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A gathering of parliamentarians, mayors, local and
national government officials and civil society
experts and advocates of slum upgrading and scale is
billed to take place in Brasilia from September 20th
and 21st 2007, under the name, “Cities for All:
Policies for Slums” programme. The event will
discuss the challenges and opportunities of the
upgrading component of the government’s Growth
Acceleration Programme (PAC), launched January this
year by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of
Brazil and projected to boost the country’s economic
growth during the period 2007 to 2010. A key
component of the PAC is the unprecedented attention
being paid to slum upgrading and sanitation. Almost
US$ 8 billion has been set aside for this purpose,
spread over the next four years, the bulk of it
being direct investments of the federal, state and
local budget.
Initiated by Paulo Teixeira, Cities Alliance Policy
Advisory Board Member, member of the Brazilian
National Congress and president of the Caucus of
parliamentarians for urban reform, and sponsored by
Caixa Econômica Federal, the event is expected to
draw key participants such as the National Front of
Mayors (a member of the United Cities and Local
Governments (UCLG) which currently holds the
presidency of UCLG's global programme on social
inclusion), the Ministry of Cities, Caixa Econômica
Federale, the National Forum of Urban Reform (a
network of civil society organisations) and the
Cities Alliance, to be represented by the Programme
Manager, Billy Cobbett. All are committed to keeping
slum upgrading and scaling up high on the political
agendas and to working together on the successful
implementation of the activities agreed to with
state governments and with over 150 municipalities
in Brazil with high concentration of slums.
The keynote address will be delivered by Professor
Erminia Maricata, former Vice Minister of Cities and
professor of the Faculty of Architecture, University
of São Paulo. Other expected speakers include
Cecilia Leal Martinez, the new representative of
UN-Habitat for Latin America and the Caribbean
region, and a representative of the World Bank
Cities Alliance Programme Manager, Billy Cobbett
will participate at the discussion on prevention of
new slums and sustainability of upgrading
interventions. Lessons learned from four case
studies of upgrading leading to scale will be
presented, including the Viver Melhor II in
Salvador/Bahia, supported by the Cities Alliance in
partnership with the World Bank and Italian
cooperation, the Guarapirange project in São Paulo,
the biggest slum intervention in terms of number of
families involved so far in Brazil as well as the
experiences from Belo Horizonte and Belem.
Billy Cobbett will also take advantage of the
opportunity of the Brasilia meetings to progress
discussions on the multi-year Brazil Country
Framework Agreement that would serve as the model
for far reaching knowledge between the Cities
Alliance and initiating member countries, aimed at
inducing systemic change and contributing to scale.
Please see
“Cities for All: Policies for Slums” programme flyer
for more information.
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