The thirteenth session of the World Urban Forum (WUF13) takes place in Baku, Azerbaijan, from 17 to 22 May 2026. The theme of WUF13 is: Housing the world: Safe and resilient cities and communities.
Afghanistan's population has increased by more than 10 % in the last three years, fueled by large-scale returns from neighboring countries, mainly Iran and Pakistan - which included forced and coerced returns. Over 5 million Afghans are estimated to have returned since late 2023, which, according to the World Bank's latest Afghanistan Development Update (ADU / fall 2025) "is severely straining a contracting economy already suffering from reduced aid." The session will allow to showcase successful UN joint programming but also underline the need for coordination and cooperation on durable solutions and integration of returnees across the humanitarian-development-peace nexus. This session will introduce an integrated, area-based and cross-sectoral approach applied by four UN agencies in Afghanistan to enable durable solutions for returnees but also considering local communities and IDPs in protracted situations. During the session a general introduction of the work on Durable Solutions will be shared, and then, two projects jointly designed and implemented by UNDP, UN-Habitat, UNHCR and IOM (alphabetical order) in areas of high return will be introduced. Both focus on regions which have been strongly impacted by the recent return waves: Afghanistan's North-Eastern Region (Kunduz und Baglan) and Herat and Farah, in the West. Both projects are implemented through funding from the multi-donor Special Trust Fund for Afghanistan (STFA) and are implemented in multi-year and multi-sectoral, interagency cooperation. The UN and its partners in Afghanistan have been at the forefront to not only provide humanitarian support to returnees at border points but have also put strong efforts to enable and support returnees in vulnerable situations for advancing toward durable solutions to their displacement-induced vulnerabilities. Due to the rapid increase of population, there is augmented competition on (already scarce) services (including basic services such as WASH, but also education or health or administrative services), and that increased demand for housing or livelihoods puts strains on local communities. This session aims to introduce integrated approaches, on showcase how UN agencies can complement each other for supporting Durable Solutions in a complex returnee crisis, in alignment with the "Solutions Framework to Displacement in Afghanistan (2025-2027)". Facilitator: Stephanie Loose Partners: UN-Habitat (Afghanistan) United Nations Development Programme UNDP (Afghanistan) IOM - International Organization for Migration (Afghanistan) United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees UNHCR (Afghanistan) Panelists: Ms. Carolina Cordero-Scales, Global Shelter and Settlements Lead, IOM - International Organization for Migration (Switzerland) Ms. Ronald Jackson, Head of Disaster Risk Reduction and Recovery, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) (United States of America) Mr. Jose Barrena, Senior Operations Officer, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees UNHCR (Afghanistan)
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