| Africa |
| Country | Event |
| Chad | The government of Chad has planned a series of events to mark World Habitat Day 2006 both in the capital, N’djamena, and the three secondary cities of Abéché, Doba and Sarh. The highlight will be a nationwide television speech 1 October by the Minister of Regional Planning on this year’s theme, Cities – magnets of hope. Various visits to specially selected districts in each city have been planned, and a national conference will be held in N’djamena on cities and the role they can play in providing young people, especially women, with better employment prospects. |
| Botswana |
WHD in Botswana was celebrated in the town of Maun on the 6th of November 2006. Prior to the celebration, a public lecture on “Cities magnets of hope: constraints and opportunities in Botswana” was held as well as an essay competition on the topic “To what extent have cities met the housing needs of the low income households in Botswana?” The competition, organized for students in secondary and higher learning institutions awarded prizes to the three best entries. The Minister of Lands and Housing Hon. Dikgakgamatso Seretse graced the occasion and delivered a key note address. The Highlight was the handing over of a house constructed by the community and the local authority to a disadvantaged member of society. The commemoration was marked with colourful performances by local drama groups, music choirs, poets and guitarists. |
| Burkina Faso | The Ministry for Housing and Urban Development in Bukina Faso held activities for eight days to celebrate the World Habitat Day. Starting on 30 September the ministry had television spots highlighting the WHD theme, Cities-magnets of hope. On 2 October there was a special publication of the minister’s message in the local dailies allowing readers to interact by writing about why they were drawn to the city. On 6 October there was a press conference on the WHD theme and on 7 October a sanitation campaign on selected neighborhoods in Ouagadougou |
| Cameroon | The local NGO, Kids4Peace Cameroon, is planning a children’s art competition in Yaounde. The participants, mainly street children and orphans, will be asked to paint their dream cities. The idea is that it will help show was most migrants want when they leave rural districts for the city. |
| Democratic Republic of Congo | In South Kivu Province of the Democratic Republic of Congo, World Habitat Day celebrations be held in Baraka/Fizi districts led by the local NGO, EMO-BARAKA (Union pour la Promotion du Paysan). A football tournament, a conference on this years theme, documentary screening and a social reception are among the organized activities.
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| Ethiopia | In Ethiopia the WHD event organized by UN-HABITAT included the production of a special magazine for the occasion which focused on messages from the Ministry Of Works and Urban Development, Kofi Annan's and ED's Messages; articles based on interviews linked to the WHD theme – Cities, magnets of hope - by officials, youth representatives, and professionals, and random vox pops on the streets of Addis Ababa. Click here for Report |
Ghana
| World Habitat Day celebrations in Ghana involved seven days of activities starting on 2 to 8 October. A planning committee made up of various ministries together with UN-HABITAT planned and budgeted for the celebrations. On 2 October, the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Environment featured in a nationally televised programme discussing the theme, Cities, magnets of hope. On 3 October, the ministry hosted a mega news conference attended by 120 people from different organizations. At this function the speeches of the UN Secretary General and the UN-HABITAT executive director were read. On 4 October, a round-table discussion was held where various papers were presented by representatives from human settlements and urban development fields. On 8 October, another discussion involving various stakeholders was televised nationally, their topic being provision of basic services to urban populations. On October 9, there were various interactive radio talk shows using the local languages and discussing the theme of the WHD. |
Ghana marked World Habitat Day 2006 with a series of events including a ceremony at which the messages of the UN Secretary-General, the Executive Director of UN-HABITAT and the Government were read. There was a press briefing as well as seminars involving civil society, NGOs, the Government, municipal officials and others working to improve the urban living environment.
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| Kenya | Nairobi
In Nairobi, more than 300 young people marked World Habitat Day at the One Stop Youth Centre. Managed by the Nairobi City Council it is a “magnet of hope” for the young men and women, many of whom were invited on Monday to share their stories, exchange views on matters of concern to them.
A UN HABITAT official read out the agency’s World Habitat Day messages. Mr. Rob Sinclair, Director of the Nottawasaga Institute, cited past successes of the centre and its promising future in relation to the Global Partnership Initiative on Urban Youth Development in Africa.
The One Stop Youth Centre is a pilot action research project of UN-HABITAT. Initially supported by The Netherlands, it is currently supported by Norway. The global partnership was established to learn from best practices in Africa and further afield. The occasion also marked the signing of a new partnership between UN-HABITAT and the NGO NetCorps Kenya to help young people learn computer skills at the centre. |
Nairobi
A community group, Action for Life Kibera, held an urban cafe involving representatives from more than 20 groups in their network. They discussed how best to involve the community and especially the youth in improving their environment. They also held a clean up in Kibera and had a theatre performance highlighting environmental sanitation and management issues.
