UNCT hosts UN-Habitat Regional Director during his a 3-day official visit to the Kingdom of Eswatini

On 31 July 2023, the United Nations Country Team (UNCT), led by the UN Resident Coordinator, Mr.George Wachira, hosted Mr. Oumar Sylla, Africa Regional Director for the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) during his 3-day official visit to the Kingdom of Eswatini.

During his visit, the UN-Habitat Regional Director also met senior governmental officials, including the Prime Minister, Mr. Cleopas Dlamini, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Senator Thulie Dladla, the Minister of Housing and Urban Development, HRH Prince Simelane, and stakeholders in urban development, including municipalities.

The engagement with the UN Country in Eswatini provided an opportunity to discuss areas of collaboration with the resident UN entities, including UNDP, UNICEF, UNAIDS, UNFPA, UNESCO, WHO, WFP, IOM and FAO. There are 17 UN entities with operational activities in Eswatini, 8 of them are non-resident while 9 are resident. They support the Government of Eswatini the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework for the period 2021-2025.

UN-Habitat is the UN agency mandated to guide the development of socially and environmentally sustainable towns, cities and communities and is expected to sign a Memorandum of Understanding which will lead to the development of a UN-Habitat Country Programme Document (HCPD) that covers Smart cities, National Urban Policy, Housing, and informal settlements among others.

UN-Habitat works in over 90 countries across the world to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities as a positive transformative force for people and communities, reducing inequality, discrimination and poverty.

The visit to Eswatini follows discussions held between the Ministry Housing and Urban Development and UN-Habitat during the Second Session of the UN-Habitat Assembly held on 5-9 June 2023 in Nairobi Kenya.

The Regional Director stated that during that meeting, the Ministry had requested collaboration in National Urban Policy, Informal settlements /slum upgrading programmes, Smart City Development Programmes, technical guidance on setting up of Urban Observatory and the Development of a Habitat Country Programme Document. “We want to be part of the UN system in Eswatini so that we can be able to support the Government to advance this agenda,” says Mr. Sylla.

The Regional Director was introduced to the Prime Minister by the UN Resident Coordinator, Mr. George Wachira, who observed that the presence of UN-Habitat in Eswatini will have a significant impact on the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, with less than 7 years remaining. “Cities across the world are now charting their performance on the achievement of SDGs,” he says. “Cities host 55 per cent of the world’s population and implementing the SDGs in cities can have a positive economic, social and environmental impacts to improve the quality of life of all people.”