Forthcoming events

Workshop of the Network of African Countries on Local Building Materials and Technologies, Nairobi, Kenya, 6-8 September 1993

In reviewing the activities of the Network, the medium-term plan (1992-1997) of the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat) has stressed the need for expanding its (the Network’s) coverage and for a shift in focus from information exchange to increased collaboration in actual implementation of specific field activities. The urgency for consolidating the gains from the on-going collaboration and the need to seek new initiatives for strengthening the domestic capacity of African countries in the production of building materials has also been underscored by the United Nations New Agenda for African Economic Recovery and Development in the 1990s (UN-NAAERD), through its emphasis on regional and sub-regional cooperation. In the light of the emerging needs of the countries in the region a critical review of the activities of the Network should provide a useful framework for improving the effectiveness and widening the coverage of future collaboration. The Workshop will provide an opportunity for such a review and for the formulation of an action-oriented programme that could be implemented through the Network.

The Workshop, organized by UNCHS (Habitat), will bring together senior policy-level government officials from about 15 African countries and representatives from a number of United Nations and other international and non-governmental organizations. The objectives of the Workshop will be:

(a) To develop a strategy for improving the effectiveness and coverage of the Network;

(b) To establish a framework for launching a programme for domestic capacity-building through strengthened Network activities in the building-materials sector.

Each country participant is invited to prepare a response paper addressing a number of issues related to the building-materials sector in their respective countries and present them to the Workshop.

It is expected that the Workshop will devise a set of recommendations on how to strengthen the Network and how to launch a programme of domestic capacity-building in the building-materials sector in sub-Saharan Africa.

For more information contact UNCHS (Habitat), P. O. Box 30030, Nairobi, Kenya.

First National Seminar on the Promotion of Production of Local Building Materials and the Performance of the Construction Industry, Nairobi, Kenya, 12-15 October 1993

This National Seminar will be organized by the Ministry of Public Works and Housing of the Government of Kenya in collaboration with UNCHS (Habitat). The Seminar will bring together policy-makers, professionals and manufacturers from both public and private sectors to review and appraise the performance of the building-materials and construction sectors in Kenya and propose recommendation on ways and means of promoting them in a sustainable manner. The Seminar is expected to provide an opportunity for the Government of Kenya and the private sector to deliberate on the recommendations of the recently concluded Workshop of the Network of African Countries on Local Building Materials and Technologies. It will also establish a framework for closer cooperation between the Government and UNCHS (Habitat) for implementing the activities of a planned regional programme on domestic capacity-building in the building materials sector in sub-Saharan Africa.

For more information contact the Ministry of Public Works and Housing, P. O. Box 30260, Nairobi, Kenya, or UNCHS (Habitat), P. O. Box 30030, Nairobi, Kenya.

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