Collaboration between Lesotho and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), the New Urban Agenda (NUA), and the Participatory Slum Upgrading Programme (PSUP) on localizing and implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), the NUA, and the PSUP will have a significant impact because it will enable Lesotho to promote sustainable urban development within the framework and challenges of a rapidly urbanizing world.

Mr Lefu Manyokole stated this, Principal Secretary of the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftainship, during the workshop on the Participatory Slum Upgrading Program, New Urban Agenda, and National Housing Policy Dissemination conducted on Thursday in Maseru.

According to Mr Manyokole, the NUA, which establishes a global framework for housing and sustainable urban development, was accepted at the 2016 Habitat III United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development in Quito.

He explained that it envisions a city where everyone has access to clean, inexpensive drinking water and sanitary facilities, as well as other rights such as the right to adequate housing as a part of the right to a good quality of living without discrimination.

In response to the problems of slums, urban poverty, and unsustainable urbanization trends, PSUP was introduced in 2008 and implemented in Lesotho in 2012. He noted that it is funded by the European Commission through political mobilization of the Organization of African, Caribbean, and Pacific States (OACP) and carried out by UN-Habitat.

He stated that the Participatory Slum Upgrading Programme’s (PSUP) successful implementation aims to spark change to truly improve the lives of slum dwellers and contribute to the performance of the Sustainable Development Goals, in particular SDG 11 target 11.1 and the NUA for inclusive and sustainable urbanization.

According to Mr Manyokole, PSUP aims to combat urban poverty by implementing proactive and adaptive strategies to improve the management of urbanization through evaluation studies, strategic planning techniques, and up-scaled participatory slum upgrading.

He added that the PSUP strategy has been tested in numerous African Caribbean Pacific (OACP) countries and is in line with the National Housing Policy, the NUA, and the SDGs, with many successes, lessons to be learned, and prospects for scaling up.

In the past, slum upgrading has been approached project-by-project, and experience has shown that this approach is ineffective because it rarely gains scale and replication. He added that there is currently a shift towards strategic and inclusive city-wide slum upgrading with proactive measures, which PSUP is implementing.

Additionally, he noted that the PSUP had made significant progress in improving slum and informal settlement living conditions in Lesotho, citing the PSUP’s accomplishments as the Lesotho Housing Profile, National Urban Profile, Maputsoe Urban Profile, Mafeteng Urban Profile, and the National Housing Policy.

In conclusion, he stressed that the National Housing Policy and the profiles are followed by the ongoing national slum upgrading and prevention strategy and city-wide strategy approaches, which seek to integrate slum upgrading with the broader development budget and plans. He claimed that the profiles have shown how spatial inequalities impact how divided cities are and how fundamental human rights are not met for many city dwellers.

Mr Joshua Maviti, PSUP Kenya for UN-Habitat, stated during the same event that the NUA supports urban development and human settlement by aligning with SDG targets.

According to Mr Maviti, they have been collaborating with Lesotho on the NUA and PSUP to transform the slums into suitable homes for Basotho by 2030.

According to him, NUA principles support livable cities and suitable housing for everyone, leaving no one behind. He claimed this is done to guarantee that everyone has access to infrastructure.

He added that NUA guarantees Basotho participation in creating the national framework, policies, and all other development initiatives.

According to Ms Mamphaka Mabesa, the interim housing director for the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftainship, the National Housing Policy’s goal is to end land and housing rights disparities through enhancing land use planning and management.

According to Ms Mabesa, the House Policy will lessen unauthorized communities that have few services and are expanding quickly without appropriate basic infrastructure.

She said that to create sustainable cities and livable human settlements, NUA encourages equal rights to appropriate housing, fundamental freedom, and working social and civic systems with participatory access.

She claimed that to prevent the growth of slum conditions caused by unauthorized settlements; the government must provide cheap housing.

The Housing Officer, Mr Seeisa Seeisa, stated that Agenda 2030, which encourages access to appropriate housing and the modernization of slums in the nation, will be used to implement the National Housing Policy.

Other districts, including Butha-Buthe, Mokhotlong, Leribe, Mafeteng, Mohale’s Hoek, Quthing, Qacha’s Nek, and Thaba-Tseka, also had similar workshops.

Analysis by: Advocacy Unified Network