Mandate: The United Nations Humans Settlements Program, is the United Nations agency for human settlements. It is mandated by the UN General Assembly to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities with the goal of providing adequate shelter for all.

Funding: The agency’s 2002-2003 budget was $300 million and comes from four main sources. 80 percent in the form of contributions from multilateral and bilateral partners for technical cooperation, 10 percent in earmarked contributions from governments and other partners, including local authorities and foundations, with 5 percent from the regular UN budget and 5 percent in the form of voluntary contributions from governments.

Campaigns: The UNHSP is currently focusing its efforts on two primary operations. The first is entitled the Global Campaign For Secure Tenure. It is designed to take forward the commitment of Governments to providing Adequate Shelter for All. It has been designed to spearhead a shelter strategy that promotes the rights and interests of the poor, and which recognizes that the vast majority of their shelter is provided by the urban poor themselves. The second major campaign is entitled, The Global Campaign on Urban Governance. UN-HABITAT launched the Global Campaign on Urban Governance in 1999 to support the implementation of the Habitat Agenda goal of “sustainable human settlements development in an urbanizing world.” The campaigns goal is to contribute to the eradication of poverty through improved urban governance.

Structure: The agency has three main divisions which each oversee a set of programs. Those divisions are: The Shelter and Sustainable Human Settlements Development Division, The Monitoring and Research Division, and The Regional and Technical Cooperation Division.

Headquarters: Nairobi, Kenya with additional regional offices located in; New York, Rio de Janeiro, Brussels, Geneva, Budapest, Moscow, Beijing, Fukuoka, and Chennai.

Governing Council: The Governing Council consists of 58 members, each elected for a four-year term: 16 from African States, 13 from Asian States, 6 from Eastern European States, 10 from Latin American and Caribbean States and 13 from Western European and other States.