AFRICAN MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE ON HOUSING
AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

SOUTH AFRICA HOSTS UN HUMAN SETTLEMENT CONFERENCE FOR AFRICA

In partnership with the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) and African Union (AU), the Government of South Africa through the Ministry of Housing will host the African Ministerial Conference on Housing & Urban Development (AMCHUD) on January 31 to February, 4, 2005.

The conference will take place at the ICC in Durban, and is follow-up to the roundtable discussion on Partnership for Sustainable African Cities, a dialogue held at the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002.

Under the theme “Urbanisation, Shelter and Development: Towards an Enhanced Framework for Promoting Sustainable Cities and Towns in Africa”,

 The expected outcomes of the conference include:

·        To agree on an enhanced framework of implementation in overcoming the challenges of shelter and urbanization, taking into account the Millennium Development Goals, NEPAD and decisions of the WSSD-2002;

·        To consider systems of enhancing collective capacities in the continent through consultations, exchange of experiences, joint activities and institutionalizing of AMCHUD.  This will ensure that appropriate synergies are developed in executing the overall African Agenda for development.

·        To enable decision-makers to develop a collective understanding of the implications of urbanization and human settlements in the strategic vision and mission of the AU that was adopted recently.

The conference will open with an expert meeting group from January 31 to February 2, 2005, which will prepare recommendations for submission to the Ministerial conference to take place from February 3-4, 2005. Participants at this conference will come from a wider sector than housing, and will include local government, service delivery, population, environment, gender, and welfare.

AMCHUD takes place at a time when South Africa is working on pilot projects for the new Human Settlement plan approved by Cabinet on September 1, 2004.  The conference will allow African Ministers, non governmental organisations, academics, researchers and government officials to share ideas on how to fast track the implementation of Africa’s human settlement agenda.

For details of the conference please visit www.housing.gov.za or www.unhabitat.org.   

Attached is the conference briefing document for more details.

For more information contact

Thabang Chiloane
AMCHUD media team
Cell: 0828888783