April 18, 2013
Thousands of slum dwellers from eight African countries will gain access to a fund to help them improve their housing conditions
Unveiled on Tuesday during the ongoing UN-Habitat’s Governing Council in Nairobi, the Community Managed Development Fund targets close to 800,000 slum dwellers living in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Niger, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Uptodate Speaking during the occasion, UN-Habitat’s official Mr. Alioune Badiane said: of the more than USD 8 million, a minimum of USD 800,000 will be directly managed by community groups in selected settlements. The Participatory Slum Upgrading Programme (PSUP), initiated by the African Caribbean and Pacific countries Secretariat, financed by the European Commission and implemented by UN-Habitat will provide grants comprising a total value of up to USD 100,000 per country for a range of community-identified, -led and -managed development projects.”
He disclosed that governments committed significant co-financing for slum upgrading projects, so that the 6 million US$ PSUP budget are topped up with 2 million US$ for the first programme implementation year only. The programme is now reflected in national budgets and priorities and additional resources at country level through ministries and municipalities have been mobilised too, he added.
Also present were Mr. Castro Safins Namuaca, Mayor of Nampula, Mozambique, Mr. Moussa Bako Abdoulkarim, Minister of Planning, Housing and Sanitation, Niger, Mr. Robert Luzolanu Mavena, the Minister of Planning, Budget, Public Works and Infrastructure of Kinshasa City Province, Democratic Republic of Congo and Mr. Henry Phoya MP, Minister of Lands and Housing, Malawi. All of them supported the initiative saying it had the potential of changing the lives of their citizens.
Read the background here.
Source: UN-Habitat
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