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Política urbana y de vivienda en tiempo de crisis -
DE LAS BUENAS PRACTICAS A LAS BUENAS POLITICAS
Actores, instrumentos y estrategias
Rumbo al Foro Urbano Mundial 2010
9 al 13 de Noviembre, 2009
Ciudad de Mexico
Como parte de las actividades rumbo al Foro Urbano Mundial (Rio de Janeiro – Marzo 2010), este evento de cinco días ofrece la oportunidad de intercambios de experiencias de América Latina, diálogos, y aprendizajes sobre prácticas e instrumentos de fomento y apoyo a la producción social de la vivienda, tenencia segura, financiamiento, y el derecho a la ciudad. Sera también un espacio para acuerdos de agenda concertada de incidencia política.
El objetivo es intercambiar análasis y propuestas en torno a la efectividad y limitaciones de los procesos de incidencia en políticas públicas y de implementación de instrumentos en apoyo a la producción social del hábitat y el derecho a la vivienda y a la ciudad.
Está previsto que participen en estas actividades representantes de organizaciones sociales y civiles, académicos y funcionarios de gobierno de varios países de la región para debatir en torno.
El programa propuesto para toda la semana incluye:
- 9 de noviembre: Encuentro de actores (organizaciones civiles, movimientos sociales, redes, plataformas, universidades): Prácticas de PSH como concreción de derechos y procesos de incidencia en políticas públicas. Consolidando una agenda y plan de acción compartidos (2010-2012).
- 10 de noviembre: Seminario interactoral (funcionarios públicos y representantes de instancias y organizaciones de la sociedad civil de México y otros países de la región): Instrumentos de fomento y apoyo a la PSH, el derecho a la vivienda (seguridad de tenencia, financiamiento) y el derecho a la ciudad (gestión democrática del territorio, función social de la propiedad), y su vinculación con circuitos y procesos de economía social y solidaria.
- 11 de noviembre: Intercambio de organizaciones sociales respecto al análisis de la situación de vivienda y experiencias de producción social del hábitat en distintos Estados de la República Mexicana.
- 12-13 de noviembre: Visitas de campo a experiencias de la Ciudad de México y alrededores.
Es para nosotros fundamental contar con la participación de su organización. Por ello, pedimos que contactan a más tardar el próximo 16 DE OCTUBRE la FICHA DE PRE-INSCRIPCIÓN a la persona que la representará a: mrivera@habitatmexico.org, majas60@gmail.com
Este evento tiene una cuota de recuperación para materiales de US$20 o 250.00 pesos en moneda nacional.
Participantes: Hábitat para la Humanidad, HIC, COHRE, FNRU, SCC, otras redes nacionales y regionales, y con el apoyo de Organismos Públicos de Mexico.
The work week has finished. The last day we went to work with the community carrying limestone blocks from the main street of the town to one of the houses where they are constructing a second floor to improve their quality of life by creating more living space for all of the members of the family. Due to the smallness of the sites and because in reality they don’t have precisely defined land, the inside spaces and the building itself seems unusual because they may be trapezoid shaped perimeters. After several loads of blocks with the help of carts and even a donkey, we had enough to start stacking them up where the construction workers were preparing the lines for the walls.
The owner of the house is a widow who lives there with her two sons, their wives and children. She, like all the women in the houses who worked previously, runs from side to side trying to find something to do and that can help the volunteers standing in the extreme sun and heat. After an hour and a half of work she came back with a tray of fresh tea. As much as we wanted to continue with our work, we couldn’t refuse and stopped to take the tea. Only then could we resume the work.
After several loads of blocks were brought in by donkey carts, several of us formed a human chain of about 15 people to lift the limestone blocks one by one for the walls of the apartments being build on the second floor. At 12:30 pm we stopped to go to the Association offices to have lunch prepared by the Cleopatra Hotel in boxes decorated by a loop. With this detail I want to recognize the excellent treatment than we have all had by everyone involved in our stay in Ed Minia, especially Christine Postma and the assistant sheriff.
At 2:30pm we again took a the long road that leads to Cairo. Our bus took us through fields of sugarcane, cabbage, cotton, sunflowers and other products. Farmers in their long robes and turbans bend their backs to plant grain or open the furrows. After coming from Beni Suef all that accompanies us is the desert. The communities, strands that intertwine and make up this admirable ancient culture, have lagged behind but now also travel with each one of us in the impact they’ve had on our hearts forever.
On Saturday night alter an exhausting day of visiting the most emblematic places in Cairo we tried to prepare our minds for the inevitable goodbyes to the recent friends we met but with whom we’ve shared this very intense experience and with who we have become so intimate with. We gathered around a table, 11 completely different people, never again the same as we were about a week ago. We share how we feel, the excellent experience that we have with everyone, but especially if they will participate after this trip. Each one is greatly moved to continue their commitment to the cause of those most in need of an adequate place to live, and consider this trip a success. We melt into hugs, expressing our desire to stay in contact and especially thanked all of those who joined us in Egypt. Shukran gazeelan!

Special thanks to volunteer Kelsey Halena for translating!
By the year 2030, an additional 3 billion people, about 40 percent of the world’s population, will need access to housing. This translates into a demand for 96,150 new affordable units every day and 4,000 every hour.
