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| Africa | | Country | Event | | Benin | The A.BE.E.A NGO plans to mark the day by sensitizing populations in newly built-up areas to live in healthy housing. The NGO will organize a conference which will include a film on the theme.
Au Bénin, le Ministère de l'Environnement, Habitat et Urbanisme organise comme chaque année la semaine nationale de l'habitat pour célébrer la journée mondiale de l'habitat au Bénin. Cette semaine rassemble les acteurs du développement de la recherche et du cadre bâti autour des défis nationaux en relation avec le thème de la commémoration. La semaine de l'habitat est placée sous le signe du développement local matériaux et savoirs-faire locaux se déroulera à Parakou ville du centre du Bénin à 500km de Cotonou la capitale économique. Les partenaires nationaux au développement, l'ONU Habitat en particulier accompagnent l'organisation de ces manifestations.
 Célébration de la journée mondiale de l’habitat au Bénin | | Burkina Faso | The Prime Minister of Burkina Faso will launch the Global Campaigns on Secure Tenure and Urban Governance in Ouagadougou on 13 October 2004. The launch will be preceded by a national workshop on 12 October 2004 involving government officials, mayors, researchers, as well as representatives from civil society, who will endorse a Plan of Action.
La declaration en francais | | Burundi | To celebrate the Day, a seminar will be held with participants from ministries including the Ministries of Public Works and Equipment, Rural Development, Environment, Planning, the Ministry in charge of Refugee Returns and Resettlement, Local Authorities and the Geographic Institute of Burundi (IGEBU).
To raise the visibility of the occasion, a radio and television panel is planned involving parliamentarians, academics and others on the theme of "Cities-Engines of rural development". TV documentaries and posters in public places are also being organized. Finally, a competition between the cities and towns will be organised with a view to selecting a winning town with the least destruction of houses and infrastructure in a bid to promote peaceful coexistence.
See attached a programme of activities | Democratic
Republic of
Congo | Le ONG Association d'Entraide Médico-Sociale en sigle AEMS compte contribuer à la célébration de la journée mondiale de l'habitat par l'organisation dans la ville de Kinshasa dans les quartiers urbano-rural, les activités de sensibilisation de la population dans le cadre des: lutte contre les erosions; l'assainissement du milieu; réhabilitation des voies accès; l'aménagement de fosse arabe dans les parcelles; la création de poste de santé de soins communautaire, pour la prise en charge médicale des affections dûe à l'eau non potable et aménagement de source d'eau potable.
| | Ethiopia | Ethiopia will have various public information activities to coincide with World Habitat Day, including a radio programme, posters and T-shirts, organized by various organizations, including UNEP, Addis Ababa Environmental Protection Agency, UDCBO and the Addis Ababa Clean and Green Society. | | Ghana | Mayors of the Accra, Elmina and Tamale in Ghana discussed on national television the theme of this year’s WHD and its relevance to the country while two directors of the Ministry of Local government and Rural Development and Ministry of Environment and Science participated in a radio talk show in Accra. Listeners phoned in from around the country. The most widely circulated national newspaper, the Daily Graphic, carried a feature article and at least 150 people including members of parliament, ministers of State, Directors of Ministries, the private sector, academics, civil society organisations, members of professional bodies attended a news conference. This was carried on the two major television stations in the country.
