Harmonious cities - UN-Habitat

Project round-up
Technology
Satellites to help
Lebanese towns rebuild
UN-HABITAT is monitoring the reconstruction of Lebanese towns that were hit by Israeli air raids
Photo © h. AS S A f
Kisumu where a total of 16 participants were
drawn from some of the towns falling under
the The Lake Victoria Region Water and Sani-
Pick-ups will be used
to provide a primary
collection service
tation Initiative. They are Homa Bay and Kisii
in Kenya, Bukoba and Muleba in Tanzania,
and Kyotera and Nyendo Ssenyange (a satellite
town of Masaka Municipality) in Uganda,
as well as from the border town of Mutukula
on the Uganda /Tanzania border.
The training is designed to equip the participants
with adequate knowledge and skills
to ensure efficient operation and minimum
downtime of the equipment, thereby improving
the efficiency of the towns in solid waste
management.
The Lake Victoria Region Water and
Sanitation Initiative is a collaborative effort
between UN-HABITAT, the Governments of
Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, and the Secretariat
of the East African Community. It
URBAN WATCH
UN-HABITAT and the Lebanese
Army have concluded a cooperation
framework to promote
and further develop nationwide Geographical
Information Systems (GIS) using satellite
photographs from space. The framework will
be implemented “...in light of the common
areas of interest of making available accurate
and up-to-date geographic data and turning
them into sound human settlements plans,”
a joint statement said.
According to the statement, the DGA is
providing the necessary support to UN-HAB-
ITAT recovery project in southern Lebanon
with the aim of establishing three Local Urban
Observatories in towns of Tyre, Bint Jbeil
and Jabal Amel.
Under this cooperation framework, UN-
HABITAT co-sponsored the DGA Fourth
Arab Conference for Geographic Names held
in Beirut on 22 – 27 June, 2008. UN-HABI-
TAT took part in the parallel exhibition event
where publications and documents were displayed
and distributed to more than 100 attendants
The agency is undertaking a series of recovery
projects in Lebanon to respond to
the massive destruction caused by Israeli air
raids in July 2006. The “Good Governance
for Post-War Reconstruction” project is a
comprehensive programme co-funded by the
Dutch, Cyprus and Finnish governments with
a total budget amounting to EUR 1.8 million.
Its main goal is to strengthen the capacities
of local authorities, the union of municipalities
and community representatives to plan,
guide, monitor and control the overall reconstruction
process of the 21 towns and villages
hit in the raids. u
supports small towns in the Lake Victoria
region to attain the water and sanitation target
of the Millennium Development Goals.
Its objectives are to improve the water supply
and sanitation coverage for the poor and
to reduce the pollution of the lake from these
towns. Under the Initiative UN-HABITAT is
providing capacity building and grant support
to seven towns in the Lake Victoria region
to rehabilitate existing facilities and to
improve local capacity for operations, maintenance
and service delivery. u
u r b a n
November 2008 WORLD
57