zambia, in collaboration with UN-HABITAT, has adopted the Urban Governance Index and trained local personnel to continuously identify bottlenecks and monitor improvements in local governance in cities.

RESOURCES

2010

2009

2008

2007


16,371

15,414

28,314

45,194

Sustainable Urban Development Network (SUD-Net) Mobilizing professional networks for the promotion of integrated urban development

The purpose of SUD-Net is to provide a common platform for multi-sectoral collaboration among different cadres of urban networks and practitioners. While linkages are global, the expected results of the collaboration focus on the local or city level. SUD-Net is currently comprised of specialist networks supported through various UN-HABITAT programmes and initiatives (Cities and Climate Change Initiative, Global Land Tool Network, Habitat Partner University Initiative, Global Partnership for Safer Cities, and various governance networks). SUD-Net provides a yearly theme based on urban planning, management, and governance, through which networks can interact and collaborate on concrete activities. For 2011, the theme ‘Place-making, public spaces and quality of life in cities’ is being used to demonstrate the multi-sectoral dimensions of urban development. In addition to working through themes, SUD-Net supports the development and promotion of common tools, technology, and events that facilitate knowledge sharing and management among urban networks.

HABITAT PARTNER UNIVERSITY INITIATIVEThe Habitat Partner University Initiative is one of the components of the Sustainable Urban Development Network and promotes education, training, research, and knowledge management for sustainable urban development, aiming to make such knowledge more accessible and relevant to actors at the city level.

The initiative is also a means of enlarging cooperation between UN-HABITAT and institutions of higher education, as well as facilitating exchange and cooperation between universities in developing and developed nations. Habitat Partner Universities are institutions willing to promote the socially, environmentally, economically, and spatially sustainable development of towns and cities in accordance with the Millennium Development Goals. UN-HABITAT works with them to build the teaching and research capacity of tertiary institutions.

The Habitat Partner University Initiative was relaunched in early 2011 with defined membership criteria, and a cross section of universities will define the priorities of the work programme for the coming years. For the first time, UN-HABITAT will have a dedicated staff member to move the initiative from an informal network to a programme.

Gender Mainstreaming ProgrammePromoting gender equality in municipalities

UN-HABITAT promotes gender equality and the empowerment of women as a vital component of sustainable urbanization. Realizing this vision is possible by ensuring that all agency programmes and activities are mainstreaming gender. Working with a diverse range of partners, from academic institutions to grassroots women’s organizations, UN-HABITAT is increasing its work in gender advocacy, training, and capacity building, helping policymakers and development practitioners to work more effectively to address gender inequalities in the context of human settlements development.

In 2009, a first training programme for trainers of local governments was carried out with the Golda Meir Mt Camel International Training Institute in Haifa, Israel. Planning officers from municipalities in different regions of the world were trained. The institute has committed to offering the course in partnership with UN-HABITAT until 2013, the final year of the UN-HABITAT Gender Equality Action Plan. In line with the ‘One UN’ initiative, various UN-HABITAT programmes are part of the UN Joint Gender Programme, as in Kenya. In 2010, UN-HABITAT funded a training session under the gender and local governance component that was developed in collaboration with UNDP, UNIFEM, and the Association of Local Governments of Kenya. Other partners interested in this collaboration are the Kenya Government Training Institute, the Ministry of Gender, Children, and Social Development, and the Ministry of Local Government. An important recent UN-HABITAT publication in the area of gender mainstreaming is Gender Equality for Smarter Cities: Challenges and Progress (2010).

RESOURCES

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006


686,447

507,358

301,207

1,354,353

1,646,811

HIGHLIGHT: WOMEN LAND ACCESS TRUSTS BUILD NEW LIVES IN AFRICAUN-HABITAT has been working with Women Land Access Trusts in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Ghana. These trusts are non-profit organizations that act as intermediaries between women and government ministries, financial organizations, and other stakeholders. During the World Urban Forum, a network of Women Land Access Trusts was formed and more than ten countries joined. In Uganda, 20 houses were built and handed over to the members of the trusts; a further 30 houses are planned for the second phase. In Tanzania, a high-rise apartment building is near completion, while in Kenya four model houses were completed and handed over to trust members. Donors have provided funding for piloting trust projects in Ethiopia and Mozambique, and resource mobilization continues for those countries that have registered trusts and are waiting for technical support from UN-HABITAT.

� Women in Solo, Indonesia, preparing roofing materials for upgrading their housing.

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Focus Area 3:Access to Land and Housing for All

In Brief

There are over 1 billion slum dwellers globally and their number is expected to rise over the next 30 years to about 2 billion. In response, UN-HABITAT is mobilizing a global coalition of partners to address the challenges presented by unsustainable urbanization.

UN-HABITAT’s vision is “to help create by 2013 the necessary conditions for concerted international and national efforts to stabilize the growth of slums and to set the stage for the subsequent reduction of the number of slum dwellers and reversal of the current trend of unbridled urban slum proliferation”.

This vision, derived from the Millennium Development Goals, requires systemic reform to improve access to land and housing for all.

� Santa Teresa District, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

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Strategy

UN-HABITAT supports national and local governments and Habitat Agenda partners to put in place better land and housing policies. The agency is focusing on three outcomes: supporting enabling land and housing reforms; increasing security of tenure; and promoting slum improvement and slum prevention policies.

Actions

There are a number of important activities in the UN-HABITAT approach, including promoting alternatives to eviction, producing a major new global policy paper on housing, and producing country housing profiles and the State of the World’s Housing report. In addition, the agency is developing new land tools to implement pro-poor land policies, promoting a range of land rights rather than just individual titles, and strengthening the UN system’s capacity to address housing, land, and property issues after conflict or a natural disaster has occurred.

UN-HABITAT continues to promote ways to decrease or adapt to the risks associated with global climate change. All activities are gender-responsive.

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Our Approach

UN-HABITAT is committed to supporting national and local governments and Habitat Agenda partners to improve access to land and housing, including in crisis-affected countries.

Access to a range of affordable land and housing options at the desired scale is necessary for slum prevention. The institutional, legal, and regulatory frameworks that govern the land and housing sectors are essential for reducing slum formation.

UN-HABITAT considers equitable access to housing and land a crucial issue for slum prevention, housing delivery, city management, infrastructure and service delivery, environmental management, community facilities, economic growth, finance, and investments.

While in some countries the best point of entry for land and housing matters is the national or federal level, in others city-level interventions are more effective.


The Focus Area 3 expected accomplishments are as follows:

Land and housing reforms supported through improving 1. knowledge of innovative land and housing policies, programmes and tools; increasing policy implementation capacities; and promoting hazard-resistant and sustainable housing constructionSecurity of tenure increased through increased knowledge 2. and capacity to achieve equitable land and housing rights; promoting alternative approaches to forced evictions; and addressing housing, land, and property issues in crisis contextsSlum improvement and slum prevention promoted through 3. improved knowledge and capacity to develop and implement slum upgrading and prevention policies and strategies

Getting It Done

UN-HABITAT has three activity pillars for working towards access to land and housing for all: knowledge management and advocacy; capacity building at the global and regional level; and supporting implementation at the country and local level.

The Gender Action Plan strengthens gender equality and women’s empowerment in all areas of UN-HABITAT’s work related to land and housing.

Working Together

New collaborations are expanding UN-HABITAT’s relationships with external organizations, a pool of international housing experts, and other parts of the agency. UN-HABITAT will deepen its engagement with Global Land Tool Network partners, while expanding its network to include multilateral and bilateral donors and increasing its coordination role.



GHANA | NEPAL | TANZANIA

� An informal settlement in Antananarivo, Madagascar.

� An improved, regularized neighbourhood in Medellín, Colombia.

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Global Land Tool NetworkAlleviating poverty through land reform, improved land management, and security of tenure

In 2006, UN-HABITAT established the Global Land Tool Network (GLTN) – a global partnership of professional groups, development partners, research and training institutions, and civil society groups – to address land reform and improve global coordination of land issues. The network currently has 42 key regional and global land actors and more than 1,600 individual members.

GLTN partners and members recognize that the lack of pro-poor land tools is a major obstacle to implementing land policies worldwide. The network is developing land tools in key areas needed to successfully implement land programmes. A recent independent evaluation commended GLTN achievements and concluded that with modest funds and over a short space of time, the network has made impressive progress in advocacy and land tool development.

The Global Land Tool Network is currently funded by the Governments of Norway and Sweden. More information about the activities of the network and over 50 publications produced by GLTN is available online (www.gltn.net).

Key achievements include the following: � In 2010, GLTN launched the Social Tenure Domain Model – a pro-poor

land rights recording system – to great enthusiasm from stakeholders and donors.

� In 2010, GLTN piloted the GLTN Gender Evaluation Criteria – an evaluation tool for large-scale land projects and institutions – in Nepal, Ghana, and Brazil.

� In Kenya, the parliament has approved the National Land Policy and promulgated the constitution, adding impetus to land reforms. UN-HABITAT, acting as chair and coordinator of the Development Partners Group on Land, has supported land reforms in the country, including the active participation of non-state actors.

� In Ethiopia, UN-HABITAT has provided seed funding and technical support to the World Bank on alternative approaches to providing security of tenure. The positive results of the studies have led the Government of Ethiopia to scale up its land certification programme, from 24 million to over 40 million land certificates, at a cost of USD 190 million.

RESOURCES

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006


1,502,418

102,371

3,034,103

2,174,159

3,255,344

HIGHLIGHT: 55,000 AVOID EVICTION IN RECIFE, BRAZIL, THANKS TO UN-HABITATIn a surprise statement at a GLTN roundtable meeting at the 2010 World Urban Forum, the Government of Brazil announced that it would not evict 55,000 people from their homes in the informal settlement of Ponte do Maduro, Recife. Government representatives said that they would instead regularize the area, granting ownership of the occupied land to more than 8,000 low-income families.