World Habitat Day Celebration in Ghana
| | Kenya | The idea of Cities - engines of rural development as the theme this year was to remind policy-makers at every level not to think of “urban” and “rural” as separate entities, but rather as parts of an economic and social whole. “In the next 25 years, virtually all population growth will take place in the world’s cities, most of it in the cities of developing countries,” said UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in a message read on his behalf by Mrs. Anna Tibaijuka, Executive Director of UN-HABITAT. “The fastest growing cities will be secondary and market towns, which are especially close to rural areas. This growth can help to improve rural life and ease the problems associated with mega-cities. But to do so, it will need to be well-managed, with significant investments in communication, transport channels and other infrastructure, and with concerted efforts to ensure that all people have access to adequate services,” Mr. Annan’s message said. Kenyan President Mr. Mwai Kibaki, Roads and Public Works Minister Mr. Raila Odinga, Lands and Housing Minister Mr. Amos Kimunya, Mrs. Tibaijuka, and other speakers drew frequent applause from the crowd as they spelled out new thinking on ways to alleviate urban poverty. “We needed to be dramatic in the wording of the theme this year,” said Mrs. Tibaijuka, “to remind policy makers around the world that sustainable development can only be achieved if rural and urban areas are considered part of an inter-dependent, mutually reinforcing economic and social order. This is also the essence of the recommendations that have emerged from the Inter-Regional Conference on Urban-Rural Development Linkages we hosted in the days just prior to World Habitat Day.” President Kibaki said that only a proper balance between urban and rural areas would serve to improve living conditions in both areas: “In a developing country like Kenya, rural poverty is a cause of informal settlements and massive migration into urban centres and it has overwhelmed the capacity of the authorities to provide basic services for all.” Every year since 1985, when it was officially designated by the UN General Assembly, World Habitat Day has been celebrated annually on the first Monday in October to remind the world of the state of human settlements and the basic right to adequate shelter. The choice of Nairobi, Kenya, for the global celebration this year was to highlight the phenomenal rate of urbanisation in the developing world, which Kenya symbolises. Other celebrations were held in scores of cites in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, the Pacific, Europe and North America. Mrs. Tibaijuka used the occasion to present the 2004 Habitat Scroll of Honour Awards to a group of selected individuals and organizations for their commitment to the cause of human settlements development. See http://www.unhabitat.org/whd/2004/2004_winners.asp for the list of winners. | | Morocco | UN-HABITAT’s Global Campaign for Secure Tenure and the Global Campaign on Urban Governance were launched in Morocco this week to mark World Habitat Day. The launch on Monday 4 October drew more than 700 delegates representing the government, civil society, local authorities, the private sector, UN-HABITAT and UNDP, and was held in the district of Ben M’Sik in Casablanca, home of the country’s largest slum.. The World Habitat Day launch provided an opportunity to announce the implementation of the "Cities without Slums" programme which will enable Morocco, the first country in the Arab region to launch the two campaigns, to be a slum-free nation by 2010. Representatives of different stakeholders, including a woman, living in a slum of Ben M’Sik, signed the "Casablanca Declaration" that translates the commitment of all parties to the principles of the two campaigns.
Arabic: Discours de M. Hejira
Francais: Discours de M. Biau | Declaration de Casablanca | | Mozambique | Experts will prepare papers on the World Habitat Day theme for a workshop on human settlement issues. The workshop will include presentations by experts and a public debate. It is expected that government, municipalities, universities and civil society organizations will participate. A debate with Radio Moçambique is also planned.
| | | As Monday, 4 October is Peace Day in Mozambique, the World Habitat Day celebrations will be held on Tuesday, 5 October 2004. A workshop on the theme, “Cities – engines of rural development” will take place at Maputo City Hall, and will be opened by the Mayor of Maputo City. The workshop is organized in collaboration with UNDP, the Maputo City Municipal Council, the Ministry of Public Works and Housing and the Ministry of Coordination of Environmental Affairs. Public debates on the theme are also being organized on national radio. President Joaquim Chissano, who was awarded a Habitat Scroll of Honour this year, will be presented with his award at a public ceremony on 9 October 2004.
Nações Unidas Distinguem PR com diploma honra | | Namibia | A special TV programme to highlight housing issues and rural-urban linkages will be aired on Namibian Broadcasting Corporation's "Talk of the Nation" programme on World Habitat Day. Panelists include the Former Deputy Minister and the current Deputy Director of the Ministry of Regional Local Government and Housing. | | Nigeria | The WHD celebrations in Lagos, Nigeria generated immense interest as captains of industry, government officials, market women and workers joined together to mark the event. The deputy State governor gave the keynote address while the Commissioner of Physical Planning and Urban Development read the Secretary-General's Message. Prior to the main day, the event had been given the widest publicity including a press conference. The day was also marked with dance-drama performance by the State Cultural troupe and a seasoned facilitator also delivered a lecture. | | Rwanda | President Paul Kagama of Rwanda celebrated World Habitat Day on Monday in the capital Kigali, and the Rwandan Prime Minister, Mr. Bernard Makuza, joined the Minister of Information, Mr. Laurent Nkusi and the Minister of Land, Water, Forestry and Natural Resources, Mrs. Drocella Mugorewera, for a ceremony in the city of Butare. In towns across the country, other members of the cabinet and senior officials hosted meetings on the theme of the occasion this year, Cities – engines of rural develpment. The events drew wide coverage in the local media.
