Jordan Times
Thursday, January 13, 2005
UN-HABITAT to open regional office in Amman
AMMAN — The United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) will open an office here to function as a centre for the agency's operations in the Levant region.
Under an agreement signed on Wednesday between the UN-Habitat and the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation, the new office will support the execution of UN-Habitat plans for Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and the occupied Palestinian territories, whereas Jordan will benefit as a host country.
Planning and International Cooperation Minister Bassem Awadallah said the office will mobilise international support to execute its plans in these countries.
He added that the Jordanian government will provide the centre with a permanent office and a $50,000 annually for the cost of hosting the centre.
The ministry pointed out in a statement released after the signing ceremony that Jordan will benefit from the centre in terms of employing Jordanians for its operations and use Jordanian materials and equipment.
All funds allocated for the rebuilding of Iraq will be distributed through the centre, which will also be responsible of organising and facilitating all seminars, exhibitions, forums and meetings regarding Iraq in Amman. UN-Habitat is mandated by the UN General Assembly to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities with the goal of providing adequate shelter for all. The main documents outlining the mandate of the organisation are the Vancouver Declaration on Human Settlements, Habitat Agenda, Istanbul Declaration on Human Settlements, the Declaration on Cities and Other Human Settlements in the New Millennium and Resolution 56/206. The agency's 2002-2003 budget is $300 million and comes from four main sources — 80 per cent in the form of contributions from multilateral and bilateral partners for technical cooperation, 10 per cent in earmarked contributions from governments and other partners, including local authorities and foundations, with five per cent from the regular UN budget and five per cent in the form of voluntary contributions from governments. UN-HABITAT runs two major worldwide campaigns — the Global Campaign on Urban Governance and the Global Campaign for Secure Tenure. Through these campaigns and by other means, the agency focuses on a range of issues and special projects which it helps implement.
These include a joint UN-HABITAT/World Bank slum upgrading initiative called the Cities Alliance, promoting effective housing development policies and strategies, helping develop and campaigning for housing rights, promoting sustainable cities and urban environmental planning and management, postconflict land-management and reconstruction in countries devastated by war or natural disasters. Others take in water and sanitation and solid waste management for towns and cities, training and capacity building for local leaders, ensuring that women's rights and gender issues are brought into urban development and management policies, helping fight crime through UN-HABITAT's Safer Cities Programme, research and monitoring of urban economic development, employment, poverty reduction, municipal and housing finance systems, and urban investment. It also helps strengthen rural-urban linkages, and infrastructure development and public service delivery. UN-HABITAT also has some 154 technical programmes and projects in 61 countries around the world, most of them in the least developed countries. These include major projects in post-war societies such as Afghanistan, Kosovo, Somalia, Iraq, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, to name a few. The agency's operational activities help governments create policies and strategies aimed at strengthening a self-reliant management capacity at both national and local levels. They focus on promoting shelter for all, improving urban governance, reducing urban poverty, improving the living environment and managing disaster mitigation and postconflict rehabilitation.