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Self Report 2017

The self-report on WHS Commitments below is organized according to the 24 transformations of the Agenda for Humanity. It is based on commitments pledged at the time of report submission. Click on the 'Expand' symbol to expand each section and read the reporting inputs by transformation.

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1B
Act early

Individual Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Commitment Type
  • Core Responsibility
  • UN-Habitat commits to develop the Land and Conflict Coalition, building on the work of the Global Land Tool Network, advocating for a theory of change that focuses on catalyzing levers of change and capacity development for conflict prevention and mediation, for sustained coherent engagement on land throughout the conflict cycle, and working towards enhanced capacities to conduct root cause analysis of land and conflict.
  • Partnership
  • Political Leadership to Prevent and End Conflicts
  • UN-Habitat will through its role in the Land and Conflict Coalition Forum and within the UN system work towards increased political leadership and engagement through all stages of a crisis to overcome, where relevant, land as a root cause and driver of conflict or relapse into conflict, engaging regional actors such as the African Union, the International Conference for the Great Lakes, and country level UN leadership (e.g. HC/RCs).
  • Advocacy
  • Political Leadership to Prevent and End Conflicts

  • What led your organization to make the commitment?

    Member States and United Nations staff are increasingly concerned that land is more and more a trigger for conflict, or a re-lapse into conflict, and a bottleneck to recovery. This situation will be made worse in the coming decades by global challenges such as population growth, urbanization, increasing food insecurity and climate change. These challenges are acknowledged in the 2030 Agenda. The UN-wide system is not sufficiently fit for the purpose for supporting Member States and the international community to address these challenges. The UN needs to re-think its engagement on land and conflict, and clarify roles and develop capacity.

  • Achievements at a glance

    UN-Habitat reports the following achievements:
    • The “Scoping and Status Study on Land and Conflict: Towards UN System Wide Engagement at Scale” was published in May 2016.
    • A Framework Analysis of Land as a Root Cause of Conflict has been developed.
    • The adaptation of GLTN land tools to conflict contexts has started in Iraq, Sudan, Darfur, Lebanon and Syria.
    • A new partnership is under development around land governance for the Arab States, including to address land-related aspects of the conflicts in the region.
    • New joint initiatives, in particular with DPKO and DPA, are under way in In the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia and the Great Lakes.
    • Pilot capacity training on land and conflict have taken place for DPA country desk officers, Peace and Development Advisors, and senior officials in the Great Lakes Region.
    • Two meetings of the Land and Conflict Coalition took place so far (50+ organizations).

  • How is your organization assessing progress

    The Global Land Tool Network has a steering group to monitor progress and periodic evaluations are conducted. Yearly meetings are planned of the land and conflict coalition to discuss progress and adjust priorities.

  • Challenges faced in implementation

    UN-Habitat's main challenge is to scale up capacity building efforts for both global, regional and national capacity and ensuring a renewed dialogue with Member States.

  • Next step to advance implementation in 2017

    UN-Habitat plans to
    - Finalize a UN Guidance Note on Land and Conflict
    - Develop further capacity development initiatives
    - Expand and strengthen the partnerships through the Land and Conflict Coalition to increase effective support at country level

  • If you had one message for the annual report on what is most needed to advance the transformation 'Act early', what would it be

    If land is a root cause of conflict and a bottleneck to recovery, creating an enabling framework to address land should be a key collective outcome of the UN system.

  • Specific initiatives

    ☑Global Alliance for Urban Crises

  • Other related Agenda for Humanity transformations

    ☑1C - Remain engaged and invest in stability

1D
Develop solutions with and for people

Individual Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Commitment Type
  • Core Responsibility
  • UN-Habitat will support mayors in using urban planning processes as a tool for intercommunity dialogue and resource management so as to enhance conflict prevention and equitable economic development, with a particular focus on divided cities and marginalized informal settlements.
  • Partnership
  • Political Leadership to Prevent and End Conflicts

  • What led your organization to make the commitment?

    UN-Habitat's operational experience has shown that the potential of using urban planning to support inter-community dialogue in view of conflict prevention has not yet been fully developed.

  • Achievements at a glance

    More and more Urban Design Labs and urban planning interventions are used in conflict-affected countries or situations with marginalized informal settlements (incl. refugee settlements): Iraq, Lebanon, Kosovo, Kenya. etc.

  • Next step to advance implementation in 2017

    This will be further developed under the umbrella of a Global Alliance for Urban Crises working group.

  • If you had one message for the annual report on what is most needed to advance the transformation 'Develop solutions with and for people', what would it be

    Urban planning and design are increasingly proving their potential as powerful instruments to negotiate co-existence and durable solutions for people from different backgrounds.