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Eldoret
In Eldoret, neither the heat nor the dust could dampen the spirits as school children, their parents and the general public mingled freely with cabinet ministers, top civil servants to commemorate the occasion. Skits, dances, poems and plays marked the colourful event presided over by Housing Minister, Mr. Soita Shitanda. Eldoret was the venue of this year’s national celebrations and the organisers held nothing back as they laid out one of the best events ever seen here in a long time, all choreographed around this year’s theme, Cities, magnets of Hope. “We must strive to make our towns and urban centres habitable both for the residents and the thousands who are lured into them each year, “ was the refrain of the Moi Univesity Choir. Pupils from local primary schools also ran with the theme in the verses and songs they performed. However, the biggest applause went to a seven-year-old girl, Patience Olwenya, whose renditions of poems saw everybody from the VIP dais to those standing in the scorching sun asking for more. The master of ceremonies relented and finally, Patience was called to perform once more to wild applause from the audience. |
| Poverty Reduction Network(POREN-KENYA) a community based organization working in Nairobi as well as in rural areas are planning a visit Kiambiu slums in the city to educate the residents on the need of improving sanitation, income generating projects, housing among others. |
The national WHD celebrations in Kenya will take place in Eldoret and series of events have been planned to mark the occasion. In the build-up to World Habitat Day there will be a nationwide television and radio programmes on cities as magnets of hope. The Ministry of Lands and Housing will lead the national celebrations of the World Habitat Day at Huruma Grounds in Eldoret. Planned activities include a procession by the police band, comedy and drama, a caravan around Eldoret town, traditional dancers and choirs among others. This will be followed by speeches from the United Nation’s Secretary General, Koffi Anan, and Executive Director of UN-HABITAT, Dr Anna K. Tibaijuka, Minister for Lands and Housing, the Minister for Local Government and the Minister for Planning and National Development. Other speeches will come from representative of the Government of Kenya to UN-HABITAT and the Mayor of Eldoret. National awards for best practices in Human Settlements will be awarded during the celebrations. The minister of Lands and Housing is scheduled to lay the foundation stone for a Training Centre for Appropriate Building Materials. Also lined up are a number of pre-activities such as tree planting, clean-up and secondary school’s athletic competitions. A seminar has been organized in Kisumu on 28 and 29 September 2006 as part of the WHD celebrations to discuss key issues on Human Settlements in cities and urban centers.
Click here for programme |
| A youth organization - Nyeri Municipality Youth Initiative-Kenya, intends to enlighten people living in the local slum areas about the World Habitat Day. The youth will hold seminars, road shows, drama skits and cultural dances as a way to educate the masses on enhancing, maintaining and sustaining the environment. They will also facilitate speeches and discussions around the theme, Cities – magnets of hope. |
| The Uranga Entity Institute in Nairobi plans a series of events to mark the WHD. First off is a visit to Kayole, a residential area housing over 100,000 people. Subsequent to the visit, will be a pictorial collection highlighting the problems faced by people living in such low-income areas. The Institute will publish and distribute stickers bearing UN-HABITAT slogans; a special edition of the Institute’s newsletter; and a press release highlighting the need for people to engage in small-scale urban agriculture to fight against poverty and hunger in cities. Also planned is the launch of a football tournament “Score a Goal for Your City” with the aim of sensitizing residents of Kayole and the nearby estates on the Millennium Development Goals. |
| The Kamukunji Riverside Tailoring and Ironing Society in Nairobi has lined up several activities to mark this year’s WHD slated to run over five days. The organizers plan visits and seminars in informal settlements to raise awareness and stimulate debate on the theme, “Cities, Magnets of Hope.” The objectives are to create awareness of water and sanitation problems; to bring to highlight the right to housing, and the violation of these rights through eviction and a video show on the WHD theme of 2006. Also planned are a marathon race, tree planting and speeches from government and community officials. |
To commemorate this year's World Habitat Day, the Kariobangi South Welfare and Slums Housing Association (KASWESHA) in Nairobi, organized a series of activities starting September 25. These included tree planting, and a massive clean-up in different areas of the Kariobangi South Location. The association managed to interest several private and public sector who contributed in kind and in cash to the mentioned activities, notably the Nairobi Hospital who facilitated free medical camp to over 600 members of the community. Other contributors where the Kenya mission to UN-HABITAT, Chandaria Industries, House of Manji and local authorities and religious congregations.
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| The Shihome Women’s Society, an organisation under Quaker Friends Church based in Western Kenya is planning an interdenominational football match, awards for the best women in self employment and a clean up of the locality. |
The Siaya Youth Groups Organization (SIYO), a rural-based umbrella Youth group from Siaya District in Nyanza Province, will start creating World Habitat Day awareness during the International Youth Day on August 12. SIYO is determined to try and achieve the Millenium Development Goals despite many shortfalls. Global events such as WHD are ideal vehicles for raising awareness and mobilization campaigns.