Implementing the GLTN Gender Evaluation Criteria, with the support of UN-HABITAT and the Huairou Commission, enhanced the capacity of the local community members in Ponte do Maduro to lobby the government to regularize land. When their efforts culminated in success, the surprise and relief of community members was obvious, moving them to embrace the Brazilian officials they had been fighting for so long.

“I am delighted,” said Patricia Chaves of Espaco Feminista. “This represents a 46-year struggle for the communities involved, and the majority did not believe it could ever happen.” Establishing partnerships with federal and state government bodies was critical to achieving land regularization. “Through these partnerships we built awareness of the importance of land regularization of the area from a historical and political aspect,” she concluded.

Focus Area 3Promotion of Pro-poor Land and Housing

Assisting national governments and Habitat Partners to adopt pro-poor, gender- and age-sensitive housing, land management, and property administration by improving policies and regulatory frameworks.

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� Emotions ran high as affected communities responded to the news from the Government of Brazil that they would not evict people from their homes.

Adequate Housing for All Programme Providing sufficient shelter for humanity

UN-HABITAT recognizes the current challenges faced worldwide in ensuring access by the poor to affordable housing, and in tackling issues of slum improvement and slum prevention in a systemic manner. The programme draws on key lessons learned from past interventions in the housing sector and attempts to respond to these challenges, with a particular focus on the issues faced in designing and implementing housing reform strategies that will have greater impact, achieve scale, and bring about systemic change. The approaches taken promote institutional, regulatory, and policy reforms and generate knowledge- and evidence-based policies that will enable the housing sector to work better for the poor in developing countries and countries in transition. The Adequate Housing for All Programme has three strategic components: Housing Sector Reforms, Global Eviction Monitoring and Prevention, and Slum Upgrading and Prevention.

ADEQUATE HOUSING FOR ALL PLANNED BUDGET

2010

2009


6,512,375

4,660,000

HOUSING SECTOR REFORMS The main objective of this component is to create the necessary conditions, knowledge, evidence, and capacities within a select number of governments to embark on housing sector reforms that can prevent slum formation by enabling the supply of a diversity of affordable housing options at scale. This component brings the Housing Sector Profile Programme, which profiles the housing sector as a starting point, from its pilot phase in four countries to a global scale, focusing on selected countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. This programme will support evidence-based housing policy formulation and the design of concrete measures to enable the housing sector to play its catalytic role in economic development and poverty reduction.

RESOURCES


345,825

129,125

205,000

2010

2009

2008

HIGHLIGHT: MALAWI REVITALIZES HOUSING POLICIES AFTER TAKING ON UN-HABITAT RECOMMENDATIONSThe Malawi Urban Housing Sector Profile is the first in this new UN-HABITAT report series to have completed its full cycle. As part of the methodology, more than 65 experts gathered for a stakeholders’ workshop in Lilongwe in April 2009 to discuss the initial results of the housing sector profile. The profile was based on a set of field surveys and housing sector studies undertaken during the previous six months by a multi-disciplinary team of national and international experts supported by UN-HABITAT. The final report (including comments from the stakeholders’ workshop) was launched in Malawi during World Habitat Day (5 October 2009). The event included a five-hour live public radio debate on national radio, centred on the theme ‘Planning our Urban Future’. Since the publication of the Malawi Urban Housing Sector Profile, the Government of Malawi has begun to implement the recommendations of the report and has requested UN-HABITAT to provide technical support. During a networking event at World Urban Forum 5 in Rio de Janeiro (2010), Malawi’s Minister of Lands, Housing, and Urban Development discussed the results and methodology with international experts, directors of housing programmes, and ministers.

� Low-cost housing in Spain.

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ITATSTATE OF THE WORLD’S HOUSING REPORT IN THE PIPELINE

The State of the World’s Housing Report aims to provide information on housing conditions around the world and, in doing so, will report on the Habitat Agenda. It is an instrument for UN-HABITAT partners, governments, local authorities, public organizations, civil society groups, and NGOs to use to improve their knowledge of the functioning of the housing sector as a whole. Additionally, UN-HABITAT will undertake a series of evaluation studies and policy reviews to provide the information necessary for the production of quick policy guides for policymakers and decision makers, as well as for the provision of technical and hands-on assistance. Global expert group meetings and reporting will test and enhance the creation of tailor-made training materials that focus on the various aspects of housing sector reform.

� New housing project in Malawi.

GLOBAL EVICTION MONITORING AND PREVENTION The Global Eviction Monitoring and Prevention component has a strong advocacy character. The current rise in eviction cases, whether caused by actors in the housing and property market or the decisions of government officials, only serves to increase urban poverty and the exclusion of slum dwellers and low-income households. It also puts at risk the achievement of the Millennium Development Goal related to slums and shelter in many countries. This programme component focuses on security of tenure and developing knowledge, capacity, and technical tools that will enable UN-HABITAT to assist a select number of countries to develop alternatives to forced evictions and displacement, and to promote the right to adequate housing, as outlined in the Habitat Agenda.

RESOURCES

2010

2009


1,247,500

818,500

SLUM UPGRADING AND SLUM PREVENTION PROGRAMMEUN-HABITAT’s Slum Upgrading and Slum Prevention Programme includes the global analysis and systematic documentation of experiences with citywide slum upgrading, the development of a web-based technical and policy documentation centre, and the creation of an interactive database that will be made available to city governments around the world. The outputs of this component will be made available through a new Virtual Knowledge Resource Centre for Slum Upgrading and Prevention, a digital, web-based resource centre that will be built in partnership with a network of city governments, NGOs, and private sector organizations. All these partners will maintain and feed the resource centre.

This programme works closely with the Participatory Slum Upgrading Programme. They have formed a synergetic relationship, particularly in the 12 countries engaged in Phase II of the participatory programme, which is a product- and process-oriented activity aiming at developing local and national capacities to address the problem of slums comprehensively and in a sustained manner.

RESOURCES

2010

2009


1,000,000

2,000,000

HIGHLIGHT: UN-HABITAT AND PARTNERS BUILDING CAPACITY TOGETHER IN 15 COUNTRIESUN-HABITAT has signed a memorandum of understanding with the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank) on capacity development in the urban sector. The first initiative undertaken under this collaboration is the Joint Work Programme on Successful Approaches towards National Slum Upgrading and Prevention. It brings together UN-HABITAT and the World Bank Institute, collaborating with the Inter-American Development Bank and German Technical Cooperation (GTZ), to study and disseminate recent experiences and best practices on slum upgrading and prevention in 15 countries around the world.

Global Housing Strategy to the Year 2025Providing a new global framework for shelter and housing

The Global Housing Strategy to the Year 2025 and Global Housing Policy Framework are key outputs under the Housing Sector Reforms component of the Adequate Housing for All Programme. The strategy will replace the Global Strategy for Shelter to the Year 2000, which was endorsed by the United Nations General Assembly (Resolution 43/181 of 21 December 1988). The shelter strategy will draw on the evaluation of experiences up to the year 2000 and respond to the increasing demand from various UN-HABITAT partners to create a new global housing framework.

RESOURCES

2010

2009


1,000,000

1,000,000

� Informal settlement in Ibbagwatte, Colombo, Sri Lanka.

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� A man pulls a cart with his belongings after more than 200 residents were evicted from a housing estate in Nairobi, Kenya.

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Advisory Group on Forced Evictions Providing alternatives to eviction

The Advisory Group on Forced Evictions activities help to mainstream the work on forced evictions within UN-HABITAT programmes, under the broad framework of the right to adequate housing. The Advisory Group on Forced Evictions to the Executive Director – which is comprised of individuals knowledgeable in the areas of evictions, security of tenure, and housing rights – is enhancing its advisory tasks by regularly meeting to review results of this programme component, assess its mainstreaming within UN-HABITAT core programmes, monitor its progress, and review results and outputs. The advisory group assists with programme development, while also helping to develop strategies to promote alternatives to forced evictions and encourage security of tenure in select countries.

RESOURCES

2010

2009

2008


80,000

55,948

41,127

Indigenous Peoples Issues in Urban Areas ProgrammeIncluding the most vulnerable groups in towns and cities

Indigenous people are among the most vulnerable groups affected by urbanization and rural–urban migration. The loss of traditional land and housing contributes to the increased migration of indigenous peoples to urban centres, where barriers to adequate housing, unemployment, poverty, discrimination, and the lack of affordable and decent housing are particularly acute. UN-HABITAT recently

developed the Policy Guide to Housing for Indigenous Peoples in Cities and is currently developing the Policy Guide to Secure Land and Tenure for Indigenous Peoples. During World Urban Forum 5, UN-HABITAT also launched the eighth report of the UN Housing Rights Programme, Urban Indigenous Peoples and Migration: A Review of Policies, Programmes, and Practices. A roundtable entitled ‘Indigenous Peoples, Sustainable Urban Development with Culture and Identity’ was also organized at the forum.

RESOURCES

2010

2009

2008


160,000

124,718

170,000

� An indigenous family’s house near Alice Springs, Australia.

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� Colorful and chaotic houses on the banks of Ganges River, India.