Commemoration de la journee mondiale de l'HABITAT aud Rwanda | | Senegal | Les activités seront coordonnées par COSAPERE (Collectif sénégalais des Africaines pour la promotion de l'éducation relative à l'environnement) et débuteront dès la dernière semaine de semaine de septembre par une intervention médiatique ayant pour but de vulgariser le thème. Le samedi 02 et le dimanche 03 octobre la sensibilisation se poursuivra avec la diffusion d'affiches , d'autocollants , tee-shirts et autres produits. Plusieurs animations auront lieu :
- Un festival de rap ;
- une rencontre sportive ;
- une animation culturelle sur le thème , "Jeunesse sans exode rural" Le lundi 04 octobre,un panel sera organisé sous la co-présidence des Ministres de l'Habitat et de l'Urbanisme et de l'amènagement du territoire sur le thème "Solutions économiques sociales et culturelles , pour le renforcement de l'interdépendance urbaine et rurale afin de limiter l'exode vers les villes." | | Sierra Leone | The government of Sierra Leone has lined up various activities to mark this year’s World Habitat Day. The Ministry of Works, Housing and Technical Maintenance proposed activities that will include the use of mass media, especially newspapers, radio and television to draw attention to the day through press conferences, radio discussions and posters. There are also plans to hold a one day symposium to discuss the problems and issues relating to rural-urban migration, the significance of linkages between urban and rural areas and the state of human settlements and shelter situation in Sierra Leone. | | Sudan | The National Council for Physical Development of Sudan celebrated WHD with a speech read by the focal minister, which was also carried by the media. Other activities included a seminar about the role of cities in rural areas with reference to the war-affected areas. There was also wide press, radio and television coverage. | | Tanzania | This year’s World Habitat Day celebrations in Tanzania will be led by the Minister of Lands and Human Settlements Development, who will read a statement on the theme for this year, “Cities – engines of rural development” on radio and television for broadcast on the night of 3 October 2004. The National Housing Corporation is also organizing a field visit to some of their projects, which will be inaugurated by either the President of Tanzania or the Minister of Lands and Human Settlements Development. The National Housing Building Research Agency will produce a special supplement in the local media to mark the event. |
| Arab States | | Country | Event | | Egypt | The Urban Training Institute, the Department of Architecture and Urban Planning, and Ain Shams University will celebrate World Habitat Day by conducting one day expert meetings on this year's theme. Key experts and officials from related ministries will attend and the media will be invited to cover the meetings. |
| Asia and the Pacific | | Country | Event | | Afghanistan | World Habitat Day in Afghanistan was marked by two events at which UN-HABITAT handed over a rehabilitated green park and an office to the Mayor of Kabul. The rehabilitated park is inside the Municipality compound in the north of Gulestan Sarai. The park was inaugurated by Dr. Ghulam Sakhi Noorzad, Mayor of Kabul Municipality, with several city and UN-HABITAT officials present. Mayor Noorzad thanked UN-HABITAT for its assistance to Kabul Municipality over many years. Mayor Noorzad and Mr. Lalith Lankatilleke, Chief Technical Advisor of UN-HABITAT in urban Afghanistan, planted two trees in the green park to represent the partnership and long standing cooperation between UN-HABITAT and Kabul Municipality. On the same day, a district office Building for District 16 reconstructed and rehabilitated by UN-HABITAT was handed over. The construction of this building started in January 2004 and cost US$35,860. Land for this office building was provided by the Kabul Municipality. UN-HABITAT has been providing a range of support to all the key municipalities in Afghanistan in their effort to serve the growing urban population. Kabul Municipality has been a principal recipient of such support. In the past, UN-HABITAT reconstructed and rehabilitated a number of municipality premises and offices. Mayor Noorzad expressed his deep appreciation to the international community and particularly UN-HABITAT, for the wide-ranging support they have been providing to the Municipality to date. He also thanked UN-HABITAT for its assistance in improving municipal urban services and the administrative structure.
World Habitat Day in Afghanistan
| | Cambodia | Messages of the United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, UN-HABITAT Executive Director, Mrs. Anna Tibaijuka , as well as testimonies from communities and talks from experts are some of the activities lined up to mark this year’s WHD in Cambodia. The event will be celebrated by senior UN representatives, diplomats, cabinet ministers and other top government officials. Among the presentations is “Decentralized Urban Governance for Cities’ Development” by Ros Sokha, Advisor to Seila Programme of Phnom Penh. The Secretary General’s message will be presented by UN Resident Coordinator Douglas Gardner, while Mom Bun Neang, the First Vice Governor will present Mrs Tibaijuka’s message which will be followed by a paper on Policy on Rural-Urban Linkages by Senior Minister Im hhum Lim. Miloon Kothari, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing, UN Commission on Human Rights, Geneva will also speak. | | Fukuoka (UN-HABITAT Regional office) | UN-HABITAT's Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific in Fukuoka organised a symposium in collaboration with the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, entitled Rural-Urban Linkage - Towards a New National and Regional Planning of Japan in the context of Asia. The symposium is supported by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Fukuoka Prefecture, Fukuoka City, Kyushu University and Japan Habitat Association. A children’s drawing exhibition on the theme, “Linking Villages and Towns”, will also be held from 25 September to 3 October 2004 at the Kyushu Energy Science Centre.
