The Cities Without Slums Programme will be incorporated in the UN-HABITAT led Urban Management Programme for the Lake Region, in the city of Kisumu. Already a City Development Strategy has been developed to including an Action Plan for Kisumu. The material is being analyzed to see if there are any gaps left to finalize the CWS inception phase. Kisumu will then be ready to engage in the preparatory phase.

Kisumu, the third largest city in Kenya, experiences the highest average urban poverty levels at 48% against a national average of 29%. The city lacks adequate shelter with approximately 75% of peri-urban inhabitants living in temporary and semi-permanent structures. Over the past 2 years, the Kisumu City Council (KCC) together with UN-HABITAT and in consultation with the residents of the city, have produced a City Development Strategy, which is an array of strategic responses generated through consensus building. The Kisumu City Development Strategy has an investment plan to initiate Settlement Upgrading Schemes and it is in this context that UN-HABITAT is proposing to work closely with KCC under an Agreement of Cooperation, to initiate the Cities Without Slums sub-regional programme for Eastern and Southern Africa.