Slum Upgrading Facility - 3 Year Pilot (Norway)

The purpose of SUF is to develop innovative approaches to help mobilize local, domestic capital for slum upgrading initiatives including shelter and related urban infrastructure.The long-term development goal of the SUF is to improve the lives of slum dwellers in line with Target 11 of the Millennium Declaration. As set out in Governing Council Resolution 20/11, SUF will function as a ‘technical advisory facility designed to assist national Government, local government and community organizations in the development of their own slum upgrading, low cost housing, and urban development projects so that they can attract funding primarily from domestic capital markets, using seed capital grants where necessary and bringing in existing guarantee and credit enhancement facilities, the whole process being packaged in such a way that the projects can be regarded as financially sustainable.'The SUF three year pilot is envisioned as a highly experimental exercise in determining what developing countries need to access domestic capital markets to improve the living and working conditions of the urban poor. SUF seeks to achieve this overall objective by:

• Facilitating links between local actors and packaging the financial and technical elements of bankable projects to attract investments in affordable housing for low-income households, upgrading of slums and the provision of urban infrastructure in human settlements, towns and cities of the developing world.
• Identifying projects, building local capacities, networking, providing direct technical  assistance and where appropriate mobilizing bridging finance and credit enhancements.