| | Fiji | A one day workshop as well as a symposium will be the key event to mark this year’s World Habitat Day in Fiji.
Organized by the UN-HABITAT Pacific Region Programme, the events will be preceded by media releases in main newspapers including a letter from the Minister Local Government, Housing and Squatter Settlements. Furthermore, a presentation has been planned on 1 and 2 October at the Fiji Local Government Association.
On the main day on 4th October, a one day workshop is to be held in collaboration with the Fiji Council for Social Services, Habitat for Humanity and the Fiji Housing Authority. The theme of the workshop will focus on the importance of pro-poor social housing and provision of shelter issues relating to Cities - engines of rural development. | | India | The CUTS Centre for Consumer Action, Research & Training (CUTS-CART) organized celebrations to mark WHD in Rajasthan, India with a
variety of seminars, public meetings and an awareness programme. | | | A panel discussion on the theme “Cities- engines of rural development” marked this year’s WHD celebrations in Kolkata, India. The Architectural Engineering Division of the Institute of Engineers (India) organized the event attended by West Bengal minister for Public Works. Eminent personalities drawn from the fields of engineering, city development and the private sector. | | | Bangladesh
The Ministry of Works and Housing is arranging an exhibition at the Institute of Engineers, where a model of one community will be on display. A cultural troupe will present songs and a small play at the closing and opening ceremonies. In addition, eleven towns in Bangladesh are planning rallies and workshops to commemorate World Habitat Day. | | | The AP Habitat Society will celebrate World Habitat Day on with a seminar with participants from government ministries, to highlight the theme of Cities – Engines of rural development. Professionals, professors, engineers, businessmen, industrialists, and others will be invited to deliver lectures and it is expected that the events will receive wide media coverage. | | | In Orissa, the City Managers’ Association Orissa (CMAO) would be observing World Habitat Day with an awareness raising event for city managers on the various techniques and issue of managing and improving the linkages between rural and urban areas for economic development. The Day will be observed in association with the Housing and Urban Development Department of the State Government. CMAO will organize a workshop, release a newsletter, show a video documentary and mount an exhibition on the subject. Participants will include officers from urban local bodies, senior government decision makers, citizens, politicians, NGOs, and local urban experts.
World Habitat Day observed by City Managers' of Orissa | | | Krityan and UNESCO Club will celebrate World Habitat Day by organizing a programme on theme "Water for Rural and Urban people - save water for future". On 15-24 October the club will organize a special field programme to save Rain water for farming (Agriculture) among Rural farmers. | | | Anna University in Chennai is planning a one day regional seminar to commemorate World Habitat Day. The event is being organised through the university’s Centre for Human Settlements. The objective of the seminar will be to consolidate the policy options and possible strategies for strengthening the urban-rural linkages for the improvement of the quality of the life of people living in the rural areas and to recommend an approach for demonstration for the Human Development in the rural areas. The seminar will include sharing of knowledge through special lectures by key resource persons and interactive sessions apart from inaugural and concluding sessions. The seminar is expected to draw participants from, scholars, scientists and government officials in the fields of Planning and Development rural and urban settlements.
Report of the World Habitat Day 2004 Celebration held on 4th Oct. 2004 at the Department of Planning, School of Architecture and Planning (SAP), Anna University, Chennai
| | | The NITK-STEP organization in Karnataka state is planning a program on 4th October 2004 on role of vocational education in rural development for teachers.
| | | The National Council for Cement and Building Materials (NCB), an apex body attached to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, which is devoted to research, technology development and transfer, continuing education and industrial services for cement building materials and construction industries, will celebrate the World Habitat Day with a poster campaign and talks under the theme Cities - engines of rural development. | | | Shibpur Dinobundhoo Institution and the Centre for Urban Economic Studies, University of Calcutta will observe World Habitat Day. | | | The housing rights groups in India through the National Forum for Housing Rights is organizing a four day campaign from 1st to 4th of October 2004 in New Delhi. We are specifically focusing against forced evictions targeting the urban poor and provision and advocacy for adequate housing to poor inhabitants in the cities.
