This discussion paper highlights that Afghanistan faces a formidable 'data deficit', especially in terms of urban–disaggregated data.

The paper reviews the current status of urban monitoring and provides an overview of the pioneering methodology developed in The State of Afghan Cities Programme 2014/15 to gather more reliable and up–to–date data on urbanisation.

This paper examines the situation in Afghan cities for:

(i) women and girls

(ii) returnees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs)

(iii) youth

(iv) ethnic minorities

Common to all is their heightened socio-economic marginalisation and vulnerability, exclusion from urban decision-making, and weaker urban safety and security.

Nadi, 7 April 2015 - The fourth Pacific Urban Forum (PUF 4) has concluded with a stronger call to find sustainable solutions to the challenges of urbanization and its impact on towns, cities and urban centres in the Pacific region.

Addis Ababa 31 March 2015 - The Africa Union Chairperson Ms. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, has said that African Heads of State shall give a focused attention to the subject of urbanization at their next two Summits to be held in Addis Ababa and Kigali to ensure that the issues are well internalized.

Nairobi, 27 March 2015—With the contribution of USD50.93 million from the Government of Japan, UN-Habitat will implement projects in Asia, Arab States and Africa.

Minsk, 25 March 2015 - National coordinators and experts from Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova and Russia met in the Republic of Belarus, earlier this month to discuss preparations for the Habitat III, the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development. The participants discussed the draft national reports for Habitat III as well as the first regional conclusions, important steps on the road to the conference.

Oslo, 17 March 2015 - More than 30 experts from around the world met in Oslo, Norway last week 2-3 March for a two-day expert group meeting on global Guidelines for City Climate Action Plans. The meeting was organized by UN-Habitat in close collaboration with Cities Alliance Joint Work Programme Partners, UNEP and the World Bank.

The United Nations Human Settlements Programme, UN-Habitat, is the United Nations agency for sustainable urban development. It is mandated to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities while advocating adequate shelter for all.

This Policy and Plan for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women for 2014-19 (GPP) sets out UN-Habitat’s commitment and strategy to ensure that all its activities reflect and advance the global consensus on non-discrimination and equality between men and women.