This is UN-Habitat’s sixth and final annual progress report on the implementation of the strategic plan 2014—2019. The report presents an analysis of progress on indicators against set targets for each expected accomplishment over the Strategic Plan period (2014—2019). Key achievements and detailed results across all scales are presented. Impact stories demonstrate the concrete and practical ways that UN-Habitat has transformed the lives of beneficiaries.
The 2019 report highlights achievements in one of UN-Habitat’s key areas of strength, transformative normative tools and knowledge products. These are providing important norms and standards that are strengthening member states’ capacity to deliver sustainable urbanization. The Secretary-General’s Guidance Note on Land and Conflict, the Safer Cities Guidelines and the Urban-Rural Linkages Guiding Principles and Framework, for example, are setting principles for the global community on sustainable urbanization planning, how to leverage the urban-rural divide for strengthened sustainable urbanization and guidelines for making cities safer. Harmonized methodologies to guide the Sustainable Development Goals global monitoring of sustainable urbanization were developed, such as the definition of cities and refining the slum area-based definition to improve its clarity and relevance.
Robust results and impacts were realized from programmatic work across some subprogrammes. The Planning Lab, for example, continues to provide technical support to member states on planning and design for inclusive, compact and integrated cities. Through the Public Space programme made cities more inclusive for some 445,000 people—many of whom are girls and women, in 2019 alone.
UN-Habitat is also making a unique contribution to humanitarian and post-conflict settlement planning through the integrated and inclusive urban tools that deliver sustainable change to beneficiaries.
UN-Habitat’s resilience profiling and planning tools successfully supported cities to become more climate-resilient in Africa, Asia and Pacific regions. The reconstruction and resilience work in Mozambique, undertaken through the school’s programme to strengthen their structures, for example, demonstrated the benefits of cyclone resilient designs. The Global Land Tool Network, which uses an inclusive approach to tenure security through the continuum of land rights, has expanded tenure security for over 300,000 households (approximately 1.2 million people) in 13 countries over the past six years.
Important institutional milestones were achieved in 2019. The first UN-Habitat Assembly was successfully held 27th - 31st May 2019. The Assembly approved the new Strategic Plan 2020—2023. In 2019, a new organization structure was developed and approved by the Executive Board and its implementation commenced in January 2020.
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