  • Cross cutting issues

    ☑Urban

  • Specific initiatives

    ☑Global Alliance for Urban Crises

3A
Reduce and address displacement

Individual Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Commitment Type
  • Core Responsibility

  • In support of the action plan of the Global Alliance for Urban Crises, UN-Habitat commits to build the evidence base on the specific characteristics of protracted displacement in urban areas, and contribute to the design of appropriate and cost-effective responses, with particular regard to protection of vulnerable people, shelter and basic services and infrastructure. This includes tailoring its three-pronged approach to sustainable urbanisation and engaging with key international, national and urban actors to plan and design temporarily settlement forthose displaced.


  • Policy
  • Leave No One Behind
  • UN-Habitat commits to further tailor its three-pronged approach to sustainable urbanisation in view of an improved management of urban displacement as both a humanitarian, development and human rights concern with a focus on 1) urban planning and design, 2) urban economy and financing and 3) urban policy and legislation (including land).
  • Operational
  • Leave No One Behind
  • UN-Habitat will advocate, jointly with the members of the Global Alliance for Urban Crises, for direct political, policy and financial support to local authorities and utility actors who are on the frontline of managing displacement while ensuring social cohesion and contribution to longer term sustainable development needs.
  • Advocacy
  • Leave No One Behind
  • UN-Habitat will engage key international, national and urban actors to plan temporary settlement of displaced (including camps) as much as possible as part of planned city extensions or infills, using qualitative urban planning and design, allowing integration of local and displaced populations.
  • Partnership
  • Leave No One Behind

  • What led your organization to make the commitment?

    There is a growing evidence base that if displacement is only dealt with from a humanitarian perspective, it can have long term negative impacts on cities (ex. through the expansion of slums).

  • Achievements at a glance

    Advocacy, through the Global Alliance for Urban Crises, with Member States led to the successful inclusion in the New Urban Agenda (Habitat III) of supportive language calling for support to host cities and the integration into urban development strategies.

  • Cross cutting issues

    ☑Urban

  • Specific initiatives

    ☑Global Alliance for Urban Crises

  • Other related Agenda for Humanity transformations

    ☑4C - Deliver collective outcomes: transcend humanitarian-development divides

3D
Empower and protect women and girls

Individual Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Commitment Type
  • Core Responsibility
  • UN-Habitat commits to continued application of its Gender Equality Marker, Human Rights Marker and the Youth Marker, to all projects relating to humanitarian response during project formulation and, by 2018, as part of monitoring and evaluation, with a particular focus on gender-based violence in urban settings.
  • Operational
  • Leave No One Behind

  • Achievements at a glance

    This is done systematically through UN-Habitat's Project Advisory Groups.

4A
Reinforce, do not replace, national and local systems

Individual Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Commitment Type
  • Core Responsibility

  • In support of the action plan of the Global Alliance for Urban Crises, UN-Habitat commits to ensure initiatives focused on building urban resilience incorporate components on resilient response and recovery from crises, and leverage greatest impact in cities most at risk of humanitarian emergencies. This includes its commitment to develop with its partners a Flagship Urban Resilience Programme.


  • Operational
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need

  • UN-Habitat commits to further develop its '€œPeople'€™s Process' approach - which seeks to empower households and communities in partnership with local authorities to plan and implement recovery, while contributing to restoring livelihoods -upscaling it up to the city level, in view working more effectively with affected populations during a humanitarian response.


  • Operational
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need

  • UN-Habitat will advocate for more support to cities at high risk of humanitarian crises, including through the development of Resilience Action Plans, allowing them to take early action in order to minimize the impact and frequency of known risks and hazards on people, public and private assets, and the continuity of functions and processes in all cities at risk. The presence of policy enabling the integration of resilience-based urban planning and design is central to anticipatory action. This work will include: (a) preparation of advocacy, guidelines and technical support for delivery of resilience-based national, sub-national and local policies in countries and cities at risk and (b) work with 50 cities to incorporate risk reduction and sound urban planning and design principles which increase resilience in urban plans (including urban extensions).


  • Operational
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need
  • UN-Habitat will work with the United Cities and Local Government Task Force for Disaster Response, other local government networks, and other partners to prioritize and strengthen local municipal leadership in determining response to urban crisis that is aligned with development trajectories, through: (a) developing guidance on engagement with local authorities during crisis response; (b) developing and advocating for adopting area-based approaches to programming and coordination that are adapted and appropriate, identifying strengths and weaknesses, and building on, rather than duplicating, existing city systems; (c) designing rapid capacity assessment tools to identify the necessary surge capacity for local governments; and (d) working with partners to support the development of urban crises response rosters with urban and local government expertise.
  • Capacity
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need

  • What led your organization to make the commitment?

    There is a lack of concerted focus on cities at high risk.