Edu Africa Theatre Initiative (EATI) a volunteer, non-profit community-based youth organisation, will mark World Habitat Day by performing a puppet play in Nairobi. The play itself will attempt to raise awareness and discussions around this year's theme. |
| Lesotho | This year’s WHD coincided with the 40th independence anniversary celebrations and in consultation with local UN officials, it was agreed that the messages on WHD for 2006 to be disseminated through a press release to the local media. Consequently, the WHD will be celebrated at a date convenient to the Ministry of Local Government. |
| Liberia | The local Habitat Programme Manager organized an awareness building workshop; radio talk shows; community awareness and the official National Observance during which the President's message was read. |
| Madagascar | The Ministry of Decentralization and Territory Management will lead the national celebration of the World Habitat Day in Madagascar’s capital Antananarivo on 2nd October. The ministry is organizing an event called “Open Doors” where the private sector, NGOs, professional associations and other stakeholders will discuss issues on human settlements with the concerned authorities, the community, students and media. The highlight will be speeches of the Minister of Decentralization and Territory Management, United Nation’s Secretary General, Koffi Anan, and Executive Director of UN-HABITAT, Dr Anna K. Tibaijuka. Other activities lined up include short projections about the national policy on territory management and habitat, which will be followed by a show with folk singers. The objectives are to create awareness of sanitation problems and the urban violence. |
| Malawi | World Habitat Day events in Malawi this year will be spearheaded from the country's economic capital, Blantyre with two high profile events - the official opening of a new housing complex for the urban poor with 450 homes for 85 percent of the beneficiaries are women; and the presentation of the first ever Malawi Award for Human Settlements. It will go to and initiative that has demonstrated tangible improvements in the lives of slum dwellers. A number of other activities aimed at raising awareness include a news conference, a radio phone-in, and a school essay competition. The Concerned Youth Organisation (CYO) in Blantyre, Malawi is planning activities to commemorate this year’s World Habitat Day celebrations under the theme ‘Cities, Magnets of Hope’.For details see: Report The World Habitat Day commemoration main event in Malawi is being organized by the Ministry of Lands and Housing, City Assemblies, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), UN-HABITAT and other stakeholders. This year’s national event will take place in the city of Blantyre on 2nd October.
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| Mauritius | The Republic of Mauritius through the Ministry of Housing and Lands has planned a series of activities to mark World Habitat Day 2006. On 2 October the Minister of Housing and Lands will open an exhibition in Port Louis, the Capital City, on the evolution of settlement in cities and its peripheries. The exhibition will then move on to the four main towns namely Beau Bassin / Rose Hill, Quatre Bornes, Vacoas / Phoenix and Curepipe on a rotational basis. The minister will make a televised speech based in this year’s theme, Cities – Magnets of Hope (Les Villes, catalyseurs d’espoirs). Other activities lined up include television and radio programmes based on the theme.
For more details: Click here |
| Mozambique | The main official WHD event took place in the town of Inhambane, some 500 km North of Maputo where the messages from the UN Secretary-General as well as UN-HABITAT's Executive Director were read to a gathering of mayors and secondary students. |
| Namibia | The Khomas Regional Council was the principal host of the main WHD event, which was held at a private farm called Naos (about 80 km west of Windhoek). The Governor of the Khomas Region delivered the keynote speech. The HPM, on behalf of the Resident Representative delivered speeches of the UN Secretary General and the Executive Director of UN-HABITAT. In attendance were farm workers, teachers and school children accommodated on this farm since 1979. On 2 October, representatives of the City of Windhoek, Ondangwa Town Council, Walvis Bay Municipality, and Swakopmund Municipality appeared on the national television program called ‘Talk of the Nation’ to mark the WHD. The representatives spoke about urbanization in their respective local authorities. WHD was observed country wide with the Ministry of Regional and Local Government, Housing and Rural Development advancing funds to all 13 Regional Councils for the events. |
| Nigeria | To celebrate this year's World Habitat Day, Development Initiatives Network, an independent NGO based in Lagos held an educational programme at the Aunty Ayo Girls' Senior Secondary School in Lagos. The event included a film presentation and panel discussions involving representatives of the municipal and State authorities, teachers and environmental activists. The aim was to encourage youths to think about the challenges of city living and to initiate and support activities that will bring about environmental improvements. |
| The Women Environmental Programme (WEP), an NGO in Abuja, organized a One-day Round Table discussion titled “Mega Cities Planning – Any Hope for the Poor” on 3rd October to mark 2006 World Habitat Day. In attendance at the Roundtable were representatives of UN-HABITAT, CSOs and NGOs. The Round Table generated a lively discussion on how to solve the various problems facing the poor and in the end a think tank was set-up to come-up with a position paper which will be submitted to government. |
| The Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, in collaboration with UN-HABITAT, will celebrate this year’s World Habitat Day on 16 October, 2006 instead of 2 October 2006 when Nigeria will be celebrating Independence Day. The WHD event will involve stakeholders in the building environment, representatives of UN agencies and bi-lateral donor agencies and will be held at the International Conference Centre in Abuja. Activities lined up for the celebrations include: keynote speeches by high level government officials; reading of the WHD messages of UN Secretary General Kofi Anan and the Executive Director of UN-HABITAT Anna Tibaijuka. Other activities include school arts competition, drama, exhibitions and national best practice awards to the top three states in Nigeria in urban management. |
The National Union of Tenants of Nigeria is planning a major series of events to mark World Habitat Day this year starting a week before the event and culminating with a glittering closing ceremony in Rivers State at which four prizes will be awarded for outstanding work in promoting sustainable human settlements in Nigeria.
