EVALSDGs is pleased to host a High-Level Political Forum side event webinar on “From Invisibility to Impact: Advancing the Rights of Children Living in Slums and Informal Settlements”.
Thursday, 17 July 2025
9.30 to 11.30 AM EDT
Children living in slums and informal settlements are among the most excluded and underserved populations globally. They experience some of the most intense and overlapping deprivations—lacking access to safe water, sanitation, education, healthcare, nutrition, protection, and legal identity. Despite these systemic vulnerabilities, they are frequently rendered invisible in national data systems, policy frameworks, and SDG monitoring—undermining the global commitment to “leave no one behind.”
UNICEF’s 2025 Formative Evaluation of UNICEF’s Work in Contributing to the Reduction of Multidimensional Poverty in Slums and Informal Settlements underscored this gap, revealing that fewer than 20 country offices explicitly include slum-related programming in their Country Programme Documents, despite the scale of urban deprivation. The evaluation highlighted the need for more holistic, integrated, and context-sensitive approaches to meet the complex needs of children in urban informal settings.
This HLPF 2025 side event builds on the evaluation’s findings—but goes beyond them. It serves as a global platform to catalyze political will, elevate promising practices, and foster accountability for children living in slums. Organized under the overarching HLPF theme “Strengthening the SDG Implementation Architecture for 2030,” the event will amplify voices from the ground, including perspectives from India, Kenya, Cambodia, Colombia, and other countries, and identify concrete pathways for embedding slum-focused priorities in national and global development agendas.
By focusing on SDG 1 (No Poverty), SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities), and SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), this session will spotlight how area-based, multisectoral, and community-driven approaches can help reduce multidimensional poverty in slums, while ensuring children living in these environments are recognized and prioritized within the SDG architecture.
Objectives:
- Raise visibility of children living in slums and informal settlements as a central equity concern for the SDGs and the 2030 Agenda.
- Disseminate findings and strategic recommendations from UNICEF’s global evaluation, with illustrative cases from India, Kenya, Cambodia, and Colombia.
- Showcase promising practices led by national and municipal governments, civil society, and community-based or youthled organizations—especially from India and Kenya.
- Promote advocacy and systems change by encouraging the integration of slum-related priorities in Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs), development plans, and SDG financing strategies.
- Foster cross-sectoral partnerships and policy dialogue among UN agencies, governments, academia, and local actors to drive coordinated, evidence-informed action.
- Encourage institutional uptake of slum-responsive programming within national systems, evaluation frameworks, and global SDG monitoring mechanisms.
Speakers:
Joe Muturi is the President of the Global SDI Network and Chairs the SDI Board.
He is a social activist and leader of Kenya’s Muungano wa Wanavijiji federation for slum dwellers. With extensive experience in government and city-led projects for urban poor communities, he builds relationships between programs and residents. Notably, he played a key role in the precedent-setting Mukuru Special Planning Area (SPA) project in Nairobi. Joe facilitates community consensus on strategy, budgeting, and project implementation. He has built federations in East and West Africa, established partnerships with government and stakeholders, and advocates for climate change awareness in slum neighborhoods. Joe contributes to the global advocacy efforts of the federation movement. Currently, he serves as an advisory to in the Global Resilience Partnership and sits on the Cities Alliance board.
Mr Shekhar Singh (IAS), PCMC Municipal Commissioner
Mr. Shekhar Singh is a distinguished officer of the premier Indian Administrative Service (IAS), currently serving as the Municipal Commissioner of Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC), Maharashtra since August 2022. An engineer by training, he holds a B.Tech from IIT, Guwahati and an M.Tech from the University of California, Berkeley.
Known for his visionary leadership, Mr. Singh has led PCMC to several national and international accolades, including the recent USD 24 million Green Municipal Bond issuance for urban mobility, a first in Maharashtra, the global recognition at the Guangzhou Urban Innovation Awards. Under his stewardship, PCMC has also received the Platinum Green City Award, multiple honors under the Majhi Vasundhara Abhiyan, and the Guinness World Record for the largest static formation of cyclists.
A strong proponent of inclusive governance and sustainability, Mr. Singh has been a close collaborator with UNICEF, advancing people-centric initiatives such as the Ward Health Action Plan and Disability Inclusive programme. His work reflects a deep commitment to climate resilience, innovation, and public welfare.
Gonzalo Hernández Licona
Team leader of the Global Evaluation of UNICEF work contributing to multiple poverty reduction in slums and informal settlements: He is a Mexican economist. He is currently Director of the Multidimensional Poverty Network (MPPN), belonging to the University of Oxford, through the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI). The MPPN brings together more than 60 countries and more than 20 international institutions to understand and promote the generation of multidimensional poverty measurements at the national level. Dr. Hernández Licona has been a member of the Board of Governors of El Colegio de México since 2016; He is also a Senior Research Fellow of the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie).
Ms Paola Pereznieto
Senior Team member of the Global Evaluation of UNICEF work contributing to multiple poverty reduction in slums and informal settlements, a senior social policy consultant with over two decades of experience supporting governments, UN agencies, INGOs, and global foundations to develop inclusive and evidence-based policies and programs. Her work focuses on social protection, gender equality, adolescent well-being, and child protection and child poverty reduction, with a strong emphasis on equity and inclusion. She brings extensive experience managing and delivering complex multi-country evaluations, policy analyses, and strategic frameworks, as well as supporting program design and implementation. She is known for producing rigorous, actionable research and for bridging the gap between evidence and policy in diverse cultural and institutional contexts. She has worked in over 30 countries across Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.
Denis Jobin, Senior Evaluation Specialist, UNICEF
Denis Jobin is a Senior Evaluation Specialist at UNICEF with over 25 years of international experience in evaluation, planning, and results-based management. He is a global leader in evaluating urban poverty and UNICEF’s work with children in slums and informal settlements. Denis currently leads the global evaluation of UNICEF’s contribution to reducing multidimensional poverty in slums, generating evidence to inform integrated, multisectoral programming for some of the most underserved urban populations. His prior leadership includes major global evaluations such as the Evaluation of UNICEF’s Work in Urban Settings, the Global Evaluation of UNICEF’s Social Protection Responses in Humanitarian Settings, the Rapid Review of Global Social Protection Responses to COVID-19, and the Evaluation of UNICEF’s Contribution to Universal Child Benefits. These evaluations have informed high-level policy dialogue, programming, and advocacy across regions and global platforms.
Previously, Denis served as Chief of Planning, Monitoring, and Evaluation in UNICEF Nigeria, where he led impact evaluations across development and humanitarian contexts. He also worked as a professional auditor with the Office of the Auditor General in Canada, focusing on national evaluation systems and RBM. He currently serves as Co-Chair of EvalSDGs, championing national evaluation capabilities and the use of evidence to achieve the SDGs.
Kamila Gojobe is a community organizer and national youth leader with Muungano wa Wanavijiji from Mukuru Viwandani. She focuses on community organizing, writing, and photography, and works to build a vibrant youth movement where young people lead change.
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