The Cabinet Secretary Ministry of Lands, Public Works, Housing and Urban Development Mr. Zacharia M. Njeru today addressed the Executive Board of UN-Habitat at the opening of its second session of 2022. The three-day event that closes on 23rd November anticipates the participation of representatives from 80 Member States. Key in his address was H.E the President’s commitment to support multilateralism and the strengthening of UN-Habitat. He called on Member States to provide financial support especially for the foundation non earmarked funds to enable the organization effectively deliver on its normative work.
The Cabinet secretary also urged Member States to accelerate efforts to meet SDG 11, a tempo sustained from previous meetings like the High-Level Meeting on the New Urban Agenda, the World Urban Forum, the 9th Session of Afri-cities Summit and COP 27 Which emphasized action around climate change in urban areas.
Kenya has prioritized Affordable Housing as one of its key agendas and targets to deliver 250,000 low-cost housing units annually, with an emphasis on slum upgrading and prevention and increase in social housing. The Cabinet Secretary informed that the Government was implementing the Kenya Urban Support Program II (KUSP II), which covers 59 municipalities within 45 counties and an additional urban mobility improvement project which aims at improving urban mobility services in Kenya with resilient and green transport infrastructure.
The Executive Board which consists of 36 Member States elected by the UN-Habitat Assembly oversees UN-Habitat operations to ensure accountability, transparency, and effectiveness. The Board convenes twice each year with the first session having met in March 2022. This session will focus on an array of issues including financial, budgetary, and administrative matters, Draft work programme of UN-Habitat for 2023, approval of UN-Habitat’s annual report for 2021, outcome of the high-level meeting of the UN General Assembly on the implementation of the New Urban Agenda and the World Urban Forum, held in Katowice, Poland in June 2022.