UN-Habitat, UNCTAD (United National Conference on Trade and Development) and IOM (International Organization for Migration) organized the East African Regional Dialogue on Migration and Development in Cities on the 22nd and 23rd October 2019 in Entebbe, Uganda. The two-day Dialogue brought together national and local government authorities from Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia, as well as representatives of civil society, private sector, international organizations and development partners to exchange experiences and successful practices for fostering social and economic inclusion of migrants, refugees and IDPs in different local contexts.

This report summarizes the discussions, presentations, conclusions and next steps in the East African context for UN-Habitat’s and UNCTAD’s work in the field of migration and refugee response.

The Strategic Urban Development Plan of Homa Bay is an initiative of the UN-HABITAT taking place in collaboration with Homa Bay Municipal Council.

The objective of the initiative is to assist the Municipality of Homa Bay to prepare a strategic spatial framework that will help guide the future development of Homa Bay.

This publication is a collection of case studies which demonstrate successful approaches to small town development. The cases were screened for evidence that either the development strategy was successful, in economic, social, civic and/or environmental terms or that the strategy represented community economic development innovation (first or early use of a particular practice) or was distinct (unique among the alternatives for addressing a particular problem) within the local context.

For more than 25 years, UN-HABITAT has been working with partners in the Somali region to promote sustainable, participatory urban development.

This booklet explains in detail the numerous UN-HABITAT projects that have been implemented, but also examines the evolution of the unique UN-HABITAT approach in the Somali region.

Municipal Finance of Urban Development was prepared as a background paper for the UN-Habitat Global Report 2005. Financing Urban Shelter and a summary was included as Chapter 3 of the Global Report under the title, Municipal Finance: Conditions and Trends. It addresses the wide range of problems that face municipal authorities in financing urban development as they respond to the challenges of major shifts in their economic base resulting from falling trade barriers and a globalizing economy.

Concurrently, the devolution of administrative and financial responsibility from central governments has forced them to finance a growing proportion of their recurring and capital expenditures at a time when, in most countries, migrants constitute a growing proportion of their population. Local authorities have had to:

(1) Enhance their economic competitiveness.

(2) Meet the demands for public services.

(3) Expand and diversify the local tax base.

(4) Generate funding for capital investments.

Municipalities are but one actor in the financing of urban development, but in many ways they are the pivotal one because of their statutory powers and their ability to act on all sectors in a defined geographic space. Households and private enterprises are the developers and builders of urban communities and the owners and operators of economic activities. But unless the municipality can deliver to them the support infrastructure and services they need, orderly development will be impaired.

In emerging economies, the rapid pace of urbanization and large migratory flows have increased the pressure on local government spending for urban development. In most of these countries decentralization laws were enacted in the decade of the 80's and 90's amid fiscal deficits, financial crisis and political unrest, eroding local revenue and disrupting access to funds for capital investment.

In this paper, John Friedmann critically examines the assumption that exports and external investments are the driving forces of growth in cities of developing countries. Instead, he proposes endogenous development, or a greater reliance on local assets and accumulation of local savings, complemented by international aid and private investments, as an alternative strategy to drive the sustainable development of cities.

He further elaborates the notion of endogenous development in relation to seven types of tangible assets (human, social, cultural, intellectual, natural, environmental, and urban assets) which cities should invest in and draw upon to foster sustainable development. In turn, such investment is likely to generate external investments in the long term.