UN-HABITAT hosts its representatives from around the world

28 April 2008 - A three-day seminar bringing together UN-HABITAT Programme Managers from 17 Anglophone African countries, Mozambique, Pakistan and Palestine opened this week with a call on the agency to support and improve its staff training so that project funds are better and more efficiently managed.

UN-HABITAT’s Director of the Regional Office for Africa and the Arab States, Mr. Alioune Badiane, appealed to the managers to be more active in directing their respective countries towards a self-financed projects and programmes, saying developing countries should not expect outside help to finance low-cost housing. Mr. Badiane stressed that developing countries should find the money at home to provide housing for the poor.

The meeting, held annually, was this year intended to brief the managers on the agency’s new Medium Term Strategic and Institutional Plan, and help keep them abreast of other developments at headquarters and of its work to improve the situation of the urban poor in countries around the world. It also provided the managers an opportunity to raise questions and concerns about their work.