The Norwegian Minister for Development, Heiki Eidsvoll Holmas, and UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN-Habitat, Dr Joan Clos, have visited Slum/Shack Dweller's International projects in Mukuru, Nairobi.
Holmas and Clos met with slum dwellers from different areas in the city, to hear about the community initiatives to improve conditions and the lives of people in slums in Nairobi. Slum/Shack Dwellers International and the Government of Norway are working together in initiatives such as the Mukuru Green fields project which aims to provide appropriate housing and facilities for nearly 2,000 families.
Mukuru consists of 26 contiguous slum settlements that span two of the city's eight electoral constituencies. Collectively the Mukuru slums have a population greater and occupy more land than Nairobi's famed Kibera slum. And while Mukuru has comparable population densities to Kibera there has been far less investment in infrastructure development.
UN Habitat has entered a partnership with the European Commission and the Secretariat for the African, Caribbean and Pacific Countries through the Participatory Slum Upgrading Programme. The programme highlights the need to involve slum dwellers with the right of adequate housing and the right to participate in public decision-making.
