Baku – Eswatini’s Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Honourable Appolo Maphalala (MP), has told the nation to expect a shift in how the government approaches housing for all, following the country’s participation in the 13th World Urban Forum in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Maphalala, who is leading the Eswatini delegation at the forum, said the gathering brought together governments, development finance institutions, and various stakeholders focused on housing and urban development, and that the lessons learned would be taken back home and put to use.
He said housing could no longer be treated as a secondary concern but had to be placed at the centre of national development, noting that a roof over one’s head was about far more than four walls and a ceiling. 
“The issue of housing has dignity, it has the dignity of people, it has their development, their wellbeing and their lives,” he said.
He pointed to Sustainable Development Goal 11, which focuses on sustainable cities and communities, saying it held together all the other development goals because people are born, live, grow up, and become who they are within the walls of a home.
Maphalala said the King’s direction was clear, and that on returning home the delegation would work to ensure that housing and the environment were firmly returned to the centre of the country’s development agenda and government’s work across all sectors.
He also noted that the forum’s inclusion of traditional leadership, with Indvuna Yetinkhundla represented at the gathering, reflected the importance of bringing all levels of governance into the conversation around housing and urban development.
