Ministerial Consultation on the UNICEF Global Initiative on Child Responsive Slum Transformation

This high-level networking event, co-hosted by the Government of South Africa and UNICEF, convenes to introduce the Global Initiative on Child-Responsive Slum Transformation for implementing the UN-Habitat Assembly Resolutions (HSP/HA.2/Res.2) Accelerating the transformation of informal settlements and slums by 2030 and (HSP/HA.2/Res.7) Adequate housing for all at global, national and local levels.
The initiative is targeting half a billion children living in informal settlements and slums in cities around the world, and its dramatic increase is expected by 2050. Children and young people are forming our future. Improving living conditions, making children resilient, and empowering them to shape healthier, prosperous, safer, peaceful, and happier lives is essential.
The initiative was co-designed by UN-Habitat, UNICEF, and Slum Dwellers International. It seeks to engage national governments for policy change, local governments for coordinated localized actions, and communities to lead the transformation, building urban resilience for children and young people. The initiative looks at data collection, policy formulation and transformation at the neighbourhood level, strengthening access to infrastructure, water, sanitation, health and education disaster preparedness, social protection and empowerment, and inclusive governance and participation.

It is a spin-off from UN-Habitat’s Global Action Plan – Accelerating for Transforming Informal Settlements and Slums by 2030. It was co-designed with core partners and launched with the Government of South Africa in 2022. It builds on its principles of multi-partnership and evidence-driven, equitable and proactive, sustainable and climate-smart, affordable and replicable.