The well-being of millions of the world’s slum-dwellers can only be improved through policies that not only target upgrading, but also strengthen urban and national economies, the World Bank Institute (WBI) has said.
"Proper measures, policies and regulations must be undertaken by local and national governments, international organisations and other stakeholders to improve the lives of slums-dwellers and stem their rapid spread," Barjor Mehta, WBI representative, said in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi.
Hundreds of millions of slum-dwellers are exposed to severe inadequacies and cannot access human requirements such as water, sanitation, shelter, health and education.
Speaking at the launch of a slum upgrading and prevention multimedia resource tool, Mehta called for a positive attitude in coming up with policies and regulations regarding slum-upgrading programmes.
"There is a need to project positive messages saying there is a way out, this can be done, has been done and we are going to do it," he said.
Titled: "Approach to Urban Slums", the tool aims to make available information on slum upgrading. "We want to put this tool on the table to elicit interactions and come up with solutions to handle this phenomenon," Mehta said.
"Urban expansion poses great challenges, with developing countries set to triple their entire urban areas in 30 years, and their population expected to double if current policies remain unchanged," said Rafael Tuts, a representative from UN-Habitat.
Meanwhile, the executive director of UN-Habitat has called on central and local governments to apply the rule of law evenly in land issues to achieve sustainable urbanisation.
 Sustainable urbanisation is also about the rule of law |
The lives of over 1 billion slum-dwellers, she added, were threatened by poverty; and solidarity and governance are key to eradicating it.
According to Tibaijuka, the Council is looking at mechanisms to raise funds to put up affordable housing for slum-dwellers. "We are looking into helping these people raise housing finance through the creation of housing cooperatives and business entities," she said.
Sixty percent of Nairobi residents live in slums, occupying five percent of residential land, according to UN-Habitat.
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