Le but du profil régional du secteur urbain est de contribuer à l’élaboration et à l’exécution de la stratégie de réduction de la pauvreté en milieu urbain aux niveaux local, national et sous-régional. Au Cameroun, le profil national est établi à partir du profil de trois villes que sont : Bamenda, Kribi et Yaoundé.

Les actuelles frontières du Cameroun résultent des vicissitudes de la conquête coloniale et des rivalités entre l’Allemagne, l’Angleterre et la France ; aussi, ce pays estil composé de régions très diverses et de populations très différentes. S’étendant du 2e au 13e parallèle nord, sur une superficie de 475 442 kilomètres carrés, le Cameroun offre des paysages très variés.

À l’ouest, une chaîne de montagnes, dominée par le mont Cameroun, volcan de 4 070 m, s’étend presque jusqu’au Tchad avec d’extraordinaires reliefs volcaniques ; au nord, de vastes plaines, traversées ou bordées par la Bénoué et le Logone, touchent aux marécages du lac Tchad ; le Centre est un vaste plateau de 800 à 1 500 m d’altitude, propice à l’élevage ; le Sud est constitué par un système complexe de longues plaines ou de collines en partie recouvertes par la grande forêt, presque déserte au sudest ; quant aux rivages du Sud-Ouest, ils sont plats, sablonneux, souvent marécageux.

La commune de Ouagadougou se situe au centre du Burkina Faso dont elle est la capitale. La ville est au terminus de la voie ferrée venant d’Abidjan (Côted’Ivoire). Elle occupe une superficie de 52 000 hectares dont 21 750 urbanisés. L’altitude moyenne est de 300 m. Le climat est de type soudano-sahélien avec une seule saison des pluies couvrant la période de mai à septembre. La pluviométrie varie entre 850 millimètres et 900 millimètres en année normale.

De 7.964.705 habitants selon le recensement général de la population en 1985, la population du Burkina Faso a atteint 10.312 609 habitants selon le recensement général de la population mené en 1996. Avec un taux d’accroissement annuel estimé à 2,4%, la population aurait atteint 11. 300 000 habitants en 2000, et dépassera les 18 millions d’habitants en 2015.

Cette population est jeune (46% de la population a moins de 15 ans) et est majoritairement composée de femmes (51,3%). La taille moyenne des ménages est de 6,7 personnes. La croissance démographique rapide du pays (la population a augmenté de 41% entre 1975 et 1985), et surtout l’extension démesurée des villes, ont de lourdes répercussions sur l’environnement

The shortage of finance for housing has long been recognized as one of the obstacles to the provision of housing for low-income households. Currently, for every house built using funds from formal financial institutions, another three to five are built with personal savings and funds from other informal sources.

The shortage of finance for housing has long been recognized as one of the obstacles to the provision of housing for low-income households. Currently, for every house built using funds from formal financial institutions, another three to five are built with personal savings and funds from other informal sources.

Kenya’s cities and towns are centres of industry, education, and culture, hosting 34 percent of the national population and generating over 65 percent of the national GDP. With an annual urban population growth rate of 4.4 percent, it is one of the most rapidly urbanizing countries in the region. Due to a combination of demographic, economic, and political realities, many Kenyan cities are facing daunting challenges. Perhaps the most important one is rapid urbanization, outstripping by far the capacity of the government and local authorities to guide the physical growth of urban areas and provide essential urban services for their citizens. This has resulted in the rapid growth of slums in Kenyan cities and towns.

The close of the last millennium saw the development of cities in the developing world being radically shaped by the intrinsically related processes of urbanization and globalization.

Neither of these phenomena is new — what is unprecedented is their pace and scale. Indeed, urbanization processes in most developing countries are intensifying. This poses immense challenges for governments at all levels. These are rapid urban population growth and the urbanization of poverty.

The latter is manifested most conspicuously in the proliferation and expansion of slums and informal settlements, which are home to a growing proportion of urban dwellers in developing countries. It presents a major challenge to the international community.

The Situation Analysis is a collaborative effort between the Municipal Council of Kisumu (MCK), Government of Kenya (GoK) and the United Nation Human Settlement Programme (UN-HABITAT). It aims at determining the state of the slums within Kisumu municipality in terms of the land issues, housing, infrastructure, social services and livelihood.

The Analysis is part of a slum development strategy, aimed at systematically upgrading slums in urban areas. The Government with partners has embarked on a Kenya Slum Upgrading Programme (KENSUP) with the objective of creating conditions that can sustain long-term nationwide slum upgrading in Kenya. The objective of the situation analysis is to present the state of slums in Kisumu, and the effectiveness of past and on-going upgrading initiatives. It will serve as a background for discussions and consensus building on the conditions of slums; the conditions governing slum upgrading and the actions needed to improve the conditions. 

This publication on Pro Poor Land Management is based on the Handbook on Best Practices, Security of Tenure and Access to Land. It briefly describes recent innovations at the global level in the field of pro poor land management. It shows how governments, including local government and other stakeholders, are coming to grips with implementing the land related principles enshrined in the Habitat Agenda at a practical level in the cities and towns. Together with the Handbook, it helps to assess at the global level the tools, methods and approaches that exist for the implementation of the Global Campaign for Secure Tenure, and to identify the gaps, blockages and problems that still need to be addressed.