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The Hadiya Village is just one of the six communities founded by the United Nations Human Settlement Program (UN-Habitat). In total, 1,000 permanent houses are completed by the organization as part of its commitment to rehabilitating Marawi City. (PIA-10/Lanao del Sur) |
MARAWI CITY, Lanao del Sur (PIA)--The United Nations Human Settlement Programme (UN-Habitat) has finally concluded the implementation of its Rebuilding Marawi Project for the internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the city as the remaining 462 units were handed over to rightful recipients Thursday, May 19.
Since the inception of its program, the UN-Habitat has already handed over a total of 1,000 permanent housing units with the overall funding of the people of Japan amounting to USD10 million, and with the land acquired and developed by the National Housing Authority (NHA) and the Social Housing Finance Corporation (SHFC).
Target beneficiaries included affected families who used to live within the six-meter easement along Lake Lanao and Agus River.
“This is in line with the UN-Habitat’s global role as the custodian of a sustainable development goal to make cities and communities safe, inclusive, resilient and sustainable. This includes ensuring that people have access to adequate shelter while reducing the number of people impacted by disasters,” said UN-Habitat Regional Office for Asia and Pacific Regional Representative Atsushi Koresawa in his relayed message.
UN Resident Coordinator in the Philippines Gustavo Gonzalez stressed that while they strive to push the goal of their project, they ascertained that their grantees and other appropriate parties would be involved to ensure that Maranao culture will surely be embraced and reflected in their project.
“The Rebuilding Marawi Project was implemented using a People’s Process where families were actively involved in all stages of the rebuilding process including selecting the location of the resettlement sites, co-designing the site considering how Maranao communities live together and according to Maranao and Islamic culture and traditions, embarking on livelihood ventures following Islamic principles in business and finance, and closely working with national and local government as well as traditional and religious leaders,” he said.
Gonzalez said they pursued this initiative as they recognized that shelter assistance would be at the heart of recovery for people who lost their homes and belongings as a result of wars and conflicts as proven by their prior experiences and encounters.
He stated that with the wrapping up of their project, they celebrated as well the importance of shelter to promote immediate and long-term recovery.
Notwithstanding the turnover of the last batch of permanent houses to IDPs, the UN assured that it has and will continue to back the city as it journeys on the road of recovery.
“The United Nations stands in solidarity with the people of Marawi in rebuilding their lives. Giving them decent shelter is a critical first step. And, I thank our partners for making it possible for them to take this first step,” said Gonzalez.
Apart from the permanent shelters, the UN-Habitat likewise launched its knowledge products consisting of four-volume books containing the period of the project implementation and the Multi-Purpose Center erected at the heart of the villages built by the organization.
In total, UN-Habitat founded six communities under the rehabilitation. These are Hadiya Village, Darussalam Village, Norsalam Village, Pamayandeg sa Ranao Residences at Dansalan situated separately in Barangays Kilala and Mipantao Gadongan, and a resettlement site owned by city government. (CRG/PIA-10/Lanao del Sur)
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