In the developing world, the vast majority of urban poor have been marginalized from their cities, denying them what Henri Lefebvre called the right to the city.  In response to this denial, many turn to the informal sector as a means to claim access to space and to the economy.  However, using interviews from citizens participating in the informal sector in Kampala, Uganda, this paper argues that while the informal sector provides access to socioeconomic benefits (which is positive), it cannot guarantee them as rights because all activity taking place within it is unprotected and therefore easily and often challenged.

UN-HABITAT’s Participatory Slum Upgrading Programme (PSUP) is an urban assessment of needs and capacity building gaps for various urban centres.  It is currently being implemented in over 20 Africa,Caribbean and Pacific Countries.  The Participatory Slum Upgrading Programme uses a structural approach to the assessment of urban needs and response mechanisms at town and national level in Uganda.

In Uganda, urban areas develop in pockets compared to other countries with a uniform land tenure system.  This research sought to investigate the extent to which the existing tenure systems affect urban land development.  In this research, different land tenure systems were identified in the urban areas, development patterns on different land tenure systems were described, constraints imposed by land tenure systems on development were examined and services together with the nature of housing on different land tenure systems were investigated.

Habitat for Humanity International (HFHI), with support from MasterCard Foundation, has introduced a capacity-building program model through strategic partnerships with financial service providers (FSPs) in Ghana, Uganda, and Kenya, supporting FSPs to diversify their product offerings to include vibrant, viable, and scalable housing microfinance finance (HMF) products for low-income sectors.  HFHI is implementing this project through its Center for Innovation in Shelter and Finance (CISF).  The partnership with the FSPs focuses on developing appropriate HMF products, which requires market knowledge.  Habitat for Humanity International therefore commissioned Ayani Inclusive Financial Sector Consultants to carry out a housing value chain study in Uganda.  The overall purpose of this study is to deepen and strengthen understanding of Uganda’s housing sector for FSPs and other stakeholders, to increase their ability to provide affordable products that promote access to housing for the low-income earning communities in Uganda.

In preparation for the first meeting of the Committee for the Habitat III Conference that will be held in September2014, and subsequent activities, the Government of Uganda has prepared the National Habitat III Report.  The Report evaluates/reviews the implementation of the two main commitments of the Habitat II Agenda that was adopted in 1996 in Istanbul, Turkey.  The Report also identifies new challenges and emerging trends in implementing the Habitat II Agenda, and outlines several proposals that should be included in the Habitat III Agenda.

Uganda will release its first NUP in late 2013.  As an explicitly pro-poor policy, the NUP has the potential to fill in gaps in existing national policy, which fail to adequately identify and respond to urban poverty, particularly in the overlapping areas of gender and food security.  The NUP is being developed with input and support from a variety of international, national and local partners and stakeholders, who hold different priorities and levels of influence in producing, implementing and monitoring the final document.

In response to rapid urbanisation in Uganda, and recognition of the administrative, political, and welfare challenges this poses, the government has embarked on a process of developing a national urban policyfor Uganda (UNUP).  The aspirations of this policy are broad, with different stakeholders and partners emphasizing competing priorities.  For the UNUP to have the capacity to meaningfully respond to the needs of the urban poor it will need to (1) be embedded in a participatory framework, (2) entail government support for a pro-poor focus, and (3) demonstrate sustainability, in terms of financial support and promoting sustainable urban development.  These three factors all draw attention to the central relationship between national policy ownership and capacity.

Uganda like most African countries is experiencing exponential urban growth and expansion at a very alarming rate.  Uganda’s population stands at 34 million people with an annual growth rate of 3.4%.  Urban population is about 3.5 million people growing at an annual rate of 5.1%.

Poverty, food insecurity and malnutrition are progressively shifting from rural to urban areas.  Urban agriculture (UA) is being recognized as one of the strategies to improve the quality ofurban life.  This study focuses on the impact of UA to poverty reduction in Uganda, with emphasis on the case of Lira Municipality, a town in the north central region of Uganda.  In Kampala, the capital of Uganda, UA has acquired a legal status with the implementation of 5 Ordinances, but elsewhere in Uganda, it is still being regarded as an illegal activity, since colonial laws have not yet been replaced by new by-laws to regulate and control the urban farming activities.

As noted by Charles Redman and Nancy Jones in the background paper, rapid urbanization brings opportunities to new urban developments.  But urbanization also comes with serious loss of arable land, degradation of ecosystems as well as social and environmental changes to the urban populations.  The current urbanization process in developing countries is indicative of a process that needs considerable attention not only as a basis for transformation of societies in the developing countries but also for sustainable development.

Urbanization increasingly means that the poorest, most vulnerable people move into large, highly distressed informal areas.  These areas exhibit high levels of poverty and inequality.  This paper uses Kampala, Uganda to identify drivers of vulnerability in informal communities that area consequence of urbanization.  Specifically, this paper adapts a vulnerability framework, developed for Uganda as a whole, for an urban environment.  Using data collected by the NGO ACTogether along with interviews, this paper determines that the most important drivers of vulnerability in Kampala’s 57 slum communities are water and sanitation.