4B
Anticipate, do not wait, for crises

Individual Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Commitment Type
  • Core Responsibility
  • UN-Habitat commits to develop with its partners a Flagship Urban Resilience Programme, building on its City Resilience Profiling Programme and including a specific focus on cities at high risk of humanitarian emergencies or affected by recurrent or protracted crises. The Urban Resilience Programme will prioritize good urban planning and design as key to resilience and provide a framework for guiding joint humanitarian and development engagement, leveraging immediate measures (humanitarian and emergency) for longer term reconstruction and development.
  • Operational
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need

  • What led your organization to make the commitment?

    There is a lack of concerted focus on cities at high risk.

4C
Deliver collective outcomes: transcend humanitarian-development divides

Individual Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Commitment Type
  • Core Responsibility

  • In support of the action plan of the Global Alliance for Urban Crises, UN-Habitat commits to develop or work with existing global, regional and national rosters to facilitate the deployment of urban leaders, managers and technical experts. UN-Habitat will support the development of a global urban crises support roster that brings together expert networks from a wide variety of urban and local government professional associations focusing on training and qualitative support. It will develop methodologies and protocols for the use of urban planning and design during crises response in support of national and local governments, drawing from its Urban Planning and Design Labs.


  • Capacity
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need

  • In support of the action plan of the Global Alliance for Urban Crises, UN-Habitat commits to tailor humanitarian response to the urban context by developing shared assessment and profiling tools, promoting joint analysis, and adapting coordination mechanisms. UN-Habitat, working closely with partners, will scale up and adjust its city profiling tools so it can be used in different urban settings, working closely with UN-OCHA to adapt the humanitarian programming cycle to urban areas. UN-Habitat will work with other Alliance partners, and UN-OCHA in particular, to set out options for improved coordination mechanisms in urban areas.


  • Operational
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need
  • UN-Habitat commits by 2017 to develop targeted policy and planning approach for cities in acute or protracted crisis, including adapting its key urban policies, urban planning and design tools and strategies (city profiling, national urban policies, territorial and urban planning guides, urban planning and design labs, participatory slum upgrading, International Guidelines on Urban and Territorial Planning) for use in countries and cities in acute or protracted crises situations to ensure humanitarian response feeds into more resilient and sustainable urban growth trajectories. Three countries/cities will be supported in 2016 and at least the same number in 2017.
  • Policy
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need

  • UN-Habitat commits to the principles outlined in the Urban Crisis Charter and to be a member and partner in the Global Alliance for Urban Crises, and play a key role in developing it further.


  • Operational
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need

  • UN-Habitat commits to work with other partners to develop new initiatives that will operationalize the urban recommendations developed for the WHS.


  • Partnership
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need

  • UN-Habitat intends to strengthen its institutional set up, capacity and programming in order to contribute more effectively towards the goal of improved prevention, preparedness and response to urban humanitarian crises.


  • Capacity
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need

  • UN-Habitat will update its Strategic Policy on Human Settlements in Crisis and its Sustainable Relief and Reconstruction framework to provide guidance on how the humanitarian - development divide can be best transcended in urban areas and to align it with the New Urban Agenda (to be adopted in Habitat III - Quito), and seek its endorsement at UN-Habitat's next Governing Council.


  • Operational
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need

  • What led your organization to make the commitment?

    UN-Habitat has increasingly used at country level urban development strategies and approaches to address humanitarian crisis in urban settings, helping to reduce the need and build the ground for more sustainable urban development trajectories. There was a lack of mainstreaming of this work throughout the agency - a challenge to ensure timely deployment of staff in moments of crisis. There was also a need to strengthen strategic partnerships.

  • Achievements at a glance

    UN-Habitat's Governing Council recently approved (May 2017) a resolution creating a fund to facilitate rapid response, asking UN-Habitat to update its Strategic Policy on Human Settlements in Crises, which will prepare the ground to mainstream its urban crises work across the agency, and encouraging it to keep supporting and strengthening innovative partnerships such as the Global Alliance for Urban Crises.

  • Cross cutting issues

    ☑Urban

  • Specific initiatives

    ☑Global Alliance for Urban Crises

5A
Invest in local capacities

Individual Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Commitment Type
  • Core Responsibility
  • UN-Habitat will, through its role in the Global Alliance for Urban Crises, advocate for specific windows, accessible by local authorities and urban communities in existing or proposed prevention, preparedness, and response funding and financing mechanisms, while enhancing the capacities of municipalities and urban communities to deliver.
  • Advocacy
  • Invest in Humanity

  • What led your organization to make the commitment?

    Local governments are increasingly being recognized as a key actor but very few mechanisms exist to ensure local governments access to funding and capacity which would allow them to play their role.