For details, see: Attached Document |
| World Habitat Day will be a major radio event in Nigeria’s largest city, Lagos, aimed at appraising listeners in a series of local radio programmes of human settlements issues and the intractable problem of environmental sanitation. |
| The Global Grassroot Youth Forum is marking this year’s WHD in a unique way by hosting the habitat night. The event slated for September 22 has been set aside to officially use in discussing and planning for the world habitat day celebration. For the event proper, GGYF has chosen Cross River State as the location for the celebration, and events lined up include a live broadcast of the event, a city walk and assessment/tea break and a press conference. Among those expected to attend are state governors, the press and the general public. |
| Papua New Guinea | In Papua New Guinea , the national television broadcasted the speech of UN-HABITAT's Executive Director, Mrs. Anna Tibaijuka on the occasion of World Habitat Day.
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| Sierra Leone | UN-HABITAT will coordinate the World Habitat Day celebrations in Sierra Leone. These include a symposium on the role of UN-HABITAT in Sierra Leone and the relevance of World Urban Forum III to Sierra Leone and particularly to urbanization and the environment. Drama and press conference will also be used to raise awareness of human settlements issues in the country.
Click here for programme |
| South Africa | The Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality hosted the main local event of the WHD on 2 October. Three other events in three different provinces were also held. |
| Students of Howard College of the University of KwaZulu Natal are planning a WHD awareness campaign among fellow students. The Bachelor of Science (Housing) students have planned a short movie on slum dwellings and urbanisation in South Africa as well as tell their fellow students what WHD is all about. |
| The Development Action Group (DAG)'s commemoration of World Habitat Day will focus on women’s rights. DAG will organize a seminar and panel discussion that will share success stories and highlight the obstacles that women still face with regard to realising their housing rights in South Africa. The event seeks to translate the hope which cities offer into real benefits. See More |
| Tanzania | World Habitat Day (WHD) in Tanzania focused on two high-profile media-focused events which were aimed at maximizing dissemination of information about the day and its theme of “Cities as Magnets of Hope” to the general public, as well as reach specifically targeted senior stakeholders. The first of these events was a television statement by the Minister for Lands, Housing, and Human Settlements Development, broadcast by TVT, Channel 10, Star TV and ITV. The second event was a press conference, where the WHD press packs were distributed, which garnered significant media interest and coverage. On the day proper a press conference was organized in the office of the Minister for Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development. It was attended by the minister himself, The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, the Commissioner of Lands, the Director of Human Settlements Development and the Director General of the National Housing Corporation among others. |
| Foundation HELP, a community-based NGO in Tanzania, will be organizing a number of events to commemorate the WHD in Musoma Township. Scheduled for 2nd October is a 30 minutes radio program to discuss shelter issues and governance. Other activities lined up involve primary and secondary school pupils, who will be encouraged to participate in a drawing and essay competition depicting in pictures and words what they would like their municipality to look like in future with a focus on town plans and the environment. |
| Zambia | In Zambia the UN-HABITAT office is coordinating this year’s World Habitat Day observance in collaboration with the Ministry of Local Government and Housing, National Housing Authority, Habitat for Humanity, Zambia Low-Cost Housing Development Fund and Lusaka City Council. The occasion will be celebrated at a newly developed low cost housing estate in the city and is expected to be attended by members of the community and stakeholders involved in the implementation of the LA21 as well as the public and private sectors in Lusaka. It will focus on advocacy for MDG 7, especially Target 11, through speeches, drama performances and highlighting of good practices and will be covered by the media.
For details see: Report |
