With urban populations growing rapidly as a result of shrinking resources and climate change, living conditions in cities around the world are deteriorating.
In effort to address the problem, 80 youths have been trained on urban shelter and infrastructure development under UN-HABITAT’s commitment to “promoting affordable housing finance systems in an urbanizing world in the face of global financial crises and climate change” over the next two years.
The youths’ skills were put to use at the Kibera slum in Nairobi, Kenya. With $100,000 in funding from UN Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon, they upgraded infrastructure in the slum using affordable materials. The initiative is expected to be implemented around the world.