UN-HABITAT seeks to provide substantive analytical focus on urban economy, its relationship with the national and global economy, and focus on policies and strategies aimed at employment generation and creation of opportunities for social mobility. Within this broad mandate the agency supports the worldwide implementation of the Habitat Agenda, with specific focus on one of its two main goals: "adequate shelter for all" and "sustainable urban development". Its activities focus on conceptualization, formulation and development of research, capacity-building and on the provision of advisory services on issues of urban economic development and finance, including housing finance. Broadly, it seeks to provide economic analysis perspective to human settlements programmes by focusing attention on the operation of the urban economy, and how these affect or are affected by the quality of local governance and national economic management. It covers four substantive areas, namely:

• Enhancing productivity and employment in the urban informal sector
• Impact of macro-economic factors on urban economic development
• Development and strengthening of housing finance systems and institutions
• Developing municipal finance capacity and strengthening municipal finance systems