In 2002, UNCHS (the United Nations Centre on Human Settlements) gained status as a full UN programme. UN-Habitat became the United Nations agency for human settlements. It is mandated by the UN General Assembly to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities, with the goal of providing adequate shelter for all. It is therefore the main UN agency concerned with issues of housing, urban development and the challenge of slums. In May 2002, UN-Habitat organised the first World Urban Forum (WUF) to examine what it considers to be one of the most pressing issues facing the world today: rapid urbanisation and its impact on communities, cities, economies and policies.
Homeless International's partners from the Slum/Shack Dwellers International (SDI) network attended en masse, with 70 representatives from Asia, Africa and Latin America. As well as facilitating and attending workshops, they had an SDI 'zone' where people from informal settlements shared information. SDI also built a life-sized model of a community toilet block (see photo), to demonstrate how poor communities can design, plan and develop sanitation in slum areas.
SDI promoted the dual themes of 'cities without slums' (looking at how people living in informal settlements play important roles in the life of cities) and 'secure tenure, life without evictions'. Like Homeless International, SDI has been part of the UN-Habitat process since it formed (see for example Homeless International and SDI's participation in the Istanbul+5 meeting. By attending WUF, SDI reminds practitioners from all over the world that the poor must be involved for development solutions to work. As Anna Tibaijuka, the Executive Director of UN-Habitat stated during the conference, "Poverty elimination starts with listening to the poor, fostering their initiatives and giving them a chance; it cannot be a case of our agenda versus theirs. We must collaborate if we are to succeed".
Homeless International produced a publication describing what happened at the first World Urban Forum, entited 'Feeding back on the first World Urban Forum'. Click here to download it or read online.
