IHC Weekly Update
February 19, 2016
In this Update 
 

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World Bank: The Cost of Meeting Water and Sanitation Goals

The World Bank released the first part of a study this week focusing on estimating the cost of achieving Goal 6 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which aims to "ensure access to water and sanitation for all" by 2030. The study found that while current levels of funding will likely be able to cover the capital investment costs of meeting the water sanitation and hygiene targets, if they can be redirected to focus more carefully on sanitation. 

However, although IHC sees this as encouraging, the study also finds that other costs involved in ensuring that WASH infrastructure is "safely managed" (as written in Goal 6) will be far more costly. The study makes clear that  "sustained universal coverage requires more than capital inflows: financial and institutional strengthening will be needed to ensure that capital investments translate into effective service delivery."

Read the full study here, and a blog post summarizing the study here. 
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CAHF Publishes Case Studies on Housing Finance in Africa 

The Center for Affordable Housing Finance in Africa recently released a set of case studies looking at innovative programs throughout the continent that aim to "make the  housing finance sector work for the poor in Africa." 

The case studies vary in topic from public sector financing and housing loan guarantees to housing microfinance and financing of incremental building materials. 

Read the whole series of case studies here. 
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Habitat III Roadmap Calendar by Communitas Coalition

This week the Communitas Coalition released a highly detailed calendar of events related to cities and urbanization in the lead up to Habitat III in October of this year. 

Communitas is a coalition of like-minded organizations interested in Goal 11 of the 2030 Agenda, that focuses on inclusive, safe and sustainable cities. IHC has been a long-time partner of Communitas and congratulates them on this comprehensive effort.  The calendar provides d ates for key events, e ntry points and actions for those following Habitat III, and s hort blurbs on the work of Communitas around key events and processes. IHC will continue to highlight this and other work being done organizations around these processes. 

You can view the full calendar here. Please note that because of the size and detail of the document, you may need to download the calendar in order to read it properly.  Find out more about Communitas here. 

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Call for proposals: Protecting the Vulnerable in Urban Crises

The International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) is inviting proposals for original research that improves understanding of how to promote the protection of particularly vulnerable groups in the context of urban humanitarian crises and responses.

The second of four rounds of funding focused on urbanization, this research fund works to fill gaps in understanding, develop tools and highlight lessons learned from previous work in the sector.  

The research should be relevant to  local governments, national and international NGOs, and other actors in the field of urban humanitarian response; IIED expects to fund between three to five projects with budgets in the range of GBP£15,000-30,000 per project. 

The closing date for proposals is 29 February, 2016. Find more details and information on submitting a proposal here. 
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In the News and Around the Web
  • Read a Guardian article on entrepreneurship in Uganda, and strategies for supporting informal businesses here.  
  • Read a World Bank blog post on strategies to improve basic education in slums here. 
  • Read an article from CityLab highlighting Durban South Africa's success in WASH service for the poor here. 

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