Afghanistan is ranked as one of the most climate-vulnerable countries on earth, being exposed to floods, droughts, and associated diseases. i Residents of informal settlements, which number over 1,000 sites across the country, are acutely vulnerable. ii Many are located in hazard-prone urban or peri-urban areas and lack critical infrastructure and durable housing. Low-income residents are often migrants from drought-afflicted rural areas and lack the financial capacity to meet the costs of climate breakdown. As the country’s cities expand by over 3% per year – the highest rate in South Asia – growing numbers of people are located in these peripheral sites where they are exposed to more frequent and severe climate hazards. iii
Afghanistan’s climate breakdown is occurring in the midst of a gender-protection crisis, resulting in intersectional vulnerability for women. Globally, studies show that women’s role in childcare and domestic work (e.g. collecting water, preparing safe food/drink) increases during times of climate shocks. This ‘feminisation’ of the climate crisis both exacerbates gender inequalities and mediates women’s experiences of climate breakdown.v In Afghanistan’s informal settlements, the feminisation of climate crisis is amplified by protection risks, including Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and insecure land rights. The 2024 Law on the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (PVPV) has further restricted women’s access to employment, education, and public spaces, resulting in higher risk of negative coping mechanisms in times of shock. iv
This brief provides a case study of a UN-Habitat intervention that addressed gender-based climate vulnerability in a Kabul informal settlement. It presents a DG-ECHO-funded project: its design, implementation and outcomes in Kabul’s Kart-e-Sakhi informal settlement. Following this introduction, the brief provides the results of a participatory assessment of gender and climate vulnerability in Kart-e-Sakhi. It then presents UN-Habitat’s response to these challenges with community-scale, gender-based climate adaptation planning and investments. Finally, the brief proposes a way forward to up-scale gender-based adaptation across Afghanistan’s informal settlements...
GPP: UN-Habitat Policy and Plan for Gender Equality and the Rights of Women in Urban Development and Human Settlements 2020 - 2023
The Gender Policy and Plan (GPP) 2020-2023 is UN-Habitat’s roadmap for promoting gender equality throughout its work. It is aligned with the organizational Strategic Plan (2020-2023) and supports the New Urban Agenda (NUA) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through its contribution to their implementation. The GPP elaborates the gender dimensions of the programmatic results and the relevant indicators for measuring success, as well as steps to strengthen gender equality across UN-Habitat systems and processes. It builds on the evaluation results, lessons learned and recommendations from the independent external evaluation of UN-Habitat’s Policy and Plan for Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women in Urban Development and Human Settlements, 2014-2019 that was conducted in 2020.
Project for the Support for Improving Living Environment and Disaster Prevention Capacity in Cambodia
Cambodia is one of the world’s most vulnerable countries to natural disasters and has suffered repeatedly from floods, storms and strong winds which have caused the loss of lives and destruction of livelihoods.
In 2018, due to the heavy rainfall from Tropical Storm SON-TINH, the Sepa-Nam Noi dam in Lao PDR collapsed affecting 62,317 households residing near the Mekong river. The massive floods caused 16 deaths and forced 5,398 households to evacuate in the five downstream provinces in Cambodia. The rural poor communities near the river suffered the destruction of their houses. Many families were forced to evacuate their homes to the temporary shelters with no sufficient food and access to clean water and sanitation.
To support the recovery process and strengthen climate resilience of the population affected by the floods, UN-Habitat in collaboration with the Royal Government of Cambodia implemented the “Project for Improving Living Environment and Disaster Prevention Capacity in Cambodia” (April 2019 – March 2020) with grant aid from the Government of Japan.
The project was completed with the reconstruction and rehabilitation of 202 houses with 1,098 people in the target area of Cambodia. It also benefited nearly 10,000 people through a wide range of capacity building activities related to disaster risk reduction (DRR) and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH).
The Government of Qatar & UN-Habitat Partnership Profile in Sudan 2019
Securing land tenure is the fundamental right of every individual. It is particularly important for the vulnerable groups including female-headed households. The project “Strengthening Land Management for Peaceful Co-Existence in Darfur” (2015-2018) was designed to improve current land title system in Darfur and to contributes in the development of evidence-based land policies, laws and regulations.
The Government of Norway & UN-Habitat Partnership Profile in Sudan 2019
The 4-page brochure showcases the two projects in Blue Nile funded by the Government of Norway: “Promote Peace building and Stability in the Blue Nile” (2016-2019), and “Strategic Urban Development/Structure Plans for the Towns of Ad-Damazine and Al-Roseiris” (2015-2016) with the project outlines, achievements, and voices from the beneficiaries.
The Future Saudi Cities Programme is a joint programme developed by the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs in Saudi Arabia and UN-Habitat, implemented in close cooperation with the municipalities of 17 major Saudi cities, the cities have been selected based on their different population sizes, geographic distribution, and a range of criteria based on capacities and economic potential to create a more balanced regional development among the cities of Saudi Arabia. The chosen cities include Riyadh, Makkah, Jeddah, Taif, Madinah, Tabuk, Dammam, Qatif, Al-Ahsa, Abha, Najran, Jazan, Hael, Arar, AlBaha, Buraidah, and Skaka. one of FSCP outcomes is the city profiles.
The city-profile performs as a thinking tool that constitutes together an assessment tool and guidance for the current and future planning of the city, whilst defining a clear strategy for sustainable development. This tool is based on the UN-Habitat’s three-pronged approach considers spatial planning in relation to legal and institutional frameworks, in addition to financial mechanisms. In this way, success criteria for the sustainable implementation of a spatial plan should include flexible but enforceable rules and regulations, in addition to a financing strategy and projections.
