The evaluation assessed the performance of the Slum Upgrading Facility (SUF) and its associated projects in the four pilot countries: Ghana,Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Tanzania.

In Sri Lanka today, as in many other developing countries, there is a growing urgency to come up with creative and sustainable solutions to tackle the twin pressures of infrastructure needs and the interests of communities who are affected by such projects, often losing their homes, land and livelihood in the process.

UN-HABITAT has played a central and very active role in the recent debate on the future of urban planning.

The Programme in Sri Lanka is based on a rich portfolio of recent and ongoing projects in the human settlements sector.

It is estimated that up to 1 billion people live in slums in the cities of the world – one sixth of humanity – and that the numbers are rising.

The Government of Sri Lanka launched the Sustainable Cities Programme (SCP) under the auspices of UN-HABITAT & UNDP in December 1999.