The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will provide US$ 10 million (EUR 6.85 milion) to Slum/Shack Dwellers International (SDI) [1] to help the urban poor in Africa, Asia and Latin America improve their housing, water and sanitation. The grant will be channelled over three years into the International Urban Poor Fund [2], which SDI manages in association which the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED). IIED will also provide academic support for the national programmes.

Funds from the grant will be used to support the activities of federations of informal savings groups formed by slum or shack dwellers to collectively save money and improve their neighbourhoods by securing tenure, installing toilets, improving water supplies and in some cases building houses. In this way, grants help build the capacity of the urban poor so that they become active partners rather than beneficiaries of aid.

The Gates Foundation's grant to SDI is part of the Special Initiatives portfolio of its Global Development Program [3], which currently is exploring a new learning initiative in water, sanitation, and hygiene.

[1] Slum/Shack Dwellers International (SDI), South Africa. Web site

[2] IIED - International Urban Poor Fund. Brochure (PDF file)

[3]. Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation - Global Development Special Initiatives

Contact: Sheela Patel, Chair of the Board of SDI and Director of SPARC (Society for the Protection of Area Resource Centres), India, sheela@sparcindia.org ; Mike Shanahan, Press Officer, IIED, UK, mike.shanahan@iied.org

Source: IIED, 22 Nov 2007

Tags: capacity development, urban wash