We, the undersigned of the present Dakar Declaration:

• Acknowledging the efforts by the Government, Local Authorities, especially municipalities, civil society and urban communities in the improvement of the living conditions of the urban populations;
• Acknowledging the support of the international community;
• Noting the acute nature of the socio-economic problems facing the populations, especially women living in poor and informal neighbourhoods in Senegal ;
• Acknowledging the hardship faced by the urban poor forced to live in unhealthy and precarious conditions, to be near the economic opportunities offered by cities;
• Acknowledging the lack of infrastructure and basic services in urban centres in general and more particularly in poor neighbourhoods;
• Deploring the lack of spatial planning and the difficulties related to urban mobility,
• Acknowledging the commitment of the United Nations system, especially UN-HABITAT, in the improvement of access to water, sanitation and in support of the decentralisation policy;

We appeal to all stakeholders (Government, Local Authorities, private sector, civil society, development partners, Association of Mayors, Community Organisations, Neighbourhood Associations, etc.) to join their efforts in view of ensuring security of tenure and access to a decent shelter for all, in line with the principles of good governance, so as to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.

We commit ourselves, therefore:

• to contribute actively to the development of our human settlements so that they become an adequate space where every citizen, without any discrimination, can take advantages of available opportunities;
• to promote a transparent policy of urban development;
• to fight, in accordance with the existing laws and regulations, against forced evictions which aggravate poverty among the populations;
•   to support the production of social services, serviced plots and housing affordable to the largest number of people, including by the generalisation of the mechanisms of “concerted development zones” (Zones d'aménagement concerté);
• to support all community-led development processes such as land restructuring and regularisation in informal settlements, savings mobilisation, micro-enterprise promotion;
• to ensure a sustainable protection of the environment, including green spaces and urban agriculture;
• to develop advocacy for effective participation of vulnerable populations, especially women, in the development process;
• to build a partnership allowing all stakeholders, within a political framework, to achieve fully their role in the sustainable development process, based on the observance of the principles of good governance;
•   to ensure the effective implementation of the Action Plan of the campaigns, including through the mobilisation of necessary resources as well as the setting up of a Steering Committee endowed with adequate resources.

Dakar , 18 May 2004

For the Government:

For the Local Authorities:

For the Private Sector:

For the Civil Society:

For the United Nations: