The 9th East African Hub Meeting was held from 24th-28th June 2013 in Jinja, Uganda. Approximately seventy-eight people from Kenya, Tanzania, and the host country, Uganda, participated in the conference. Mr. Hassan Kiberu, National Slum Dwellers Federation of Uganda (NSDFU) Chairman, opened the conference, and, along with a few supporters, remained Master of Ceremony for the duration of the meeting. The purpose of the quarterly Hub meetings are to bring the three countries in the East African community together to learn from and reflect on one another’s experiences and challenges, as well as to improve and grow the federation in a sustainable way throughout the region. The key issues discussed included the importance of partnerships symbolized by the conference’s theme: “Enhancing Partnerships for Effective Governance and Improved Service Delivery.” Partnerships came up frequently and often passionately as a topic of discussion, underscoring their necessity in the work of conference attendees. It was noted that this was the first Hub to integrate all development process stakeholders. This could be observed directly through a Municipal Development Forum (MDF) meeting held during the conference, in which ministry officials, town clerks, MDF members and slum dwellers all participated. This was a good learning opportunity for all countries to see how “bringing all the stakeholders into one room” can affect the development process. Other key issues included discussions of the federation’s growth and projects in the different countries and how to learn from their process and results, and continued urbanization throughout the region and its implications for development and the urban poor.
Click here to see the full report on Hub Meeting activities and action points.
