Delegates from around the world will converge at the United Nations Headquarters in Nairobi for the 26th Session of UN-Habitat’s Governing Council from Monday 8 – Friday 12 May 2017, which will be opened by President of the Republic of Kenya, His Excellency Hon. Uhuru Kenyatta.
The Governing Council meets every two years to examine UN-Habitat’s work plan for the coming biennial. It is a high-level forum of governments at the ministerial level during which policy guidelines and the organization’s budget are established for the next two-year period.
Following the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development in Quito in October last year, the theme of this Governing Council is opportunities for the effective implementation of the New Urban Agenda.
The New Urban Agenda, which was signed by member states at Habitat III, is
The Governing Council will be attended by government ministers, senior officials and other representatives of governments making up the Council as well as UN-Habitat partners who will deliberate on these issues as well as climate change and its impact on cities.
Background
Rapidly growing cities need to be strategically guided for longer-term sustainability. Thirty percent of people globally live in slums and informal settlements due to inappropriate or inadequate land policy, administration and management. This percentage is even higher in post-conflict countries. Land policies need to be developed to facilitate land governance that enhances gender equality, a flexible land recording system, recognition of the range of land rights, decentralized land management and grassroots participation, urban equity, efficiency and sustainability.
sets global standards of achievement in sustainable urban development, rethinking the way we build, manage, and
an action-oriented document which
live in cities. Through drawing together cooperation with committed partners, relevant stakeholders, and urban
actors, including at all levels of government as well as the private sector, UN-Habitat is applying its technical
expertise, normative work and capacity development to implement the New Urban Agenda and Sustainable
Development Goal 11 – to make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.
The Governing Council is an intergovernmental decision – making body for the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat). It meets biennially and reports to the General Assembly of the United Nations through the Economic and Social Council, particularly on programmatic issues.

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