The United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) is mandated by the UN General Assembly to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities. UN-Habitat is the focal point for all urbanization and human settlement matters within the UN system. UN-Habitat works with partners to build inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable cities and communities. UN-Habitat promotes urbanization as a positive transformative force for people and communities, reducing inequality, discrimination and poverty.
The Organization of Turkic States (OTS) and UN-Habitat, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at the OTS Secretariat in Istanbul on 27 February 2023. The OTS and UN-Habitat have agreed to collaborate and jointly advocate for urban development to promote socially and environmentally sustainable human settlements in the Turkic States.
The collaboration between the OTS and UN-Habitat will focus on building capacity in Turkic countries, supporting the development of city-level governance frameworks and introducing participatory budgeting mechanisms. The MoU will help collect and analyze data on urban governance as well as develop and run public awareness campaigns to promote urban governance reforms. The parties are also planning to organize a Regional Urban Forum for the Turkic States.