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Participatory Slum Upgrading Programme Delivering critical urban sector profiles at city and national levels through robust partnerships

UN-HABITAT, the African, Caribbean, and Pacific Group of States Secretariat, and the European Commission recently collaborated to implement the Participatory Slum Upgrading Programme in 30 African, Caribbean, and Pacific countries. The European Commission is financing the programme and UN-HABITAT is executing it in close cooperation with the two partners. The European Commission acknowledges that urbanization is irreversible and has promised to work continuously on urban development challenges if governments take the ownership. The African, Caribbean, and Pacific Group of States sees this programme as an opportunity to positively contribute to the Millennium Development Goals and better support urban development in their countries. UN-HABITAT is very concerned about urbanization and urban poverty trends and challenges and welcomes the opportunity to unite a wide range of partners with global, national, and local perspectives on sustainable, clean, and inclusive cities. With country ownership and close consultation with partners of the utmost importance, the involvement of national institutions and key urban development donors at the country level is crucial.

The Participatory Slum Upgrading Programme is designed to address urban development strategies and slum upgrading and prevention at local, national, regional, and global levels through the following:a. Building partnerships and stronger awareness of urban development

challenges

b. Identifying the most pressing needs at all levels through spotting regulatory, legal, institutional, and financial gaps

c. Strengthening the capacity of various stakeholdersd. Assisting local stakeholders to respond to urban development challengese. Developing programme documents for slum upgrading and feeding results

into national policy proposals and city slum-upgrading strategiesf. Contributing to resource mobilization for prioritized urban capacity and

investment projects

The Participatory Slum Upgrading Programme started in April 2008 and will end in December 2011. While Phase I produced Urban Sector Profiles at city and national levels, Phase II is producing an action-oriented, citywide slum-upgrading programme document, with prioritized concrete actions and a resource mobilization strategy, as well as strategy and policy formulation for slum prevention. By December 2011, UN-HABITAT will launch the USD 13.5 million programme extension for implementation in all 79 African, Caribbean, and Pacific countries.

RESOURCES

Year Total budget per year (USD)

2008–2010 European Commission 2.157 millionUN-HABITAT 1.214 million

2010–2011 European Commission 2.157 millionUN-HABITAT 539,400

HIGHLIGHT: UN-HABITAT SUPPORTS SLUM UPGRADING IN 30 COUNTRIES AND 92 CITIESUN-HABITAT has implemented the Participatory Slum Upgrading Programme in 30 countries and 92 cities, addressing approximately 65 million urban residents in African, Caribbean, and Pacific countries. Assuming that 40 percent of these live in slum conditions, the programme targets 26 million urban poor. At the global level, the programme has led to a strengthened tripartite partnership among the African, Caribbean, and Pacific Group of States Secretariat, the European Commission, and UN-HABITAT, all sharing the concern that urban poverty reduction and the management of sustainable urbanization need more attention and action at global, regional, country, and city levels. As a result, the three partners and member states adopted a declaration in June 2009 calling for the expansion of the programme to all 79 African, Caribbean, and Pacific countries. Indeed, before 2013, all African, Caribbean, and Pacific countries will have launched the Participatory Slum Upgrading Programme, and it will move steadily towards its goal of contributing significantly to the improvement of the lives of slum dwellers, as part of the Millennium Development Goals.

� A young girl walks past newly constructed houses in Indonesia.

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Focus Area 4:Environmentally Sound Basic Urban Infrastructureand Services

In Brief

Environmentally sound basic urban infrastructure and services are crucial for creating sustainable human settlements and meeting related targets of the Millennium Development Goals. The Habitat Agenda recognizes that adequate water supply, sanitation, and waste management facilities – as well as sustainable energy, mobility, transport, and communication systems – are key to achieving adequate shelter for all.

UN-HABITAT is focusing on demonstration projects, global policy work, and advocacy to expand access to environmentally sound basic urban infrastructure and services – particularly for the urban poor – in a gender- and youth-sensitive way.

� Residents of Mathare slum in Nairobi, Kenya, collect water.

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Strategy

To expand access to environmentally sound infrastructure and services, UN-HABITAT is focusing on delivering sustainable services to the poor, integrating infrastructure and housing, and ensuring harmony between the built and natural environments. The agency is also monitoring progress against the Millennium Development Goals and beyond.

UN-HABITAT supports partner countries through projects that demonstrate effective approaches for improving access to environmentally sound basic infrastructure and services. The agency also engages in global normative and advocacy work to disseminate good practices and inform the development of policies on effective and environmentally sound urban infrastructure and services.

Actions

UN-HABITAT aims to increase the number of people reached by its water, sanitation, energy, and transport programmes from 1 million in 2009 to 1.5 million in 2011 and 2 million in 2013. UN-HABITAT’s water and sanitation work is focusing on pro-poor, gender-sensitive water and sanitation programmes in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean; replicable model-setting initiatives; pro-poor, gender-sensitive governance frameworks; and water operator partnerships.

In urban mobility, actions include global advocacy and technical assistance to country partners for better public transport solutions, infrastructure for pedestrians and cyclists, and urban design to reduce travel needs. UN-HABITAT has prioritized increasing access to affordable clean energy services for the urban and peri-urban poor. The agency also works on energy efficiency options for the built environment to address the energy crisis while mitigating climate change. 4


Our Approach

In the context of sustainable urbanization, UN-HABITAT’s approach centres on engaging in global normative work and advocacy through major publications and convening global, regional, and national forums. It also focuses on building global partnerships, networks, and alliances and collaborating with multilateral development banks.

The approach involves implementing model-setting initiatives, identifying successful experiences, and promoting replication at scale. There is also a focus on providing technical assistance in partner countries to raise political awareness, build capacity, and create an enabling environment for pro-poor investments in water, sanitation, urban mobility, and energy. Lastly, the agency is monitoring progress on international development goals.


The expected accomplishments of Focus Area 4 actions are an increased number of countries with enabling policy and institutional frameworks in place that expand access to environmentally sound basic urban infrastructure and services; increased institutional efficiency and effectiveness in the provision of basic urban infrastructure and services; and enhanced consumer demand for environmentally sustainable basic urban infrastructure and services.

Getting It Done

Since 2002, UN-HABITAT’s Water and Sanitation Trust Fund has provided a fast-track mechanism for cities and towns to reach out to the poor, through six major programmes:

Water for African Cities Programme1. Water for Asian Cities Programme2. Water for Latin American and Caribbean Cities Programme3. Lake Victoria Water and Sanitation Initiative4. Mekong Regional Water and Sanitation Programme5. The Global Water Operators Partnership Alliance6.

UN-HABITAT is expanding outreach to stakeholders to enhance energy access in cities, improve energy efficiency, and promote the use of renewable energy technologies. The agency has established the Global Energy Network for Poor Urban Settlements, which focuses on improving access to energy and transport in Asia, Latin America, and Africa.

UN-HABITAT is strengthening its global transport programme to help authorities address urban mobility needs in an economically efficient, environmentally sustainable, and socially inclusive manner.

Working Together

UN-HABITAT works with national and local governments, the private sector, and non-governmental and community-based organizations; collaborates with multilateral development banks and financial institutions; and links with related sectors, such as housing, local government, land, planning, health, urban development, environment, education, and gender.



BANGLADESH | BURKINA FASO | COLOMBIAINDONESIA | KENYA | MOZAMBIQUE | NEPALNICARAGUA | NIGERIA | PAKISTAN | SENEGALUGANDA | VIETNAM

� Street scene in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

� Urban transport in Shanghai, China.

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Water and Sanitation ProgrammeSupporting three regional programmes through the Water and Sanitation Trust Fund

UN-HABITAT’s Water and Sanitation Trust Fund supports three regional programmes: Africa, Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean. The objective of the regional programmes is to support partner countries to improve access to and the management of urban water supply and sanitation. These programmes combine policy and normative work with on-the-ground pilot and demonstration projects focusing on pro-poor water and sanitation service delivery. UN-HABITAT has been supporting countries in the region towards achieving the Millennium Development Goal target of reducing to half, by 2015, the number of people who do not have access to clean water and basic sanitation.

The impacts of UN-HABITAT’s global water and sanitation activities are summarized below:i) Institutional capacity has increased in partner countries. As a result of capacity-building and training programmes, a number of water and sanitation utilities have registered, over the last five years, major improvements in their key performance indicators, with revenues increasing by over 60 percent and unaccounted-for water reducing by over 20 percent.

ii) The flow of investment to the water and sanitation sector has increased. Partnering with regional development banks and multilateral financing institutions (African Development Bank, Asian Development Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, European Investment Bank, and the World Bank) has ensured that the innovative approaches and solutions demonstrated through

Water and Sanitation Trust Fund activities are linked to large-scale investments. Collaboration between UN-HABITAT and the regional development banks on key pre-investment activities has greatly improved project design and significantly reduced the project preparation process and the appraisal period. The most successful collaborations have had both parties involved at all stages.

iii) Millennium Development Goal monitoring mechanisms have improved. UN-HABITAT’s water and sanitation monitoring work focuses on improving the quality of monitoring data so that it can contribute more effectively to Millennium Development Goal monitoring while also informing local decision making and project evaluation. These efforts have improved the relevance of collected data (for example, by including geo-referencing, socio-economic indicators, physical features, and citizen feedback), reduced the cost of data collection, increased the capacity to collect data, made data more publicly available, and trained people to access data and apply it to decision making.

Water for Asian Cities Programme and Mekong Regional Water and Sanitation InitiativeReaching out with a pro-poor focus to over one million people

The Asia and Pacific region is home to the majority of the world’s poor. Of the 2.6 billion people lacking access to sanitation, 72 percent live in Asia, and of the 884 million relying on unimproved sources of drinking water, more than half also live in Asia. Rapid urbanization in this region has put enormous pressure on the living environment, including already strained fresh-water resources. Climate change further threatens the adequate provision of water and sanitation.

� Houses on the Mekong Delta, Vietnam.