The City Profile Methodology, that is applied to Tabuk, is contenting the following steps:
1- Evidence based input approach.
2- The City reviews.
3- The City Prosperity Index assessment report.
4- The GIS spatial analysis.
The Future Saudi Cities Programme is a joint programme developed by the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs in Saudi Arabia and UN-Habitat, implemented in close cooperation with the municipalities of 17 major Saudi cities, the cities have been selected based on their different population sizes, geographic distribution, and a range of criteria based on capacities and economic potential to create a more balanced regional development among the cities of Saudi Arabia. The chosen cities include Riyadh, Makkah, Jeddah, Taif, Madinah, Tabuk, Dammam, Qatif, Al-Ahsa, Abha, Najran, Jazan, Hael, Arar, AlBaha, Buraidah, and Skaka. one of FSCP outcomes is the city profiles.
The city-profile performs as a thinking tool that constitutes together an assessment tool and guidance for the current and future planning of the city, whilst defining a clear strategy for sustainable development. This tool is based on the UN-Habitat’s three-pronged approach considers spatial planning in relation to legal and institutional frameworks, in addition to financial mechanisms. In this way, success criteria for the sustainable implementation of a spatial plan should include flexible but enforceable rules and regulations, in addition to a financing strategy and projections.
The City Profile Methodology, that is applied to Tabuk, is contenting the following steps:
1- Evidence based input approach.
2- The City reviews.
3- The City Prosperity Index assessment report.
4- The GIS spatial analysis.
The Future Saudi Cities Programme is a joint programme developed by the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs in Saudi Arabia and UN-Habitat, implemented in close cooperation with the municipalities of 17 major Saudi cities, the cities have been selected based on their different population sizes, geographic distribution, and a range of criteria based on capacities and economic potential to create a more balanced regional development among the cities of Saudi Arabia. The chosen cities include Riyadh, Makkah, Jeddah, Taif, Madinah, Tabuk, Dammam, Qatif, Al-Ahsa, Abha, Najran, Jazan, Hael, Arar, AlBaha, Buraidah, and Skaka. one of FSCP outcomes is the city profiles.
The city-profile performs as a thinking tool that constitutes together an assessment tool and guidance for the current and future planning of the city, whilst defining a clear strategy for sustainable development. This tool is based on the UN-Habitat’s three-pronged approach considers spatial planning in relation to legal and institutional frameworks, in addition to financial mechanisms. In this way, success criteria for the sustainable implementation of a spatial plan should include flexible but enforceable rules and regulations, in addition to a financing strategy and projections.
The City Profile Methodology, that is applied to Tabuk, is contenting the following steps:
1- Evidence based input approach.
2- The City reviews.
3- The City Prosperity Index assessment report.
4- The GIS spatial analysis.
The Future Saudi Cities Programme is a joint programme developed by the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs in Saudi Arabia and UN-Habitat, implemented in close cooperation with the municipalities of 17 major Saudi cities, the cities have been selected based on their different population sizes, geographic distribution, and a range of criteria based on capacities and economic potential to create a more balanced regional development among the cities of Saudi Arabia. The chosen cities include Riyadh, Makkah, Jeddah, Taif, Madinah, Tabuk, Dammam, Qatif, Al-Ahsa, Abha, Najran, Jazan, Hael, Arar, AlBaha, Buraidah, and Skaka. one of FSCP outcomes is the city profiles.
The city-profile performs as a thinking tool that constitutes together an assessment tool and guidance for the current and future planning of the city, whilst defining a clear strategy for sustainable development. This tool is based on the UN-Habitat’s three-pronged approach considers spatial planning in relation to legal and institutional frameworks, in addition to financial mechanisms. In this way, success criteria for the sustainable implementation of a spatial plan should include flexible but enforceable rules and regulations, in addition to a financing strategy and projections.
The City Profile Methodology, that is applied to Tabuk, is contenting the following steps:
1- Evidence based input approach.
2- The City reviews.
3- The City Prosperity Index assessment report.
4- The GIS spatial analysis.
The Future Saudi Cities Programme is a joint programme developed by the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs in Saudi Arabia and UN-Habitat, implemented in close cooperation with the municipalities of 17 major Saudi cities, the cities have been selected based on their different population sizes, geographic distribution, and a range of criteria based on capacities and economic potential to create a more balanced regional development among the cities of Saudi Arabia. The chosen cities include Riyadh, Makkah, Jeddah, Taif, Madinah, Tabuk, Dammam, Qatif, Al-Ahsa, Abha, Najran, Jazan, Hael, Arar, AlBaha, Buraidah, and Skaka. one of FSCP outcomes is the city profiles.
The city-profile performs as a thinking tool that constitutes together an assessment tool and guidance for the current and future planning of the city, whilst defining a clear strategy for sustainable development. This tool is based on the UN-Habitat’s three-pronged approach considers spatial planning in relation to legal and institutional frameworks, in addition to financial mechanisms. In this way, success criteria for the sustainable implementation of a spatial plan should include flexible but enforceable rules and regulations, in addition to a financing strategy and projections.
The City Profile Methodology, that is applied to Tabuk, is contenting the following steps:
1- Evidence based input approach.
2- The City reviews.
3- The City Prosperity Index assessment report.
4- The GIS spatial analysis.
Share