National Forum for Housing Rights, India is a network of independent organizations across the country, which is a collaboration of grass root organizations. | | | The City Managers Association of Tamilnadu (CMATN) is organising a seminal discussion involving 102 municipalities and 5 municipal corporations. The discussions is expected to attract a wide spectrum of elected representatives, academics, professionals and city officials and will focus on the right to human habitation and better affordable living for all. The celebrations are supported by the Department of Municipal Administration and Water Supply Department, and the Government of Tamilnadu. Professionals, administrators and policy makers will also get toger at the Tamilnadu State Capital of Chennai for two panel discussions on Strengthening transportation linkages to urban - rural areas to improve efficient movement and a better rural-urban interface and Increasing urban amenities in rural areas to stop out migration and make rural areas as vibrant economies.CMATN has members from 710 Urban Local Bodies (Cities) from the South Indian State of Tamilnadu, which is one of the most urbanized states of India. | | | The All India Institute of Local Self Government (AIILSG), has organized a two day workshop in Pune to mark this year’s World Habitat Day.
AIILSG, an anchor Institution for Urban Management Programme (UN-HABITAT) for South Asia is hosting the workshop in collaboration with its UMP Partner Institution Yeshwantrao Chavan Academy of Development Administration (YASHADA). The Regional Centre for Urban and Environmental Studies of AIILSG will facilitate the meeting under the theme “Cities - Engines of Rural Development”. | | Indonesia | A wide range of activities are planned in Indonesia. The Research Institute for Human Settlements will hold an international seminar on 29 September on Promoting rural development equality through secondary city revitalization . The seminars will involve local governments and be followed by a student workshop on the next day entitled Design of Urban-Rural Interface Area Facilities. On 1 October local celebrations on Stakeholder cooperation for better settlement will be held with the Cipacing community and Sumedan regency. The culminating national celebrations on World Habitat Day will include policy discussions and take into consideration the recommendations from the seminars leading up to the day. | | | Indonesia is holding a week-long series of events to mark World Habitat Day. These are:
• An international seminar on Enhancing Equality Development between Rural-Urban Areas through Secondary City Development (29 September)
• A student workshop on Design of Urban and Rural Interface Area and Facilities, held at the Bandung Institute of Technology (30 September)
• Local celebration in Bandung (1 October)
• National World Habitat Day celebration in Yogyakarta City, to be inaugurated by the President of the Republic of Indonesia (4 October)
• Initiation of National Movement on Housing and Human Settlements and Community-based Water Provision; National seminar and commencement of low-cost rental flats (4 October). | | Nepal | The Regional and Urban Planners’ Society of Nepal (RUPSON) will celebrate World Habitat Day-2004 by organizing various events including a seminar, an exhibition and audio-visual programs. Collaboration from various parters from government and the civil society is anticipated to make a grand success. | | New Zealand | New Zealand celebrated World Habitat Day with the opening of a small rural library which had been built over the previous six months to archive stories, photographs, records and books. Kohukohu is the heart of the Hokianga, and the Hokianga is where the story of New
Zealand began. A local newspaper "Northland Age" observed that a World Habitat Day spokesperson had expressed "the hope that indigenous people everywhere would be inspired by Kohukohu to recognise the importance of their unique habitat in giving form to their stories". The Day itself, noted the paper, was "marked with the showing of archival films featuring invaluable footage from the Hokianga's early days". | | | Niue Island will mark World Habitat Day as urbanization and the linkages between urban areas and outer villages is a key issue for the island. | | Pakistan | The Rural Sanitation Programme of the National Rural Support Programme (NRSP) – the largest NGO in Pakistan sponsored by the Government of Pakistan to improve the livelihoods of rural people plans to mark the day. Among its rural support programmes around the country, NRSP seeks to develop neat and clean villages and improve the living standards of village people. | | Phillipines | A series of conferences on urban land reform will be held during the month of October, which has been designated National Shelter Month in the Philippines. The Urban Land Reform Conference Series was envisioned to help improve land transfer mechanisms, broaden support and acceptance for rights-based secure tenure options, and achieve consensus among the key shelter stakeholder groups on how sustainable, pro-poor housing can be accelerated using rights-based security of tenure. The conference, to be held on 14 and 15 October, will culminate in a National Shelter Conference on 29 October 2004, where recommendations and action plans from previous conferences will be presented to the President of the Philippines. | | Sri Lanka | The winners of a primary school art and essay competitionwill be awarded prizes and a voluntary labour campaign known as shramadana to rehabilitate rural housing schemes are the highlights of this year’s WHD in Sri Lanka. The organizers are planning workshops in all the administrative districts to generate awareness on the theme of this year’s event as well as ceremonies to hand over houses to poor and destitute families. Furthermore, two settlements for farmers involved in the supply of agro-products of the rural areas to city centers will be inaugurated. Also planned is the publication of a press supplement in national newspapers and an exhibition of the winning paintings from the art contest. |
| Europe | | Country | Event | | Belgium | UN-HABITAT’s Liaison Office with the European Union, in collaboration with the Regional United Nations Information Center (RUNIC) will commemorate the event at RUNIC House in Brussels. Those expected to attend are European Commission staff members, members of the European Parliament, the permanent missions and representations to EU institutions, international organizations and civil society organizations. In the framework of the WHD, the Dutch Habitat Platform will organize, in collaboration with other organizations of the Dutch civil society, a conference on global cooperation for sustainable cities in The Hague. | | Germany | The World Health Organisation (WHO) Center Center for Environment and Health, Bonn Office will organize a symposium on housing and health in Vilnius, Lithuania, from September 29th to October 1st. The Symposium will include plenary sessions both on scientific and applied housing and health issues, and oral and poster sessions running in parallel and provide a unique opportunity to study the best way forward for implementing the recommendations of the Budapest ministerial conference on environment and health of June 2004. The 2nd WHO International Housing and Health Symposium will also help to review the existing evidence on housing and health relationships, best practice examples of urban planningand housing provision, and the needs for further research. Local authorities, politicians, decision makers, housing managers, urban planners and the national and international scientific community will share their ideas, views and experiences in healthy housing policies. | Luxembourg
| Luxembourg celebrated World Habitat Day this year as part of its National Housing Week with presentations and discussions on housing and shelter issues. | | Russia | The Federal Agency for Construction, Housing and Municipal Economy this year spearheaded World Habitat Day celebrations in Russia with a conference and information campaign on its official website. The conference drew representatives from the Federal Agency, Department for Construction, Housing and Municipal Economy under the Ministry of Industry and Energy of the Russian Federation, the Federal Licensing Centre, the Congress of Municipal Associations, City Administrations of Astrakhan and Pskov, scientific research and design institutes, chief city architects, and representatives of non-governmental and women’s organizations and foreign investment companies. Messages from the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Kofi Annan, and the Executive Director of the UN-HABITAT, Mrs. Anna Tibaijuka, were read out. In the run-up to World Habitat Day, the UN-HABITAT Executive Bureau in Russia translated a number of information and statistical materials highlighting the interactions between cities and rural settlements and disseminated them among Russian cities such as St.Petersburg, Omsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Surgut, Astrakhan, Pskov, Kostroma, and CIS countries including Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine.
| | Spain | The Spanish Habitat Committee, with support of the Ministry of Housing, has planned day of activities in Madrid to mark WHD. The Spanish Minister of Housing, Ms. Maria Antonia Trujillo, will meet members of the committee and deliver one of they keynote addresses. Results from the 5th International Dubai Awards 2004 will be announced. Delegates will also discuss the World Urban Forum. At a public meeting, primary school pupils will make a presentation on the WHD theme "Cities-engines of rural development” and unveil a commemorative mural. There will also be a presentation of the Spanish Good Practice: “Recycling of sludge from the Arazuri (Navarra) sewage treatment plant: an interest shared between the city and the country" | | Switzerland | In a series of events spearheaded by UN-HABITAT, World Habitat Day was commemorated in Geneva, Switzerland on Monday 4 October at the home of the United Nations in the Palais des Nations. Representatives of various UN bodies, including the Director-General of the UN Office in Geneva (UNOG), Mr. Sergei Ordzhonikidze, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), UNDP, and the International Labor Organization (ILO), as well as delegates from civil society, held a round-table discussion on the theme of World Habitat Day, Cities – engines of rural development. The discussion also drew in representatives from the public sector, academics, NGOs, and farming unions to exhange ideas on urban-rural linkages. In opening remarks, Mr. Ordzhonikidze conveyed the message of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan saying cities have a decisive role to play in rural development, and that global development had to take this into account. A video message of UN-HABITAT’s Executive Director, Mrs. Anna Tibaijuka was also presented. Dr. Adrian Atkinson, President of the NGO Nouvelles Synergies en Développement, said peri-urbanisation characterised longitudinal development of the city accompanied by the rapid expansion of small communities linking towns with the countryside. Mr. Eric Levron, of the organisation, Groupe Urgence – Réhabilitation – Développement stressed the importance of reorganising local and regional economic networks after natural disasters or post-conflict situations. Mrs. Cherryl Andre de la Porte, a researcher, presented the results of a study in Equador by the Laboratoire de Sociologie Urbaine (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) aimed at integrated territorial development by creating inter-dependent urban-rural linkages. |