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Focus Area 4 Environmentally Sound Basic Urban Infrastructure and Services

Expanding access to and sustaining provision of adequate clean water, improved sanitation, waste management, and environmentally sound transport and energy.

These programmes promote community-based water and sanitation projects, strengthened water and sanitation governance to benefit the poor, gender mainstreaming in water and sanitation, a rights-based approach to water, and a human values-based approach to water, sanitation, and hygiene education. Currently, the programmes cover India, Cambodia, China, Nepal, Laos, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Pakistan. Since 2003, UN-HABITAT has worked in close collaboration with the Asian Development Bank to raise political awareness, build capacity, and create an enabling environment for pro-poor investments in water and sanitation in Asian cities.

So far, it is estimated that these programmes have reached over one million people with improved water supply and sanitation. In addition, they have influenced policy at the national level in some of the participating countries. Ongoing activities under the Mekong initiative target improving water supply for over 120,000 people and improving access to sanitation for over 210,000 people, part of a larger objective of improving access to water and sanitation for over 1 million people in the Greater Mekong subregion. Over the next five years, UN-HABITAT aims to reach out to an additional one million people.

RESOURCES

201020092008200720062005


3,368,538 4,128,897

3,579,189 163,952

344,993 89,983

Water for Cities in Latin America and the Caribbean ProgrammeReaching out through partnership with the Inter-American Development Bank

Water for Cities in Latin America and the Caribbean is a regional initiative, created in response to the Americas´ Regional Preparatory Process for the 4th World Water Forum, 2006, and in response to the forum itself. A strategic partnership has been forged with the Inter-American Development Bank to enhance pro-poor and sustainable investments in water and sanitation in the urban areas of Latin America and the Caribbean and thereby support the countries to achieve the water and sanitation-related Millennium Development Goal. Different forms of cooperation between the bank and UN-HABITAT are being formalized in Bolivia, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, and El Salvador. The programme relies on partnerships among different agents: donor countries, central governments, local authorities, the private sector, non-governmental organizations, and local communities.

The programme has the following tasks: � Support for central and local authorities in the pursuit of the water-related

Millennium Development Goal � Support for institutional development � Strengthening of water education and water culture, with special emphasis

on themes related to public health, hygiene, and water resource conservation � Support for the institutionalization of more participatory, transparent, and

accountable water governance � Mainstreaming adaptation to climate change � Strengthening of water and sanitation providers

RESOURCES

201020092008


762,710 1,310,000

821,406

Water for African Cities ProgrammeImproving water services in 17 cities in 14 African countries

Since 1999, the Water for African Cities Programme has been supporting African cities to address the water challenges facing the continent and to protect their fresh-water resources. Following the first phase, implemented in eight cities across the globe, a 2002 review of the programme acclaimed the approach and called for it to be strengthened and broadened both thematically and geographically. The programme is now active in 17 cities within 14 countries.

RESOURCES

201020092008200720062005


3,204,230 3,519,816

3,177,646 66,579

1,764,535 571,015

� Women collect water from a rainwater harvest cistern in Pakistan.

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HIGHLIGHT: NON-MOTORIZED TRANSPORT IS A BOON FOR SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENTThe transport of basic goods and services is a central element in improving the lives of slum dwellers. In the context of water and sanitation, the first issue is improved delivery of water. With no pipe networks, inhabitants are frequently forced to haul water long distances. Investing in cost-effective appropriate technology such as bicycle trailers can lower the cost of water access, free up residents – often women – to pursue an income, and generate employment opportunities for small-scale transport providers. For solid waste management, bicycle-based, low-cost collection solutions can have an immediate impact. Large-scale, capital-intensive solid waste collection systems are usually not viable due to physical and institutional constraints in informal settlements. As with water delivery, such small-scale institutional arrangements at the neighbourhood level can also serve as a basis for scaling up such approaches at a later stage in the context of the comprehensive upgrading of infrastructure and buildings.

In Kenya, for instance, the Non-motorized Transport Project for Solid Waste Management has been working towards establishing non-motorized transport as an alternative, efficient, sustainable, and cost-effective tool for water and sanitation service provision. New income-earning and business opportunities have also been generated for people living in informal settlements. The pilot project was substantially completed in informal settlements in Kibera and Naivasha, and there are plans to replicate the model in other informal settlements.

Global Water Operators’ Partnerships AllianceUsing Water Operator Partnerships as a cost-effective approach to cooperation

Getting water and sanitation access to those who need it places heavy demands on public utilities. Publicly owned and managed water utilities currently provide more than 90 percent of the world’s piped water, and even small managerial improvements could yield major benefits. Efficiency and financial viability are essential, but utilities also need to be service-oriented, transparent, accountable, and technically competent. The establishment of a global mechanism to facilitate and systematize Water Operator Partnerships at the global level was highlighted as a priority theme of the Hashimoto Action Plan by the UN Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation, which was launched in March 2004.

The Global Water Operators’ Partnerships Alliance aims to scale up peer-to-peer support among water operators and systematize the partnership efforts worldwide by doing the following: helping establish sustainable institutional and financial frameworks for regional, subregional, and national Water Operator Partnership platforms; promoting guiding principles and a code of conduct for the partnerships to help ensure the broad impact of partnership activities; enabling regional platforms to learn from one another about how they implement or facilitate Water Operator Partnerships; and supporting Water Operator Partnership networks and utilities with needed knowledge tools, capacity building, and financial support.

Since January 2009, the alliance has established and expanded its networks with partners at both regional and global levels to develop knowledge tools, deliver training, facilitate brokering, and identify financing. In 2009, the alliance provided significant support to establish or strengthen regional, subregional, and national platforms to facilitate Water Operator Partnerships in Africa, Arab countries, Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, and south-east Europe. These platforms were established and anchored within long-standing institutional structures, responding to demand from operators and strong support from regional development banks.

RESOURCES

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006


6,208,878

3,185,002

5,040,211

5,569,315

1,968,548

� A boy on the prow of small boat overlooking housing on a lake in Cambodia.

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� A low-cost bicycle trailer being used to transport water in Kibera, Kenya.

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HIGHLIGHT: A GEO-REFERENCED UTILITY BENCHMARKING SYSTEM IS LAUNCHED IN 2010One of the most noteworthy activities by the alliance was the launching of the Geo-referenced Utility Benchmarking System in March 2010. The system aims to make benchmarking both easier and more enticing for utilities to engage in. With the help of Google’s geo-referencing capabilities, the benchmarking data can be accessed on the system and visualized in the form of maps and dynamic charts. Its foundation is a benchmarking exercise carried out for 134 utilities in sub-Saharan Africa, but the alliance is already working with partners to populate the system with more data from other regions. When fully operational, the Geo-referenced Utility Benchmarking System can be used together with the alliance’s website as a matchmaking tool that enables utilities to search for potential partners online and initiate contact with them, independent of formal brokers or funding institutions.

Urban transportUrgently improving urban transport in the face of a rising global population

UN-HABITAT advocates for policies and models to achieve sustainable urban transportation systems across the globe in the context of an overall mission to promote the sustainable development of human settlements and the achievement of adequate shelter for all.

There are five thematic areas:1. Promoting human settlement development strategies that better integrate

land use planning and transport to minimize trip distances and reduce negative impacts

2. Promoting public transport and non-motorized transport as substitutes for, or complementary to, the private car, through expanded infrastructure and service supply

3. Increasing the efficiency of existing transport operations through improved planning and management of all modes of transport, traffic demand management, increased vehicle efficiency, and new fuel technologies

4. Improving mobility levels for the urban poor through the promotion of affordable urban transport plans, programmes, and appropriate technologies

5. Decentralizing urban transport infrastructure investment, decision making, planning, and management at the local level

RESOURCES

201020092008200720062005


450,000 500,000 550,000

650,000 700,000

1,400,000

HIGHLIGHT: PROVIDING ACCESS TO IMPROVED INFRASTRUCTURE IN NAIROBI AND NAIVASHA, KENYAUnder the framework of the Kenya Slum Upgrading Programme, UN-HABITAT has been working in the Kibera and Mirera-Karagita/Kamere informal settlements of Nairobi and Naivasha to demonstrate the viability of non-motorized transport as an efficient and sustainable alternative for water and sanitation service provision. Besides raising awareness among decision makers and stakeholders, establishing access roads that take pedestrians and cyclists into account, and training community-based organizations and informal traders, a workshop was set up in Kibera for the design, production, and sale of modified, load-carrying bicycles. Self-sustaining solid waste management and water-vending enterprises have developed in the three informal settlements. Overall, transport has become more accessible for the residents. The project has demonstrated the need to consider non-motorized transport when planning settlement layouts, road systems, and service provision.

� A road network in Hangzhou, China.

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Urban energy Improving access to basic energy services

Two billion people worldwide have no access to basic energy services. For cooking and heating, they depend on inefficient biomass fuels such as wood and animal and crop waste, which have detrimental effects on air quality and health. About 75 percent of the world’s commercial energy is consumed in urban areas. But in developing towns and cities, most of the urban poor have no access to modern energy services. Their energy needs have not been properly addressed, as development efforts have focused intensely on the electrification of rural areas. It is estimated that 40 percent of the total national electricity generated in developing countries is used in urban buildings, which consume more energy than the transport and industry sectors. In the Lake Victoria region, water utilities use up to 80 percent of their revenue to pay their electricity bills, yet the region has much renewable energy potential.

