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Twenty-second Session of the UN-HABITAT Governing Council
UN-HABITAT
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Coverage of the 20th session of the UN-HABITAT Governing Council
Twenty-second Session of the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) Governing Council

30 March - 3 April 2009 | Nairobi, Kenya

Highlights for Thursday, 2 April 2009

UN-HABITAT GC 22 entered its fourth day on Thursday, 2 April 2009. Delegates met briefly in the Committee of the Whole in the morning. The drafting group met in a parallel session all day and discussed a number of draft resolutions.

Several parallel sessions took place during the lunch interval, including on: implementing UN-HABITAT country programmes; microfinance for water and sanitation; rights-based approach to housing and its implication for UN-HABITAT; “Shack/Slum Dwellers International;” the UN-HABITAT youth campaign; and the “Youth Slam Off” poetry event on sustainable urbanization.
Daily web coverage
30 March - 31 March - 1 April - 2 April - 3 April
Experimental Reimbursable Seeding Operations (ERSO)
In the event “A UNique way of lending for affordable housing and infrastructure: Experimental Reimbursable Seeding Operations” which is a UN-HABITAT initiative sponsored by Spain and Bahrain, agreements were signed between UN-HABITAT and project partners from Argentina, Bangladesh, Kenya, Nepal, Tanzania and Uganda in order to encourage pro-poor investment in housing.
Dais during the press conference. L-R: Dafer Al Jalahma, Ministry of Housing, Kingdom of Bahrain; Jacqueline Mendoza, Chair of the Committee of Permanent Representatives, Venezuela; Anna Tibaijuka, Executive Director, UN-HABITAT; and Nicolas Cinto, Ambassador of Spain.
Participants who signed the ERSO agreement.
Anna Tibaijuka, Executive Director, UN-HABITAT, said that the global financial crisis is a crisis in affordable housing finance and lauded ERSO as being a landmark agreement in the history of the United Nations.
Nicolas Cinto, Ambassador of Spain, encouraged UN-HABITAT to incorporate Spanish-speaking officials into their programmes to foster a better understanding of the Spanish culture regarding settlements.
Jacqueline Mendoza, Chair of the Committee of Permanent Representatives, Venezuela
Dafer Al Jalahma, Ministry of Housing, Kingdom of Bahrain, said that the contributions made to ERSO should be disbursed to the recipient countries.
L-R: Frank Ireri, Managing Director, Housing Finance Company of Kenya (HFCK), and Anna Tibaijuka, Executive Director, UN-HABITAT, signing the ERSO agreement.
Frank Ireri (left), Managing Director, HFCK, reiterated the importance of the ERSO agreement for the mobilization of resources for shelter and infrastructure programmes in developing countries.
Frank Ireri, Managing Director, HFCK, and Anna Tibaijuka, Executive Director, UN-HABITAT, exchanging the signed Experimental Reimbursable Seeding Operations (ERSO) agreement.

Committee of the Whole
L-R: Inga Bjork-Klevby, Deputy Executive Director, UN-HABITAT; Gita Fuchsová, Vice President of the COW, Czech Republic; Mohamed Halfani, UN-HABITAT; Banji Oyelaran-Oyeyinka, UN-HABITAT; and Mariam Yumisa, UN-HABITAT.
Zimbabwe Press Conference
Zimbabwe called a press conference to appeal to the international community to re-engage with the country in order to alleviate the dire situation of the Zimbabwean people.
L-R: Nimrod Chimya, Zimbabwe Local Government Association, Zimbabwe; David Munyoro, Ministry of National Housing and Social Amenities, Zimbabwe; Fidelis Mhashu, Minister for National Housing and Social Amenities, Zimbabwe; Muchadeyi Masunda, Mayor of Harare, Zimbabwe; and Kelbert Nkomani, Ambassador to Kenya, Zimbabwe
Muchadeyi Masunda, Mayor of Harare, Zimbabwe
Kelbert Nkomani, Ambassador to Kenya, Zimbabwe
Fidelis Mhashu, Minister for National Housing and Social Amenities, Zimbabwe, appealed for development assistance to complement the humanitarian assistance for his country.
Parallel Events
Alioune Badiane, UN-HABITAT, spoke on behalf of Burkina Faso in the session on implementing UN-HABITAT country programmes.
Jan-Gustav Strandanaes, Haring Woods Associates, UK, gave the aims, objectives and immediate targets of the new UN-HABITAT initiative “Place on Earth,” whose goal is to give the youth a collective voice on climate change and sustainable urbanization issues via governance and culture.
K. Muralidharan, National Housing Bank (NHB), India, highlighted the partnership between UN-HABITAT and the NHB that promotes micro-financing for water and sanitation at the national level at the “Micro-finance for water and sanitation: a new approach” event.
Urban Jonsson, International Advisory Group on Forced Evictions, gave a presentation at the event on the rights-based approach to housing and its implications for UN-HABITAT.
Participants at the “Shack/Slum Dwellers International” Event.
Participants of the UN-HABITAT youth campaign titled “Targeting young people on climate change, governance and culture.”
Participants of the “Youth Slam Off” poetry event on sustainable urbanization.
Around the Conference
Members of the UN-HABITAT team at the end of the COW session. L-R: Mohamed Halfani, Mariam Yumisa, and Banji Oyelaran-Oyeyinka.
Delegates in informal consultations.
Daily web coverage
30 March - 31 March - 1 April - 2 April - 3 April
Related Links
UN-HABITAT resources
Meeting webpage
Provisional agenda
Background documents
Pre-session documents
Report on UN-HABITAT GC 21

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