Creating opportunities for the urban poor is on top of the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) Smart City agenda, the KCCA Executive Director, Dorothy Kisaka, has said.

The Smart City is a strategy aimed at decongesting and beautifying the city.

Currently, KCCA is organising the city by relocating vendors and finding them better workspaces in legal places like markets but also to ensure there is trade order.

According to Kisaka the move towards a Smart City is not selective, but one that embraces all.

She reveals that inclusive urbanization, where everyone can reap the benefits of being in the city is critical to the city's competitiveness and growth.

"We want to address poverty by providing economic opportunities for the urban poor; such as jobs, sources of livelihood and access to finance through the Parish Development Model" Kisaka said.

Information from the Authority says the KCCA executive director was speaking while in the US where she had gone for a benchmarking exercise on fighting poverty.

She was among stakeholders, who attended a consultative meeting organised by Haggai International Board of Trustees in Atlanta, Georgia to deliberate on measures on ending gospel poverty.

Through the Smart City strategy, KCCA has done a tremendous job to bring unemployed youth into the money economy.

"We have thousands of youths from the ghetto who are now part of our street workforce. They clean drains and sweep city streets under the name Seven Hills," Kisaka said.

Kampala has approximately 372,000 households according to Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) and it is estimated that more than a third of these are the urban poor.

"As a city, we are cognizant of those who are in the categories of ZZ (Zenkolawo Zendya) meaning those that live hand to mouth. The needs of the urban poor include food, housing, education, health, sanitation as well as the need to belong and to learn the culture which they have been thrust into by economic challenges," the KCCA executive director said.

As the implementation of PDM takes off, there is a need for specific measures of the urban poor in Kampala.

Currently a Parish based information management system (PIMS) is one of the key outputs of the Parish Model.

Kisaka says the PIMS will ensure that information is collected from a specific geographical area to inform planning for the city.

"Data collection, evaluation and analysis are crucial in addressing the urban poor issues as we leverage the use of technology in building a Smart city," Kisaka said.

The urban poor needs include housing, lighting, water and security. With street children becoming a sore, Kisaka challenges Ugandans to join hands to protect children from being trafficked.

"The current inflow of children from upcountry districts into Kampala requires a multi-pronged approach with key agencies and other local governments" the KCCA executive director said. 

The Chief Executive Officer, Haggai International, Dr Bev Williams, reiterated that the teachings of Jesus Christ on integrity, compassion and accountability were key to creating a world where all could share in the abundance that was at the moment being accessed by a few people.

She called on Haggai leaders to make this their clarion call in serving worldwide. This was during the consultation by the Haggai International Board of Trustees to end gospel poverty which took place in Atlanta, Georgia.