One out of every three city dwellers – nearly a billion people – lives in a slum. Slum indicators include: lack of water, lack of sanitation, overcrowding, non-durable structures and insecure tenure.
Because of poor living conditions, women living in slums are more likely to contract HIV/AIDS than their rural counterparts, and children in slums are more likely to die from water-borne and respiratory illness.
Housing formation generates non-housing related expenditures that help drive the economy.
Investing in housing expands the local tax base. Each year 35.1 million new housing units are needed to house the urban population growth between now and 2030. This does not include replacements of deteriorated and substandard housing stocks.
In 2007, the world’s urban population outnumbered the rural for the first time.
Almost 180,000 people are added to the urban population each day.
95 percent of the world population growth in the next decades will occur in the urban areas of developing countries.
The poor are urbanizing faster than the population as a whole, reflecting a lower than average pace of urban poverty reduction.
Substandard housing, unsafe water and poor sanitation in densely populated cities are responsible for 10 million deaths worldwide every year.
Latin America is the most urbanized region in the world, with 75 percent of its population living in cities. According to the United Nations, 27 percent of these urban residents—more than 117 million people—suffer from precarious housing conditions, living without adequate sanitation, with irregular or no electricity supply and without adequate security.
Raising awareness and advocating for change are the first steps toward transforming systems that perpetuate the global plague of poverty housing. World Habitat Day serves as an important reminder that everyone must unite to ensure that everyone has a safe, decent place to call home. Please advocate for adequate housing on World Habitat Day and throughout the month of October.
Nairobi, Kenya
With an estimated population of more than one million people, Kibera is the largest slum in all of Africa.
© Habitat for Humanity/Steffan Hacker
My Tho, Vietnam
Houses crowd the banks of the Mekong River.
© Habitat for Humanity/Ezra Millstein
Armavir, Armenia
Ellada Manasyan and her three young children live in this deserted and crumbling Soviet-era building.
© Habitat for Humanity/Ezra Millstein
San Salvador, El Salvador
A young boy plays in front of his family’s shack, in the Las Victorias squatter community on the outskirts of San Salvador.
© Habitat for Humanity/Ezra Millstein
Goiania, Brazil
Favela dos Trilhos.
© Habitat for Humanity/Ezra Millstein
Sources: UN-Habitat, Kissick et al 2006
Want to blog about World Habitat Day and poverty housing?
Visit our World Habitat Day resource page.
The United Nations has designated the first Monday in October each year as World Habitat Day—a day to reflect on the state of our towns and cities, and to remind ourselves and our neighbors that we share a collective responsibility to defend the right to adequate shelter for all.
In Latin America and the Caribbean, 13 national Habitat for Humanity organizations will unite with some 50 other nations in Africa, Asia, North America and Europe in simultaneous celebrations of World Habitat Day. The events will show the world that we are committed to building strong and sustainable urban communities—whatever it takes.
On October 5, please join Habitat for Humanity in support of this global observance as we come together and declare that the lack of decent, affordable housing is unacceptable.
Advocate for change
Raising awareness and advocating for change are the first steps toward transforming systems that perpetuate the global plague of poverty housing. World Habitat Day serves as an important reminder that everyone must unite to ensure that everyone has a safe, decent place to call home.
According to the United Nations, more than 100 million people in the world today are homeless. Millions more face a severe housing problem–living without adequate sanitation, with irregular or no electricity supply and without adequate security.
More than 2 million housing units per year are needed for the next 50 years to solve the present worldwide housing crisis. With our global population expanding, however, at the end of those 50 years, there would still be a need for another 1 billion houses. (UN-HABITAT: 2005)
The U.N. further states that both developed and developing countries, cities and towns are increasingly feeling the effects of climate change, resource depletion, food insecurity, population growth and economic instability.
Rapid rates of urbanization cause serious negative consequences – overcrowding, poverty, slums with many poorly equipped to meet the service demands of ever growing urban populations.
With over half of the world’s population currently living in urban areas the U.N. believes there is no doubt that the “urban agenda” will increasingly become a priority for governments, local authorities and their non-governmental partners everywhere.
Find more international statistics and research about the effects of poverty housing around the world on Habitat for Humanity’s webpage.
Spread the word by blogging about World Habitat Day! Please visit the World Habitat Day Social Media News Release for more information.
What you can do
- Show up! World Habitat Day celebrations are going on in 13 countries throughout the region. Visit our Events page to find out what’s happening near you (esp).
- Speak up! Comment on one of our social networks, or blog about poverty housing issues.
- Educate yourself and your community. Take our E-course, and learn more about housing issues in Latin America. To learn more, browse our educational resources on poverty housing in Latin America and the Caribbean.
- Stay in touch. Sign up for our newsletter and keep up to date on housing news and opportunities to get involved.
- Volunteer. Visit our website to find out how you can get involved in short and long term volunteer opportunities.
- Donate. Habitat’s work is made possible through the generous contributions of those who are passionate about the cause. Make a difference in someone’s life today.
Habitat staffer Mitssy Rovira and an international team of volunteers are blogging from El Minya, Egypt in celebration of World Habitat Day 2009. Read more!
Stay tuned for more information on World Habitat Day and ways that you can educate and inspire your community to support this global observance.


Nairobi, Kenia
My Tho, Vietnam
Armavir, Armenia
San Salvador, El Salvador
Goiania, Brasil
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