World Habitat Day is observed every year on the first Monday of October throughout the world. It was officially designated by the United Nations in 1986. The purpose of the day is to reflect on the state of our cities and towns and the basic human right to adequate shelter. It also aims to remind the world of its collective responsibility for the habitat of future generation. World Habitat Day was first celebrated in 1986 with the theme “Shelter is My Right”. Nairobi was the host city for the observance that year.
The Habitat Scroll of Honor award, which is a plaque engraved with the name of the winner and their achievement is presented to the winners during the Global Observance of World Habitat Day. This award was launched by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme in 1989. It is currently the most prestigious human settlements award in the world. Its aim is to acknowledge initiatives which have made outstanding contributions in various fields such as shelter provision, highlighting the plight of the homeless, leadership in post conflict reconstruction, and developing and improving the human settlements and the quality of urban life.
The 2016 theme of the World Habitat day was “Housing at the Centre”. This event aimed at providing access to adequate housing to all, which is a global challenge growing with urbanization. Around one quarter of the world’s urban population continues to live in slums and informal settlements.
An increasing number of urban dwellers, especially the poor and vulnerable groups (women, migrants, persons with disabilities, elders, youth and people from the LGBT community) are living in precarious conditions, addressing their housing needs informally, lacking access to basic services and living space, isolated from livelihood opportunities and vulnerable to forced evictions or homelessness.