Njamena, 3 October 2016 – As the world celebrates World Habitat Day, UN-Habitat’s Executive Director, Joan Clos, has called on the development community to put housing at the centre of the urban policy – both metaphorically, and physically as cities expand.
Accra, 27 July 2016 – The concept plan for the Accra urban extension in Ningo-Prampram, developed by UN-Habitat’s Urban Planning and Design LAB, was approved by the Statutory Planning Authority of the Ningo-Prampram District Assembly (NiPDA).
UN-Habitat continues to focus on providing support to human settlements and sustainable urbanization priorities to the Government of Ghana within the framework of several frameworks including; National Coordinated programme of Economic and Social Development Policies (2017-2024), United Nations Sustainable Development Partnership (2018-2022), New Urban Agenda, Africa Agenda 2063 and the sustainable Development goals.
UN-Habitat Ghana works with National Government (mainly through the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development and Ministry of Housing), local authorities, civil society groups and communities through different programmes and projects.
According to Ghana Statistical service, the country’s estimated population at 30,280,811 out of which 54.8% of the population lives in urban areas. This implies the country is rapidly urbanizing. At an estimated average urban growth rate of 4.2%, Ghana’s urban population is expected to 65% by 2030. This process of urbanization has been characterized by the predominance of few large urban centres which have expanded considerably to the detriment of other small sized localities.
These cities are characterized with slums most notably with inadequate drinking water, sanitation, poor structural quality of housing and insecurity tenure and often resembling squatter settlements. A rapid inventory of all slum communities and pockets within the AMA indicate that there are about 78 slum communities in Accra (UN-Habitat, 2011) and an estimated 45% of Ghana’s urban population now resident in slums (UN-Habitat, 2009).
Within the United Nations Ghana Country Team (UNCT), UN-Habitat is collaborating with UNICEF, UNDP, WHO in implementing the joint WASH programme in Disaster Prone Communities in Northern. Furthermore, UN-Habitat is partnering with WHO in implementing the Urban Health Initiative in Accra.
UN-Habitat works with the Habitat Agenda Partners to provide the inclusion of the New Urban Agenda principles in the development of the country. UN-Habitat has been engaging in community driven initiatives such as the Participatory Slum Upgrading Programme which has seen enormous changes in livelihoods of the people of Ga Mashie especially through the community fund and strengthened the country’s capacity on slum upgrading.
UN-Habitat contributed to the development of the planned city extension framework to ensure the protection of land allocated for urban development and avoid urban sprawl and encroachment. This was done in partnership with the Ningo Prampram and other partners.
UN-Habitat also seeks to strengthen partnerships for a new African agenda through policy dialogues
Urban Population (2018): 54.8 %
Urban Growth Rate (2015-2020): 4.2%
UN-Habitat projects in Ghana
Planned City Extension for NingoPrampram
The project is developing a vision and an urban concept for the Planned City Extension of Ningo-Prampram. It brings together national government and state agencies, private investors, local chiefs and communities to discuss and agree on the future of Ningo-Prampram. The initiative has been welcomed by the Ministries and the National Development Planning Corporation, and it is now one of several National Priority Projects with Presidential support and a budget allocation for development and implementation from 2016 onward.
Project Duration: 2014 - ongoing
Value USD: Seed capital 100,000 USD
Donor: Booyoung Creative Industries
Partners: National government, National Development Planning Corporation Local Government of NingoPrampram
Water, Sanitation and Hygiene in Disaster Prone Communities in Northern Ghana
Objective of the project
Methodology
The envisaged actions under the initiative will be in line with the relevant National strategies and plans on disasters in human settlements, water supply and sanitation. A solid base-line study will be undertaken to establish the status of the prevailing situation on the ground, identify any potential constraints, and to assess preliminary elements for consideration to ensure resilient WASH systems appropriate for the context of the disaster prone communities in the three Northern Regions. The following will be undertaken:
Participatory Slum Upgrading Programme
The Participatory Slum Upgrading Programme aims to strengthen community, city and national key stakeholders’ capacities in participatory slum upgrading in Ghana, particularly within the pilot region of Accra Metropolitan Authority (AMA), thus adding value to the development of policy, institutional, legislative, and financial frameworks. Ga Mashie slum has been chosen to demonstrate the PSUP methodology within the framework of the citywide slum upgrading and prevention strategy that was started in Phase 2.
In general the Country Team aims to contribute to the development a national slum upgrading and prevention strategy through lessons learnt from the multi-stakeholder pilot programme in Ga Mashie while improving inter-sectorial coordination on slum upgrading and prevention programmes and activities at both national and local levels. It is hoped that in engaging the various stakeholders at different levels will result in an increase in resources allocation for slum upgrading prevention at both national and local government levels and also allow the mainstreaming of slum upgrading and prevention into the medium term development plans and budgets by the Metropolitan assembly of Accra and others that replicate the PSUP. The successful implementation of the pilot project by AMA will facilitate the development of a citywide Slum Upgrading Strategy and replication of projects and eventually scaling up nationally.
UN-Habitat projects in Cape Verde
Participatory Slum Upgrading Programme
UN-Habitat interventions
In Botswana, the increase of urbanization rates is mainly determined by two phenomena: the rural to urban migration typical of dry lands where livelihood opportunity in the countryside are more and more scarce because of water scarcity, and the peri-urban migration. In general, the country has seen its population concentrating in urban areas according to their vocation.
Towns like Serowe and Palapye have been attracting population because of their concentrated employment opportunities mainly associated with services and industries. Maun and Kasane, being the tourism hub of the country, have seen growing urbanization rates associated with employment within the tourism sector. The construction of the trans-kalahari highway and the trade exchange at the gate with Namibia contributed to the accelerated growth of Ghanzi’s town.
Gaborone’s urban growth has been mainly characterized, on the other side, by the peri-urban migration phenomena. Peri urban areas in Botswana play a vital role in urbanization because they absorb much of the population that, coming from the rural areas, is not accommodated in cities, primarily because of the shortage in affordable land and housing. Drivers of peri-urbanisations are financial capital (industries) and public policy, which aim to divert new housing development to the peri urban areas, like Mogodisthane or Tlokweng, to decongest and improve the living conditions of the city centers. Both in the case of the “vocational” migration and the peri-urban migration, vulnerability of the urban context is highly determined by the great pressure that high concentration of people put on unplanned urban settlements whose services networks, such as health, education, water, electricity and transport are mostly underdeveloped.
UN-Habitat projects in Botswana
Participatory Slum Upgrading Programme
The Participatory Slum Upgrading Programme is being implemented with a focus on the development and adoption of inclusive policies and strategies for slum upgrading . The Programme also aims to strengthen community, city and national key stakeholders’ capacities in participatory slum upgrading in Botswana, particularly in the cities/towns of Lobatse, Francistown and Gaborone, thus adding value to the development of policy, institutional, legislative, and financial frameworks.
