Shelter Afrique, the Pan-African finance institution exclusively supporting the development of affordable housing and real estate sector in Africa and UN-Habitat, the United Nations agency responsible for Human Settlement and Housing have signed a Memorandum of Understanding which will see collaboration on delivering on the New Urban Agenda.
The New Urban Agenda is an action-oriented document which sets global standards of
achievement in sustainable urban development, rethinking the way countries build,
manage, and live in cities. It was signed in October 2016 in Quito, Ecuador at the UN
Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development – Habitat III.
The MoU which was signed during the 26th General Council of UN-Habitat in Nairobi,
Kenya will see the two organisations work towards the delivering of an ambitious agenda
for affordable housing on the continent.
The ceremony which took place during a sideevent at the 26th GC was attended by government and senior representatives of member countries and staff of Shelter Afrique as well as the staff of UN-Habitat.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, Acting Managing Director for Shelter Afrique, Mr. Femi
Adewole highlighted similarities in the New Urban Agenda and Shelter Afrique’s strategic
vision for delivering impact on the continent.
He remarked, “We are committed to this [action] because the the scale of the challenges that face us as a continent, require ambition, dedication and commitment”.
He continued “Our commitment to delivering on the objectives of the New Urban
Agenda has always been resolute and frankly at this time for us as an organisation,
necessary, but today we take the first of what will be many steps in realising it. We do this,
also, in the expectation that our shareholders and members will match our commitment
to delivering these objectives and use Shelter Afrique as the instrument for
implementation.”
The MoU between the two organisations is set to deliver on the creation of a funding
mechanism for housing and housing-related infrastructure in Africa by 2018 which will aim
to raise a total of $1 billion by 2020. It will also elaborate a Pan-African Slum Eradication
program based on best practices and successfully implement such a program in 20
countries by 2021.
Shelter Afrique and UN-Habitat also want to jointly create a coalition of large employers
in Africa to implement “Employer Sponsored Housing Programs in Africa”. The
programme should pledge to produce 100,000 housing units by 2020.