UN-Habitat is responding to a growing volume of requests from both national and local governments to help them prepare for, prevent, respond to and recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. Building on more than 40 years of urban experience, much of it in humanitarian situations, we are focusing on the city-level response to the crisis.

The novel coronavirus is a global health, economic and social crisis. With over 750 000 confirmed cases in 202 countries, territories and areas, Covid-19 had by the 1st of April 2020 caused over 35 000 deaths (WHO Africa, 2020). The effects of the virus have brought economies to an abrupt halt and will affect the possibility to achieve many of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

UN-Habitat implemented the “Project for Improving Living Environment and Disaster Prevention Capacity in Cambodia” with grant aid from the Government of Japan (2019-2020) to support the recovery process of the 2018 floods and strengthen climate resilience of the disaster-affected population. The project was completed with the reconstruction and rehabilitation of 202 houses with 1,098 people.

UN-Habitat has been implementing UN State Liaison Functions (SLFs) under the joint leadership with UNAMID to support their drawdown activities in Darfur. The activities aim to provide sustainable solutions for land-related conflicts through promoting community based land management system.

The conflict in Darfur destroyed a large number of health and public facilities which obstructs the voluntary return of IDPs. UN-Habitat has been working on construction work in Darfur with the support of USAID, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, Government of Japan, Government of Qatar through UN Darfur Fund, and UNAMID in cooperation with Government of Sudan.

This is UN-Habitat’s sixth and final annual progress report on the implementation of the strategic plan 2014—2019. The report presents 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.

A city-wide public space strategy can deliver a well-distributed, accessible and inclusive public space system. City-Wide Public Space Strategies: a Compendium of Inspiring Practices offers three guides in one: a process-based guide with 12 steps for developing a strategy; an output-based guide with 13 essential ingredients for a strategy; and an outcome-based guide with six important norms that every strategy should adopt.

How can cycles of risk accumulation in African cities be broken in ways that also enhance local and city-wide development? This book addresses this question by drawing on the experience of researchers, policy makers and community organisers working in African cities.

Providing local governments with a standard in responding, in collaboration with national and subnational governments, to the challenges of delivering urban safety and security in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the New Urban Agenda.