The Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development has been organizing series of activities over the years in collaboration with the UN – Habitat as well as other stakeholders involved in urban development and management to mark the World Habitat Day Celebration on the first Monday of October annually.

The theme for this year’s World Habitat Day Celebration which falls on Monday, 6^th October, 2014 is “Voices from Slums”. The theme focuses on giving voice to people who have lived or still live in slums or other vulnerable urban contexts. Accordingly, Governments, NGOs, Private Sector, Academic and other institutions are encouraged to place current and past slum dwellers as protagonists of the World Habitat Day 2014 through the available communication.

The overall objective of this year’s World Habitat Day is to raise awareness of the public to the living conditions of slums and develop processes and tools in defence of the historical memory of the people who have lived and still live in the slums.

In order to commemorate this year’s event in Ghana, the Ministry and other stakeholders has adopted a Sub-theme “Ensuring Clean and Healthy Environment”. The objective is to highlight issues relating to environmental sanitation and the creation of access to other social amenities so as to improve living conditions in slums.