| Latin America and the Caribbean | | Country | Event | | Argentina | The Autonomous City of Buenos Aires will hold a workshop in Palermo on Integral Solutions to the Housing Problem. Participants will include the Municipal Commission of Housing, El Ceibo Housing Cooperative, ArcaGrup (Ecological House), Center of Management and Participation, the Network of Community Resources. | | Colombia | Official WHD celebrations were postponed to 20 October. A conference will be held with the expected participation of national authorities, academics, NGOs, municipalities, UNDP and other UN-agencies. The conference will provide an opportunity to have a public dialogue on present housing and human settlements policies. A UN-HABITAT/UNDP publication on "Habitat and Human Development" providing analysis of housing demands in the country will be launched. | | Costa Rica | Costa Rica has dedicated a whole month to World Habitat Day celebrations, which is designated Habitat Month.
See programme attached | | | The Ministry for Housing and Human Settlements has lined up activities to last the whole month of October and take the celebrations outside the capital San Jose. Activities include conferences, events and public information sessions. The highlight will be an "Open Doors" event, at which ministry staff and the Minister will gather in public places to answer questions, obtain information on housing subsidies and other housing problems of concern to the public. | | Ecuador | The Ministry of Housing and Urban Development (MIDUVI) and the Ecuadorian Association of Architects, with UNDP support, organized a technical workshop on 4 October on the constraints of providing adequate housing for all and the current Ecuadorian experience in tackling shelter issues. | | Haiti | La Fondation Haïtienne pour l’Habitat et l’Intégration des Sans-Abri (FONDHABISA) a préparé un Programme d’activité pour la célébration de cette journée.
Declaration de la fondhabisa a l’occasion de la journee mondiale de l’HABITAT
| | Mexico | SEDESOL, UN-HABITAT’s key partner in México, hosted a nationally televised conference on Monday 10 October at which messages from the Secretary (Minister), the UN HABITAT Executive Director Mrs Anna Tibaijuka and the Secretary General Mr. Kofi Annan were read and commented upon by a panel of specialists. UN-HABITAT’s Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean participated. On Wednesday 6 October, the presentation of the Habitat National Best Practices competition took place in the presidential palace in a widely disseminated event headed by President Vicente Fox and the Minister of SEDESOL, Ms Josefina Vasquez Motta. The Mexican Habitat Programme Manager (HPM) UN-HABITAT was part of the presidium and addressed the participants on behalf of the jury. The event was definitely a political milestone in the process of establishing the presence and visibility of the agency in the country. SEDESOL had taken the initiative to host an international four-country conference. The video conference was successfully presented in more than 70 locations around Mexico with live on-line presentation through the SEDESOL web site. The unprecedented format for a public and transparent international high level exchange and policy dialogue, motivated the SEDESOL to request UN-HABITAT/ROLAC to draft a proposal for a permanent video conferencing programme among high level decision makers within the sector. SEDESOL is determined to present a proposal at the upcoming MINURVI meeting in the end of October.
The Mexican Network for Sustainable Cities hosted its 4th Annual Conference on the WHD theme of “Cities – Engines for Rural Development”, gathering municipal policy makers, managers and urban planners from Municipal and State planning authorities, including the new Public-Private Municipal and Metropolitan Planning Institutes. Besides presenting a keynote speech, the mission was invited by the network directives to engage in a formal partnership to promote the MDGs at city level. A proposal was discussed between the parts to “localize” the MDGs, through the application and annual review of the corresponding targets as well as the collection of best practices that demonstrates examples of how cities have addressed specific targets. It was agreed that UN-HABITAT/ROLAC would prepare and present a proposal that can form part of an MOU with the Network. Furthermore SEDESOL, together with UN-HABITAT sponsored a parallel workshop to review the progress and operationalization of the national network of LUOs in México. The meeting was well attended and as a consequence a technical consultative group was established with representatives of local authorities, municipal planning institutes, existing observatories and academia to further this process. |
| North America | | Country | Event | | Florida | The National Policy and Advocacy Council on Homelessness (NPACH) will commemorate WHD by hosting a lunch forum as part of the annual Florida Coalition for the Homeless conference in Tampa, Florida.