UN-HABITAT has prioritized three keys focus areas: energy access for the urban and peri-urban poor; energy efficiency measures; and renewable energy technologies. UN-HABITAT works with partners, including power utilities, to increase electricity access in slum areas through innovative solutions such as prepaid electricity systems and community-owned, decentralized power generation systems such as Clean Energy Centres. The agency also assists national and local governments in developing energy policies that focus on renewable energy technology, energy efficiency, and the energy needs of the poor. For example, UN-HABITAT assists governments in reviewing and updating their building laws and regulations, with a view to promoting low carbon-emitting building materials and energy-efficient designs and standards. It also promotes energy-efficient practices and appliances and conducts energy audits for water and sanitation utilities.

The agency identifies successful development models and promotes their replication. Best practices in urban energy projects are collected, assessed, and promoted, and the agency also carries out demonstration and pilot projects that give attention to capacity building, technology transfer, microfinance, and on-the-job training.

The programme is currently preparing Case Studies on Renewable Energy Technologies and Energy Efficiency, a booklet mainly for the urban areas of developing countries. A portfolio of USD 700,000 is focused on renewable energy projects. There are also projects on energy access and energy efficiency in buildings in the pipeline, with a total budget of USD 3 million.

RESOURCES

20102009


200,000 600,000

HIGHLIGHT: AFRICAN COUNTRIES REDUCE ENERGY COSTS WHILE KENYA RULES ON SOLAR WATER HEATERSA feasibility study in Kisii, Kenya, on the construction of a micro-hydropower plant on a nearby river has indicated that up to 70 percent of the electricity cost of the municipal water pumping station could be saved using the new clean energy facility. Resources are being mobilized to implement the project. A water utility company in Ghana has been able to reduce its energy bill by 18 percent with minimal investment by implementing the recommendations made by a team of energy auditors. UN-HABITAT has engaged in different international events in order to advocate for energy access for the urban poor, who are traditionally ignored by governments and the donor communities. It is generally assumed that because they live in urban areas, slum dwellers also enjoy better access to urban infrastructure and services. In reality, they pay more for those services, and the majority cannot afford them.

UN-HABITAT has also assisted several countries in formulating new regulations on energy efficiency in buildings. Kenya, for example, is the only country in sub-Saharan Africa that has adopted a regulation on solar water heaters, making their use mandatory.

� Solar water heater in a rural setting.

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Focus Area 5:StrengtheningHuman Settlements Finance Systems

In Brief

In 2007, for the first time in history, half of humanity was living in towns and cities. By 2030 this figure will likely rise to two-thirds. The cities growing the fastest are those of the developing world. In many countries, slums and informal settlements provide most urban housing. The lack of adequate urban services and infrastructure is a major challenge for human settlement development.

UN-HABITAT uses lending and credit enhancement programmes to finance improvements in infrastructure and housing in emerging and frontier economies, and to mobilize public and private investment in shelter and basic services. The agency promotes urban economic development strategies and policies, and systematic reforms in local government finance and housing finance systems.

� Women in Solo, Indonesia, carrying materials for upgrading their housing.

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Strategy

Focus Area 5 has two strategic objectives: to develop innovative pro-poor mechanisms for financing housing and urban services and infrastructure, and to become a catalyst and knowledge centre in creating innovative financing mechanisms for affordable housing and basic urban infrastructure and services.

Specific urban economy, urban finance, and social development goals include examining economic and financial conditions, issues, challenges, policies, and systems and developing tools and mechanisms to strengthen local government finance systems and housing finance systems. The agency also focuses on improving access to market-driven finance and increasing the supply of formal low-cost housing, as well as attracting large-scale funding sources and encouraging well-targeted, efficient subsidies.

Actions

These goals are being implemented through the development of knowledge and tools in local government finance and housing finance, and publications on human settlements finance systems, financing tools, and best practices. Other activities include the Experimental Reimbursable Seeding Operations Revolving Loan Fund Programme, the Slum Upgrading Facility Programme, and governance and institutional capacity building.

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Our Approach

Working in collaboration with the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation, and other major international finance players, UN-HABITAT can fill a vital niche in producing excellent knowledge on local government finance and housing finance systems and tools, and in taking up key early-stage investment and credit enhancement roles.

It is also developing prototype lending structures and setting lending programme eligibility standards to encourage environment- and public health-minded design for affordable and social housing. The agency is financing progressive homebuilding and documenting job creation resulting from investments in urban housing and infrastructure.

UN-HABITAT has the potential to become a catalyst and knowledge centre of global significance in financing affordable housing, urban regeneration, and community development.


The expected accomplishments of Focus Area 5 are as follows:

Improving knowledge and awareness in local government 1. finance and housing financeRaising financing for affordable and social housing and 2. related infrastructure, and increasing sustainable housing and urban developmentIncreasing activity in municipal finance and affordable 3. housing finance sectors globally

Getting It Done

The Experimental Reimbursable Seeding Operations Trust Fund supports investment in over 50,000 housing units globally with domestic bank, microfinance institution, international financial institution, and commercial bank partners.

Work continues on facilitating slum upgrading through community finance. Technical assistance activities are being undertaken with banks, microfinance institutions, and community groups in housing finance. These include the preparation of client-oriented training materials and guidelines and the training of low-income community groups or individuals in financial management.

Additionally, special training is offered to loan officers of private or public financial institutions or microfinance institutions in credit counselling for low-income borrowers. Support is also given in the recruitment of credit counsellors for low-income borrowers.

Working Together

The key partners for Focus Area 5 are national governments, local authorities and utilities, domestic and international financial institutions, and other organizations involved in financing affordable housing and basic infrastructure.



GHANA | INDONESIA | KENYA | MOZAMBIQUE NICARAGUA | SRI LANKA | TANZANIA | UGANDA

� A newly finished housing project for low-income families in Lilongwe, Malawi.

� A man in Dhirkot, Pakistan, assisting with the improvement of his house.

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Urban Finance ProgrammeProviding loans and local finance facilities for better housing

UN-HABITAT’s urban finance strategy is based on the agency’s sustainable credit enhancement and catalytic investment approach. The agency invests in affordable and social housing and related infrastructure improvements for under-served communities. UN-HABITAT believes that integrating market-based solutions and business approaches with community-led efforts is an effective way to address the scale of inadequate housing, water, and sanitation for human settlements across the globe. Innovative finance mechanisms and institutional capacity leverage the contributions of communities, local authorities, the private sector, governments, and international financial institutions. The urban finance strategy has a two-pronged approach, involving a revolving loan fund programme and grants for credit enhancement through Local Finance Facilities.

Experimental Reimbursable Seeding Operations ProgrammeUpgrading up to 33,000 affordable and social housing units in 5 countries

UN-HABITAT is providing loans to affordable social housing and infrastructure projects through a revolving loan fund programme called Experimental Reimbursable Seeding Operations. Working with local banks, microfinance institutions, and non-governmental organizations in Palestine, Tanzania, Uganda, Nicaragua, and Nepal, UN-HABITAT finances land development planning, affordable and social housing construction, and takeout micro-mortgage and microfinance housing loans. It leverages its funds by working with international financial institutions and public–private partnerships. The revolving loan fund is a highly effective tool to reach underserved populations and is highly complementary to the Local Finance Facility approach, which reaches populations at the bottom of the income pyramid.

UN-HABITAT has reviewed over 50 potential investments to date under the Experimental Reimbursable Seeding Operations Programme. As of mid-2010,

five loans had been disbursed (totalling USD 2.75 million). This initial round of lending is expected to support the creation and upgrading of up to 33,000 affordable and social housing units in Nepal, Nicaragua, Palestine, Uganda, and Tanzania (with housing investments that leverage additional investment and project value at a ratio of over 175:1 on the initial funding).

RESOURCES

Total Outstanding Portfolio USD 2,750,000 (equivalent in USD)

Reserves USD 600,000

Breakdown:

Country Budget Expected Results

Nepal USD 250,000 in NPR 900 houses built/upgraded

Nicaragua USD 500,000 2,000 houses built/upgraded

Occupied Palestinian Territories USD 1,000,000 30,000 houses built

Tanzania USD 500,000 in TZS 2,400 plots demarcated

Uganda USD 500,000 in UGX 125 new houses built

HIGHLIGHT: LOCAL NGO BRINGS MICROFINANCE MAGIC TO NICARAGUAFundación para la Promoción de Desarrollo Local (PRODEL) is a Nicaraguan NGO that provides secondary lending to local microfinance institutions to support microfinance housing loans and infrastructure finance in up to 16 medium-sized cities in Nicaragua and Central America. Additionally, PRODEL works with the local microfinance institutions to provide quality technical assistance services for housing construction and improvement, operating on a full cost-recovery basis. The Experimental Reimbursable Seeding Operations Programme is supporting PRODEL’s activities through a working capital loan that aims to establish the basis for further international investment and an expansion of PRODEL’s activities.

� Manzese Savings Office in Tanzania, a local microfinance option for women in the country.

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Focus Area 5Strengthened Human Settlements Finance SystemsImproving access to finance for homes and infrastructure, particularly for the urban poor.

Slum Upgrading Facility Pilot ProgrammeFinancing slum projects with community savings, private sector finance, and government contributions

In addition to lending activities, UN-HABITAT approaches under-served populations through Local Finance Facilities, a concept that has been established in pilot projects in Ghana, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Tanzania through the Slum Upgrading Facility Pilot Programme. Each Local Finance Facility uses one-time grant funding to set up operations and capitalize a revolving credit enhancement fund to support slum-upgrading projects desired by the community. Each Local Finance Facility operates as a sustainable business under the direction of an inclusive board of directors drawn from community groups, domestic banks, local municipalities, and relevant national ministries. Typically, each Local Finance Facility will seek to finance projects with a combination of community savings, subsidies from the municipality or a national ministry, and domestic commercial bank lending. This combination brings intended projects within the financial reach of the lowest income communities, while encouraging community sponsorship of the projects and pride in local ownership.

