Habitat for Humanity International leads discussions and presents papers at World Bank’s Land and Poverty Conference
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Mar. 25, 2014) — Sharing insights from the organization’s experience providing housing solutions around the world, experts from Habitat for Humanity International will present two papers and participate in several panels at the World Bank’s Land and Poverty Conference this week, including chairing today’s Housing session.
“As regional dynamics rapidly shift around the world, we welcome this opportunity to exchange ideas with fellow experts in housing policy, finance and urbanization issues,” said Jane Katz, director of international affairs and programs at Habitat for Humanity International, who will present a paper on women’s rights to property and tenure laws at tomorrow’s Women’s land rights in customary settings discussion. “As part of its affordable housing and shelter programs, Habitat for Humanity supports stable land development which, in turn, promotes economic development for a country as a whole. The more land specialists can share knowledge about such development, including via platforms such as our open source Global Housing Policy Indicators, the more we all can work with policy makers, governmental agencies and other global audiences to benefit populations around the world in need of adequate housing.”
At today’s Urban Planning session, Elizabeth Blake, Habitat’s senior vice president of advocacy, government affairs and general counsel, will present her paper, “Towards more equitable and resilient communities through secure and transparent land rights in Haiti.” Understanding that adequate housing requires rights to the land on which such housing is built, Habitat has worked toward transparent and fair land tenure laws around the world, including in Bolivia, Cambodia, Malawi, Macedonia, Lesotho and Sri Lanka, as well as Haiti, where a second groundbreaking manual on land tenure rights will be published later this year.
For copies of the papers being presented this week, please visit Habitat’s government relations and advocacy publications and resources.
The first manual published by the Haiti Property Law Working Group is available here.
About Habitat for Humanity International
Habitat for Humanity International’s vision is a world where everyone has a decent place to live. Anchored by the conviction that housing provides a critical foundation for breaking the cycle of poverty, Habitat has helped more than 4 million people construct, rehabilitate or preserve homes since 1976. Habitat also advocates to improve access to decent and affordable shelter and supports a variety of funding models that enable families with limited resources to make needed improvements on their homes as their time and resources allow. As a nonprofit Christian housing organization, Habitat works in more than 70 countries and welcomes people of all races, religions and nationalities to partner in its mission. To learn more, donate or volunteer visit habitat.org.