Germany triples its support for UN Human Settlements Programme

German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder today pledged to triple his country's support for the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (HABITAT) to €500,000 (euros) for core funding to the agency.

The pledge, made today at a meeting in Nairobi with HABITAT Executive Director Anna Tibaijuka, comes over and above German support for specific project programmes.

During their talks Mrs. Tibaijuka voiced appreciation for Germany's continued support and highlighted the challenges of poverty in a rapidly urbanizing world, especially in Africa's growing slums.

She also explained the agency's coordinating role in helping governments achieve the Millennium Development Goals - adopted at a 2000 UN summit - of significantly improving the lives of 100 million slum dwellers by 2020, and of halving the number of people who lack access to safe water and sanitation by 2015. Specifically, she described efforts to upgrade a programme currently underway in the Nairobi slum of Kibera - the largest in Africa - aimed at bettering the conditions of residents.

Chancellor Schröder pledged further commitments to projects to help overcome the challenge of rapid urbanization, particularly in Africa.