There are promising opportunities to expand the Local Finance Facility concept. The first is through establishing new Local Finance Facilities in other countries, as is now being planned in Kenya, working with the Millennium Cities Initiative and other key partners. UN-HABITAT is aiming to attract investment to extend the programme to all the Millennium Cities in Africa. At the same time, we are working to expand the scope and work of existing Local Finance Facilities. For example, in Ghana UN-HABITAT is planning to work with Cities Alliance and CHF International on joint project implementation.

RESOURCES

Funds disbursed to six Local Finance Facilities for staff and operation costs USD 825,000

Funds available to six Local Finance Facilities for credit enhancement/guarantees USD 4,700,000

Total Local Finance Facility funds in country USD 5,500,000

Key expected results from Local Finance Facility projects by 2014 (including UN-HABITAT contributions):

Projected number of households reached by end 2014

Projected overall value of project portfolio by end 2014

Ghana 3,000 households reached USD 4,000,000

Indonesia 4,000 households reached USD 5,000,000

Sri Lanka 1,500 households reached USD 4,000,000

Tanzania 1,500 households reached USD 3,000,000

HIGHLIGHT: SOLO BLUD BUILDS A FOUNDATION FOR HOUSING CREDIT IN INDONESIAThe Solo BLUD Local Finance Facility was established in Solo, Indonesia, to provide credit enhancement and technical support to develop ‘bankable’ low-income housing or slum-upgrading projects that are able to secure commercial loans. Solo BLUD has seven projects under active development, covering a range of project types: incremental upgrading, new construction, water and sanitation, and community real estate investment trusts (as an investment vehicle for new construction). In Solo, activities are a part of the municipal strategy to eradicate slums, and access to both municipal and national subsidies makes a range of projects affordable. The Indonesia projects are valued at over USD 1 million and are expected to reach close to 500 people. They aim to secure 65 percent of project value through commercial loans that are affordable to communities, with the rest of the needed funds being sourced locally through a combination of savings, government grants, and government in-kind contributions.

� UN-HABITAT works on programmes to help slum dwellers gain access to credit facilities.

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Urban Economy and Social Development ProgrammePromoting policies, strategies, and tools for economically healthy cities

The Urban Economy and Social Development Programme promotes urban economic, financial, and social development strategies and policies to enable cities to act as engines of economic development and resource centres for human settlement development. It provides an analytical focus on urban economy and local finance, relating them to the national and global economy and to housing and urban development. The programme focuses on poverty reduction and promotes policies, strategies, and tools that enhance the productivity of cities, encourage healthy finance, and promote equity. The key components of the Urban Economy and Social Development Programme include the following: � Global Urban Economic Dialogue: This component addresses the most

pressing issues for improving the urban and local economy. � Local Finance: Acknowledging that towns and cities are the engines of

economic development, this component helps to address the consequences

of rapid urbanization, in light of the increasing difficulties among local governments in meeting the growing demand for local public services and infrastructure.

� Housing Finance: This promotes inclusive housing finance systems and mechanisms to improve the effectiveness, efficiency, and accessibility of existing finance systems, creating and devising innovative finance mechanisms and instruments. It also publishes the Human Settlements Finance Systems and Financing Tools series.

� Productive Cities: This component explores how to make cities, towns, and villages more economically productive, expand jobs and business opportunities, increase incomes, and improve quality of life.

� Poverty Reduction: This includes raising awareness about poverty in urban development; analysing the nature, characteristics, trends, and distribution of urban poverty; and devising policies and strategies to tackle urban poverty problems.

� Integrated Social Development Initiative: This combines economic and social development with physical development and management to ensure that overall urban development is inclusive and equitable and benefits the entire population, with particular attention given to the most vulnerable and disadvantaged.

� Community-based Initiatives: These are helping to create, develop, and sustain the capacity of poor and grassroots communities to meet their housing, poverty reduction, and urban services needs.

RESOURCES

2010


3,550,000

HIGHLIGHT: GLOBAL URBAN ECONOMIC DIALOGUE FACILITATES THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE ASIA-PACIFIC HOUSING FINANCE NETWORKThe launch of the Global Urban Economic Dialogue and its first forum, entitled Better Cities, Better Economies, at the Shanghai Expo 2010 attracted a large amount of media coverage. In partnership with UNESCAP and the Government of India, the programme also organized three pro-poor housing finance workshops for the Asia-Pacific region. Out of this, the Asia-Pacific Housing Finance Network was initiated. The network is currently strong, runs itself, and meets its own costs.

� A street in New York city.

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TAvailable investment opportunities: key investment opportunities in UN-HABITAT that require committed funding are on www.unhabitat.org/pipelineprojects




Streamlining business processesImproving organizational processes and management through results-based management

In line with UN-HABITAT’s 2008–2013 Medium-Term Strategic and Institutional Plan, the organization has developed guidelines for monitoring compliance with delegated responsibilities. It also supports the implementation of improved operating procedures for project review and approval, travel planning and approval, cooperation agreements, and on online training tools. The accountability framework aims at developing an audit trail in systems and databases, as well as setting up a Cooperation Agreement Review and Advisory Committee to establish quality standards and oversight mechanisms.

Business processes include:

HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATIONIn order to better align staff competencies with programme priorities and improve efficiency, transparency, and delegation of authority, the agency’s human resources management is undertaking the following tasks: developing standard and individual job descriptions; monitoring post reclassifications; developing a job description and classification database; preparing user manuals; establishing a post management system; developing a staff skill inventory; and launching a consultants roster.

RESULTS-BASED MANAGEMENTResults-based management is a management strategy that ensures that its processes, outputs, and services contribute to the achievement of clearly stated and measurable results, aiming at improving performance. UN-HABITAT’s strategy encompasses the following: empowering managers and holding them accountable; focusing on clients’ participation and partnership; developing supportive mechanisms; and creating a culture of information use within the

organization. Results-based management has linked budget planning with strategic policy planning, thus moving UN-HABITAT from having an internal management focus to having an outward-looking orientation, centred on managing for development results.

As part of results-based management sensitization, experiential learning training has been given to UN-HABITAT regional offices and Habitat Programme Managers through one-day training sessions, received with enthusiasm by those who attended. Also, new guidelines of a strengthened programme review mechanism were presented to the Medium-Term Strategic and Institutional Plan Steering Committee and adopted in 2009.

HIGHLIGHT: STRENGTHENING UN-HABITAT’S PROGRAMME REVIEW MECHANISMSOne very important milestone has been strengthening the programme review mechanism through Programme Review Committees. The committees are crucial to the implementation of UN-HABITAT’s Medium-Term Strategic and Institutional Plan and are a strategic management tool for strengthening alignment between the results specified in the biennial work programme, on one hand, and, on the other hand, the programmes, projects, and activities that contribute to these planned results.

Strong Programme Review Committees are considered critical for promoting effective results-based planning, monitoring, evaluation, and reporting; for better alignment of programming and resource allocation; and for improving knowledge management and sharing. In addition to the Headquarters Programme Review Committee, three Regional Programme Review Committees are operational, using the new guidelines. The first Headquarters Programme Review Committee meeting was held in November 2009, and a total of 78 documents have since been reviewed. An orientation on the programme review mechanism was provided to all divisions between November 2009 and January 2010.

� At the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai, China, UN-HABITAT coordinated the UN Pavilion.

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Focus Area 6Excellence in ManagementEnhancing internal accountability, efficiency, and effectiveness to better deliver UN-HABITAT’s mandate.

Knowledge management Sharing information for sustainable urbanization

In UN-HABITAT, the knowledge management concept supports the sharing of information and knowledge among staff for organizational effectiveness and harnesses the efforts of Habitat Agenda partners to achieve sustainable urbanization. An internal Knowledge Management Strategy has been finalized. This has created an enabling environment for positioning UN-HABITAT as a premier reference centre on sustainable urbanization and for empowering staff to share, reuse, and create new information and knowledge. This strategy also outlines key success factors for facilitating knowledge exchange, collaboration, and networking among partners. The establishment of a global knowledge exchange network on sustainable urban development (an online global urban portal) will promote evidence-based knowledge and link practical experiences from operational activities to normative dialogue, including World Urban Forum discussions. The network will also help raise global awareness on sustainable urbanization issues, thus supporting the advocacy efforts of the World Urban Campaign.

RESOURCES

2010

2009


20,000

130,000

HIGHLIGHT: REVITALIZED KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT TARGETS STAFF AND GLOBAL URBAN NETWORKSOn World Habitat Day 2010, a significant event occurred: UN-HABITAT’s launch of an online global urban portal. The portal is initially responding to the needs of the Sustainable Urban Development Network, partnership strategies, and the World Urban Campaign. The second phase of the initiative will incorporate humanitarian and water and sanitation portals. Recent ‘quick wins’ on the knowledge management front also include a monthly staff newsletter with updates on major developments from headquarters and the field. Improved search facilities and dynamic translation of content into all languages have also been installed on the agency’s intranet.

Resource mobilizationCoordinating donor relations with a new corporate approach

A new Resource Mobilization Unit was established in 2008 in order to ensure that a new approach is adopted in fund-raising, an approach that encompasses shared intelligence and coordinated management of donor relations. With limited core resources from the UN system, UN-HABITAT depends largely on donor contributions, and therefore an institutional approach needs to be reasserted. In addition, a balance between earmarked and non-earmarked funding is needed to allow the organization to properly implement its mandate.