Planned activities include highlighting notable global anti-poverty efforts, rural and urban homelessness in the United States, and discussion of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), which includes a clearly defined right to housing under Article 11. NPACH says this will tie in with campaigns by US housing advocates who are increasingly seeking to apply international human rights law to anti-homelessness strategies.
| New York
(UN-HABITAT office) | New York celebrated World Day this year with style. Ways of improving urban-rural infrastructure, transportation, ICTs and communication linkages, remittances, micro-credit and micro-finance were some of the issues discussed by a panel of eminent personalities gathered to mark the occasion. The panel also discussed capacity-building and empowerment of local authorities within a framework of cooperative government as well as the involvement of all stakeholders, including NGOs and the private sector, for successfully achieving rural-urban integration, which will ultimately result in poverty reduction and an equitable and sustainable development.
The Director of the UN-HABITAT New York Office, Ms. Axumite Gebre-Egziabher, welcomed the participants to the meeting and read the Secretary-General’s message on the occasion. A video message by the Executive Director of UN-HABITAT, Mrs. Anna Tibaijuka, was also shown to the audience. This was followed by a Panel discussion on the theme of the celebrations: “Cities as engines of rural development”. The moderator of the discussion and President of the International Council for Caring Communities, Ms. Dianne Davies, stated that a new approach was required to reap the mutual benefits of rural-urban linkages.
The Deputy Permanent Representative of the Republic of Indonesia to the U.N., Mr. Kadmiel Wekwete, noted that a series of activities involving all stakeholders were being conducted in his country. He commended UN-HABITAT on the “State of the World’s Cities Report,” which, he said, provides a comprehensive assessment of world urban trends, duly tying in the urban economy with rural development and poverty reduction. Mr. Wekwete stated that a housing and human settlements policy was formulated and a Habitat National Committee was established comprising all relevant state and non-state stakeholders. The One Million Houses Development Programmes seek to overcome the housing backlog and promote sustainable human settlements improvement. Such programmes, he said, were aimed at facilitating access of low-income people, including those living in isolated areas, to resources such as land, infrastructure, and financing. He stressed that with the assistance of UN-HABITAT, Indonesia has implemented the Poverty Alleviation through Rural-Urban Linkages.
The Director of the Local Governance Unit of the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), Mr. Tim Honey, noted that every country has or is experiencing the rural to urban transformation, and poverty which triggers movement of people from rural to urban areas in search of better opportunities. He observed that rural-urban migration cannot be stopped and that adequate policies and mechanisms needed to be put in place to make the process work better for everyone, particularly the poor. As a remedy, Mr. Honey suggested integrated national planning, increased capacity and investments in secondary and intermediate towns, improvement in the productivity of agriculture, and the need to improve the capacity of local governments, which play a key role in local development.
The Executive Director of Sister Cities International, Mr. Robert Eychner, and President of Eychner Associates, stressed the important role of cities as engines of development, and gave examples of successful public-private partnerships. He stated that the Business Improvement District in New York City carried out a number of development projects entirely funded by the private sector. This innovative approach, Mr. Eychner said, could also be replicated around the world.
The Chairperson of the NGO Committee on Human Settlements, Ms. Narelle Townsend, suggested the need to help governments and organizations with more creative solutions for balanced development for the post-industrial society. She called for a more holistic relationship between rural and urban settlements so that rural hinterlands can be brought into an effective development strategy that benefits all citizens.
The Permanent representative of the Republic of South Africa to the U.N., H.E. Ms. Adiyatwidi Adiwoso Asmady, stated that the rise in urbanization, resulting in the urbanization of poverty, had forced governments to look at rural-urban development from a long-term perspective. She stated that in 2001, her country launched the Integrated Rural Settlements Strategy that resulted in positive benefits for both urban and rural communities. Ms. Adiyatwidi stated that in South Africa, local authorities have been empowered to act as the key providers of social services and are required by law to adopt integrated rural-urban planning process. Members also stressed the important role of non-governmental organizations to development efforts. Those present included H.E. Mr. Dumisani Shadrack Kumalo, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary and Permanent Representative of South Africa to the United Nations. | San Fransisco
| The San Fransisco school intends to organize an event with students as part of their Service Learning. |
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