Nairobi, May 4, 2017 - On the doorstep of the 26th Session of UN-Habitat’s Governing Council, youth came together with experts from around the world to improve on public spaces and informal settlements.

Yaoundé, 4 May 2017 - Over 40 government officials, including 16 women, representing 10 institutions attended a day-long training on national urban policy development processes in the capital of the Republic of Cameroon, Yaoundé.

In the preparation of the training, Mr. Jean Claude Mbwentchou, Minister of Housing and Urban Development  emphasized that the policy should aim at ‘changing the mindset’ of citizens to become more accountable to actively contribute to better urbanization.

Nairobi, 3 May 2017 - As part of UN-Habitat’s support in the development of a sustainable approach to redevelop the current railway station area in Nairobi - just south of the Central Business District, UN-Habitat hosted a workshop on ‘Financing Urban Development’ at the UN Gigiri Complex which was organized in collaboration with different stakeholders.

Bellagio, Italy 28 April 2017—Early this year, the African Centre for Cities at the University of Cape Town asked partners including UN-Agencies such as UNECA, WPF and UN-Habitat to participate in a meeting for considering potential impacts of the ESRC/DFID-funded research project Governing Food Systems to Alleviate Poverty in Secondary Cities in Africa Project (Consuming Urban Poverty) on the implementation of the African Union’s Agenda 2063, Agenda 2030 and the New Urban Agenda.

Brussels 27 April 2017-- The “Expert Group Meeting on Geospatial Definitions for Human Settlements Indicators of the SDGs” organized by UN-Habitat brings together leading experts on the detection of built-up areas and on the identification and classification of what is urban and what is rural. A standard definition of the city for purposes of global reporting is a requirement for monitoring the SDGs and will assist to explore implications of the urban extents on land indicators including those based on rural definitions.

Ha Noi, 26 April 2017-- UN Habitat, OECD and the Viet Nam’s Ministry of Construction recently held a one day Policy Dialogue on the implementation of the New Urban Agenda through National Urban Policies.

Qazvin, Iran, 26 April 2017—At the latest World Assembly of Islamic Cities UN-Habitat had the opportunity to brief the delegates present on some of the work it is engaged in globally.

Nairobi, 25 April 2017--UN-Habitat, Placemakers, the Project for Public Spaces and the International New Town Institute are organising an Urban Thinkers Campus event on the topic of the 'city we need' and its relationhip to safe, inclusive and accessible public spaces, at the UN Nairobi compound, 3-4 May 2017. The Urban Thinkers Campus will focus on the implementation of public spaces through participatory urban processes, like placemaking. Good quality public spaces are excellent starting points for improving the standards of urban life for all citizens.

Urban India is currently facing a wide gap between the demand and supply of housing, not only in terms of quantity but also in terms of quality. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (MoHUPA) currently estimates the urban housing shortage at 18.78 million units, more than 95 per cent of which pertains to homes for low-income groups.

19 April, Nairobi - Plan International recently launched their programme ‘Safer Cities for Girls’ in Kenya with the help of UN-Habitat.