In only two years, UN-HABITAT has created a unit dedicated to resource mobilization and has delivered the following results: � Developed information tools for development partners: the leaflet

UN-HABITAT, for More Inclusive, Safer and Greener Towns and Cities, as well as this user-friendly catalogue, UN-HABITAT Products and Services, regularly updated for general and donor audiences and now including UN-HABITAT policy strategies for each focus area

� Collected and shared knowledge throughout the organization on development partners’ policy priorities and trends

� Consolidated and expanded UN-HABITAT’s donor base by promoting longer-term partnerships with key development partners through new multi-year agreements

� Enhanced donor stewardship with high-level meetings that attract broad representation from key strategic partners

� Created a database of projects that are in the pipeline – the database is accessible on UN-HABITAT’s website (www.unhabitat.org/pipelineprojects) and presents activities that need full or partial funding

� Developed an internal Donor Information System to facilitate coordination and information sharing on resource mobilization-related issues

RESOURCES

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2009

2008


90,500

130,000

170,000

� UN-HABITAT staff attending a town hall meeting in Nairobi.

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HIGHLIGHT: THE DONOR INFORMATION SYSTEM, A NEW TOOL FOR A CORPORATE RESOURCE MOBILIZATIONIn only one year, UN-HABITAT has been able to develop, with extremely limited funding, an intranet-based system that has become the platform for facilitating coordination and information sharing on resource mobilization and related programme management issues throughout the organization. The Donor Information System was officially launched in late 2010 and is now the central source of reference for information on the agency’s development partners. The different features include donor information, donor-related activities, calls for proposals, and proposal and project information. The set-up allows for cross-referencing across the agency, and it is linked to other key systems such as the Grants Management Information System and the pipeline projects and publications databases. The first hands-on training sessions for the system have already been given.

Enhanced Normative and Operational FrameworkEnsuring internal harmonization and better coordination in all regional and country operations

The Enhanced Normative and Operational Framework was established under UN-HABITAT’s Medium-Term Strategic and Institutional Plan, with the objective of harmonizing policy and programme approaches within UN-HABITAT and improving the coordination of operations on the ground. More specifically, its purpose is to facilitate inter-divisional coordination and better alignment of resources in order to more effectively achieve the expected results in a number of ‘selected priority

countries’ through a more integrated and participatory programme planning and implementation process that clearly links the agency’s normative and operational work.

A task force has been established to oversee this framework, which is responsible for translating UN-HABITAT’s normative messages into concrete activities at regional and national levels. The task force has two main objectives: (i) to provide a platform for internal policy dialogue and coordination among all focus areas and the respective divisions and branches coordinating these focus areas, and (ii) to facilitate the design of an integrated programme of activities to be carried out in selected countries as a central part of the implementation of the Medium-Term Strategic and Institutional Plan. This has facilitated internal harmonization and improved coordination of country operations globally. Done in a synchronized and more integrated manner, these efforts will increase the agency’s impact at the country level.

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The urban environment, which includes built elements, social structures, land, and ecology, is becoming progressively more fragile as a result of uncontrolled urbanization. Consequently, urban populations face increasing risks associated with economic, social, and environmental crises. Nowhere is this more evident than in countries where urban in-migration and population growth outpace local governments' capacity to meet basic needs, plan and finance growth, and address growing vulnerabilities within their villages, towns, and cities.

UN-HABITAT supports national governments, local authorities, and civil society to strengthen their capacity in managing human-made and natural disasters affecting human settlements. This applies to the prevention and mitigation of disasters, as well as rehabilitating human settlements and addressing the needs of displaced populations. UN-HABITAT’s mandate is derived from the Habitat Agenda and resolutions of the agency's Governing Council and the UN General Assembly.

The normative framework for UN-HABITAT’s work in this arena is its Strategic Policy on Human Settlements in Crisis, together with the Sustainable Relief and Reconstruction Framework. The work is carried out through three primary mechanisms: 'prospecting' or undertaking programme formulation initiatives in countries and cities facing or recovering from crisis; 'programming' or managing the mainstreaming and oversight of the implementation of the agency’s normative framework and the production of tools, learning materials, and guidelines derived from its work; and 'promotion' or engaging in advocacy, outreach, networking, and partnerships within the international aid community.

UN-HABITAT strongly encourages the earliest engagement by local authorities in defining risks, assessing capacities, establishing stakeholder systems, and

building financial resources for reducing risk. The failure to do so is often sadly illustrated in the loss of life, property, infrastructure, and social systems during a crisis. Ironically, it is typically only after a disaster that local and national governments wake up to the vulnerabilities of their urban settlements and see opportunities to reduce vulnerability and create resilience. However, 'building back better' requires certain key principles: a compact with all stakeholders – including, where applicable, the international aid community and local national governments – to work towards a common purpose; a commitment to analyse previous and future vulnerability and mitigate risk through reconstruction; and finally, an honest appraisal of the capacity to deliver and a commitment to address any limitations to ensure sustainability.

HousingPromoting stronger housing and holistic reconstruction

UN-HABITAT provides policy and technical advice to governments, humanitarian actors, and communities to support hazard-resistant housing reconstruction. Our approach is based on the following principles: � Survivors of a crisis are the agents of their own recovery. They should not be

treated as liabilities, but as assets to be mobilized and supported. � Promoting safe return to habitable houses is critical, combined with advice

on hazard-resistant reconstruction. � Traditional building materials and culturally acceptable forms and techniques

are the foundation for reconstruction and must be improved, not replaced. � Housing solutions must be complemented by initiatives to address land

use, tenure, livelihoods, and critical infrastructure and services. Experience has shown that temporary solutions have a way of becoming permanent.

From crisis to opportunity: UN-HABITAT’s response to disaster and conflict

Helping cities and communities reduce risks and transition from crisis to sustainable urban development.

HaitiTechnical advice to local administrations on house reconstruction; land rights, use and planning; Community Resource Centres

MexicoImplementation of risk mapping for earthquakes and other hazards, disaster management programming

ColombiaSupport in housing, planning and urban governance, land issues, analysis of national laws on land, capacity building training

EcuadorAdaptation to climate change, land use planning

DRCLand conflict mediation and policy development

South SudanSupport to the Land Commission, urban planning and management

KosovoMunicipal spatial planning, rebuilding the cadastre, and residential property restitution

PeruProperty rights documentation, earthquake-resistant housing techniques

ChileCreation of resource centre to support the community in housing reconstruction

LiberiaSupport to the Land Commission on land dispute resolution

UN-HABITAT CRISIS WORK:EXAMPLES OF ACTIVITIES WORLDWIDE

These principles have been proved time and again in a variety of contexts. In Aceh, Indonesia, UN-HABITAT supported the reconstruction of over 4,500 houses, which included planning, land rights, and water and sanitation inputs. In Pakistan, the agency worked with the Government of Pakistan and partners to design and implement a housing reconstruction training and quality control programme for the entire earthquake-affected area. In Mozambique, the agency demonstrated innovative flood-resistant construction techniques for schools and clinics to enable communities to ‘live with risk’.

In recognition of UN-HABITAT’s approach, an agreement was reached with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and UNHCR (Inter-Agency Standing Committee Global Shelter Cluster Leads) to initiate recovery during emergency phases.

LandAddressing the root causes of conflict worldwide

Land issues are critical to addressing the root causes of violent conflict and rebuilding communities after natural disasters. Failure to address land issues early and effectively can delay transition from humanitarian assistance, undermine the return of internally displaced persons and refugees, contribute to (renewed) conflict, and prevent stability and recovery.

In Kosovo, UN-HABITAT led the first UN-based residential property restitution programme, resolving over 29,000 claims. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the agency currently operates land conflict mediation centres in the east while supporting the development of new land policy in Kinshasa. After the 2007 earthquake in Peru, the organization assisted households to obtain legal land documents, ensuring that women could also be named as property owners or tenants, and has prepared similar support for the Government of Haiti. In Afghanistan, UN-HABITAT helped Kandahar Municipality provide secure land rights to 10,000 internally displaced persons as part of an informal settlement-upgrading programme. After the 2005 earthquake in Pakistan, the agency supported the government to provide land for 14,000 ‘landless’ families. UN-HABITAT worked with communities in Indonesia and Sri Lanka to confirm land rights to enable them to rebuild their homes after the 2004 tsunami. In Liberia, the organization is supporting the land commission to prepare a public land inventory and develop a nationwide land dispute resolution system.

At the global level, UN-HABITAT is mainstreaming land issues in humanitarian response through a variety of mechanisms: the Housing, Land, and Property Working Group within the humanitarian cluster system; collaboration with UNEP and UNDP on land and natural resource conflict; and promotion of land policy and land tool development through the Global Land Tool Network.

Critical infrastructure and servicesProtecting basic services and ensuring post-disaster recovery

Affordable basic services and infrastructure in cities are some of the most important engines of sustainable urbanization. However, dependency on services and infrastructure also represents a key point of vulnerability for urban populations during disasters. UN-HABITAT’s experience in natural or human-made disasters – such as the most recent ones in Haiti, Pakistan, and Madagascar – demonstrate that, while the availability of a reliable and affordable water supply is an essential feature of cities, its sudden disruption creates threats and increases the vulnerability of crisis-affected populations. Urbanization, a changing climate, and social instability add layers of complexity to the challenge, and loss of other service capacity (such as solid or liquid waste management) exacerbates already critical conditions. It is the intersection of all of these vulnerabilities with natural or human-made crises that concerns UN-HABITAT.

� Training of trainers in reconstruction, Pakistan.

