The National Slum Dwellers Federation of Uganda (NSDFU) is a network of approximately 350 community groups with a membership of approximately 38,000 people. NSDFU is a member of the Shack/Slum Dwellers International (SDI) network, a transnational network of the urban poor founded in 1996, and which brings together over a million federated slum dwellers in 30 countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

We are a Partner of the Global Land Tool Network (GLTN), and we celebrate GLTN’s achievements and recognize that is has positively influenced the global security of tenure agenda and shifted the thinking towards pro-poor inclusive approaches. Nonetheless, it is a time to look back and reflect on how our collective efforts are contributing to make good living possible for the approximately 1 billion people living in slums today, and the estimated 600 million people who suffer from chronic hunger in the world and who live in rural areas today.

We must ask ourselves what we have done to prevent illegal evictions or improve tenure security for the many living under this threat every day. We are aware that access to secure land is a precondition for reducing poverty. Without sufficient security, people cannot invest in improving their dwelling places and this only exacerbates their poverty levels in all dimensions. Also, there can be no meaningful discussion on how to solve the complex social, political and economic situations of informal settlements without looking at the issue of land. These challenges require collaborative planning and insights from local knowledge and data.

The SDI, in collaboration partners within the GLTN have been at the center of actors in collecting contemporary data about the living conditions of the urban poor using tools such as the Social Tenure Domain Model (STDM) and Participatory Enumerations, the Gender Evaluation Criteria (GEC) and in using this information to organize communities and catalyze informed negotiations and partnership with governments toward inclusive urban development. Through efforts of the SDI and partners, the urban poor have emerged as critical partners in the struggle against inequality experienced in informal settlements.

Using rich community data generated by grassroots federations within the SDI and through the implementation of community inclusive tools, governments, both at the local and national level are plugging gaps that exist in their efforts to address issues in informal settlements and slums. Governments are also slowly moving from a situation of confrontation with the urban poor to one of collaboration.

Through this we aim to achieve a just world. This means: ending extreme poverty in all its forms and reducing inequalities among all individuals and pushing for the inclusion of the poorest and most marginalized persons all over the world. We are all actors and agents of change. Let us initiate new partnerships and strengthen existing ones, to address land tenure issues towards achieving sustainable cities and human settlements all over the world. We should not forget that resources are limited, relative to the magnitude of the challenge at hand, and that partnerships are key. We can create a genuinely transformative world through cooperation, continuous dialogue and technical innovations.in

The GLTN has brought us closer to other partners and organisations over the years. We have learned a lot and helped each other in the Uganda as a result, and we have been inspired by other partners in the network.