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PakistanTechnical and training support for earthquake reconstruction, IDP assistance, disaster risk management

MyanmarCommunity-based disaster risk reduction, water supply and sanitation recovery, coastal settlements recovery

IndonesiaSettlement and sanitation programmes, early recovery shelter assistance after earthquake

GeorgiaAnalysis on land issues, IDP assistance, technical support on housing

AfghanistanReturnee and IDP support through policy and planning, community empowerment

SerbiaAddressing housing options for IDPs through participatory planning, good governance

occupied Palestinian territoryHousing reconstruction, early recovery plans

LebanonSatellite imagery, technical assistance on housing reconstruction

IraqHousing and urban development capacity building, shelter access for IDPs and returnees

MozambiqueReducing vulnerability to floods and cyclones through capacity building

MadagascarVulnerability reduction through community-driven basic service provision

SomaliaPlanning, land use management and administration

Sri LankaCommunity recovery and reconstruction, shelter support to IDPs

Hazards cannot be avoided, but prevention and preparedness are within the reach of city and national governments. For this reason, a key area of work for the agency is ensuring protection and early recovery of basic service provision and critical infrastructure for water, sanitation, and waste management and hygiene systems. In addition, UN-HABITAT provides immediate support for social infrastructure such as community-based institutions and health, education, and governance systems.

UN-HABITAT offers technical support and a network of experts to service global and national counterparts, local communities, and local governments in improving the provision of services to ensure adequate critical infrastructure protection and rehabilitation. This includes strengthening the governance of service provision, the adaptation of specific tools for assessment, and the implementation of indicators for early warning on potential disasters, climate change-induced threats, and other hazards faced by cities throughout the world.

PlanningBuilding back better

Strategic spatial planning is a powerful tool to ‘build back better’ in crisis-affected countries. It provides an integrative framework for assistance; puts the focus on building back communities by linking housing with basic services and infrastructure and the essential urban recovery elements of environmental remediation and livelihoods; and enables more equitable and sustainable use of space. This is necessary when emergency response runs the risk of entrenching inequitable land use or legitimizing unjust outcomes of conflict.

UN-HABITAT has provided technical support in Kosovo, Somalia, and Sudan, where spatial planning exercises allowed land redistribution for the durable settlement of over 1,000 long-term displaced families, while providing guidance to urban growth. Its planning expertise facilitated the rebuilding of communities in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, following the tsunami in 2004 and in Pakistan following the earthquake in 2005. The potential to increase the impact of response and mitigate risks in complex urban areas is enormous, as demonstrated in Port-au-Prince following the earthquake in 2010. In Kosovo, the crisis provided an opportunity to put in place more appropriate planning practices derived from the development of a new ‘national’ spatial plan and prepare the ground for sustainable recovery.

Globally, UN-HABITAT plays a key role in putting spatial planning back at the core of the global drive towards sustainable urbanization and development. Country-level experiences are used to further develop planning approaches that facilitate risk mitigation, adaptation, and more equitable access to land. Perhaps more importantly, as noted following the Haiti earthquake in January 2010, they highlight the need for immediate planning measures following crises.

The sustainable functioning of any urban environment is severely compromised when disasters occur, and integrating the key points of vulnerability in a robust sustainable recovery agenda remains a challenge both prior to and after crises. UN-HABITAT is committed to supporting communities, local and national governments, and our partners to make cities more resilient – preferably before crises occur and definitely after they do.

RESOURCES

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006


8,300,000

2,350,000

3,130,000

2,300,000

8,765,000




HIGHLIGHT: ACCESSING LAND INFORMATION AND SUPPORTING CONFLICT RESOLUTION THROUGH LAND MEDIATION CENTRES IN EASTERN CONGOAfter 12 months of operation in the post-conflict eastern Democratic Republic of Congo environment, UN-HABITAT has built a systematic land dispute resolution framework and a political forum for addressing land issues through a land coordination group within the Provincial Ministry of Land Affairs.

Through the permanent deployment of land mediators in the eastern provinces, UN-HABITAT has established a comprehensive database of existing land disputes in order to support conflict resolution. Land has been secured for displaced persons as well as for the indigenous Pygmy and local communities. The establishment of land mediation centres at the lowest administrative level facilitates easy access to land information and supports conflict resolution.

“We feel that the land mediation centre has helped the population considerably,” said Bazirake Mbahere, a resident of Kitchanga in the eastern provinces. “This centre assists us free of charge, and we have never heard it said that you are corrupt, as is the case in the local customary or judicial bodies in the region. You also don’t leave people out, no matter what their social status, their ethnicity, their tribe. You welcome them without discrimination – and this is an important reason for the success of this centre”. The strong role UN-HABITAT played in raising land as a major issue for sustainable development and the concrete demonstration of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms have generated a solid commitment from the government and the international community to seriously tackle land issues.

� Signing of a land mediation agreement in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

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Focus Area Policy and Strategy Papers

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The Enhanced Normative and Operational Framework:Promoting SustainableUrbanization at theCountry Level

Preface

The Enhanced Normative and Operational Framework (ENOF) is key to the implementation of UN-HABITAT’s Medium-Term Strategic and Institutional Plan 2008–2013. The framework provides a bridge between UN-HABITAT’s normative messages and the agency’s operational work, seeking to better connect UN-HABITAT’s global policy with its regional and country activities.

The vision of the Medium-Term Strategic and Institutional Plan is “to help create, by 2013, the necessary conditions for international and national efforts to stabilize the growth of slums and to set the stage for the reduction of urban poverty and the reduction of the number of slum dwellers”. The plan has defined UN-HABITAT’s contribution to sustainable urbanization through five main focus areas.

� The central square in Uberlândia, Brazil.

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Strategy

The ENOF strategy focuses on internal harmonization and better coordination, especially between normative and operational work; policy integration and programmatic coherence at the country level; and monitoring, evaluation, and reporting.

Actions

ENOF facilitates the coordination of policy development and implementation processes, as well as the alignment of resources. The ultimate goal is to maximize the impact of UN-HABITAT’s work at all levels.

The agency is intensifying its work in pilot “ENOF Priority Countries” to support the efforts of national governments, local authorities, and other stakeholders. This support will strengthen in-country synergies and feed into worldwide UN efforts to alleviate poverty and promote sustainable development.

ENOF


Context

A number of external factors drove the need for the Enhanced Normative and Operational Framework. First, there was the scale and pace of urbanization and slum formation. Second was the ongoing process of UN reform, which emphasizes collaboration at the country level. Third was the Paris Declaration, which emphasizes the need for systemic reforms. Finally, there were changes in development assistance funding, the growing role of private capital, and the devolution of resource allocation decisions to the country level by bilateral donors.

Internal factors, meanwhile, included the need for greater focus, alignment, and coherence in UN-HABITAT activities and greater emphasis on results-based management.

Our Approach

The Enhanced Normative and Operational Framework has two tracks. The first is externally oriented and consists of a strengthened partnership and networking strategy that mobilizes partners behind a common set of principles and development targets within the framework of a new, shared World Urban Campaign. The goal is policy integration and programmatic coherence at the country level. The organization of the National Urban Forum sessions and the development of the Habitat Country Programme Documents provide immediate, tangible opportunities to work towards this goal.

The second track is more internally oriented, aiming to align UN-HABITAT’s resources to more effectively achieve impact at the appropriate scale in selected countries. It consists of an integrated programme of activities at the global, regional, and national levels. Towards this goal, the ENOF Task Force provides a platform for internal policy dialogue and coordination among all Medium-Term Strategic and Institutional Plan Focus Areas and the related agency branches.

Getting It Done

Firstly, ENOF supports the World Urban Campaign, which targets selected partners involved in the implementation of the Habitat Agenda to develop a shared vision and strategy to promote sustainable urban development.

Secondly, ENOF supports the national implementation of focus area policies. UN-HABITAT’s contribution to sustainable urbanization has been defined through five main focus areas under the Medium-Term Strategic and Institutional Plan, each with its own policies.

Thirdly, ENOF supports an integrated programme of activities at the global and regional levels. This includes:

Designing an integrated ENOF strategy that builds on the UN-HABITAT work programmeMapping the relevant existing activities and developing criteria for participatory engagementDeveloping the tools and guidelines required to support implementation in the ENOF Priority Countries

� A UN-HABITAT-supported women’s land trust in Tanzania.

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Fourthly, ENOF supports the development and implementation of country programmes outlined in the Habitat Country Programme Documents. The latter are useful for strategizing, planning, coordinating, and monitoring. They also provide a framework for the involvement of partners, linking with various other formal strategies (e.g. the UN Development Assistance Framework) and enhancing visibility.

Fifthly, ENOF contributes to UN-HABITAT’s monitoring and evaluation activities.

Working Together

ENOF’s efforts represent collaboration among all the branches of UN-HABITAT on the one hand, and the involvement of all stakeholders – including national and local governments, civil society, and the private sector – on the other hand.

In addition, ENOF increases synergy among the agency’s key global programmes: the Global Land Tool Network, Water and Sanitation, the Disaster Management Programme, the Cities in Climate Change Initiative, Safer Cities, and programmes on financing slum upgrading and basic services.

ENOF

ENOF PRIORITY COUNTRIES

All ENOF Priority Countries are among the least developed countries and have projects being implemented by at least three different UN-HABITAT divisions.

African States: Burkina Faso | Democratic Republic of Congo Ghana | Kenya | Liberia | Mozambique | Nigeria | Senegal Tanzania | Uganda

Arab States: Egypt | Iraq | Libya | Sudan

Asia-Pacific States: Bangladesh | Indonesia | Nepal | Pakistan Philippines | Sri Lanka | Vanuatu | Vietnam

Latin American and Caribbean States: Colombia | EcuadorHaiti | Nicaragua


For more information or to obtain a copy of a full Medium-Term Strategic and Institutional Plan Focus Area Policy and Strategy Paper, contact us.


Our Work 2011- Policies and Products 2011 and MTSIP Focus Area Policy

Documents

Transcript of Our Work 2011- Policies and Products 2011 and MTSIP Focus Area Policy