2nd Asia-Pacific Housing Forum Slated for Manila; Influential Leaders in the Low-cost Housing Industry to Present Best Practices and Partnership Opportunities

2nd Asia-Pacific Housing Forum Slated for Manila; Influential Leaders in the Low-cost Housing Industry to Present Best Practices and Partnership Opportunities:

Manila, Aug 3, 2009 - (ACN Newswire) - Building on the success of the inaugural meeting, Habitat for Humanity International is organizing the 2nd Asia-Pacific Housing Forum, in cooperation with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, to be held at the Dusit Thani Manila Hotel in Makati City from 7 to 9 September 2009.This year's forum revolves around the theme, "Maximizing Urban Poverty Housing Solutions for Greater Results." It gathers major stakeholders from the social, private and public sectors, academe and international organizations to share best practices, solutions and resource needs for the large and growing number of people living in substandard housing environments."More than half a billion people live in urban slums across the Asia-Pacific region and the drift to towns and cities is continuing. The poverty associated with crowded, unsanitary, unsafe living conditions is a major challenge for the 21st century," said Rick Hathaway, Asia-Pacific vice president of Habitat for Humanity International."The first Asia-Pacific Forum, held in Singapore in 2007, showed the value of bringing together shelter specialists from very different backgrounds to learn from each other. In Manila, the focus will be on the specific issues faced by the urban poor and practical ways to alleviate the burden of slum conditions."The forum presents opportunities for forging joint partnerships in housing projects, as potential sources of housing finance, cost efficient technologies, and social entrepreneurs are brought together by this event.Internationally acclaimed speakers and leading experts in housing concerns to share insights at the forum, include: Dr. Nicolas P. Retsinas from the Joint Center for Housing Studies, Harvard University, U.S. a., with a plenary presentation on "Housing Policy: How to Meet the Needs of the Poor" - Retsinas is a former board chairman of Habitat for Humanity International. Among other speakers are Bruce Ferguson, former urban economist of the World Bank and member of the Advisory Board of Global Urban Development, on the plenary topic "A Value Chain Approach to Affordable Housing: The Key to Massive Scale"; Graham Saunders, head of the shelter department at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Geneva, Switzerland, to speak on "Linking Disaster Response with Sustainable Development"; and Huub Cornelissen, director on energy and housing, The Netherlands Development Finance Company, to present the organization's initiatives in housing finance for the poor.From the Philippines, deputy governor Nestor A. Espenilla, Jr. of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas will talk on the BSP's role in supporting housing microfinance in the banking sector. Philippine Vice President Noli de Castro, who is also the chairman of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council, will be the guest of honor and will deliver the keynote address.The three-day forum is structured in a manner to maximize dialogue, interaction and networking among participants. The forum's plenary sessions and discussion groups will focus on four themes: (1) innovations in housing the urban poor; (2) rethinking disaster response; (3) UNESCAP Quick Guides on Housing the Poor; and (4) a "Leaders of Tomorrow Meet Leaders of Today".The latter is a unique feature of the forum.

Student leaders from all over Asia and the Pacific will have the opportunity to study housing issues and discuss ideas and solutions with forum speakers and housing specialists. Speakers such as Hennie Botes of Moladi and George Modrovic of ELFI Wall System will also be present to discuss efficient housing technologies.Housing developers, microfinance institutions, local governments, and academics are encouraged to attend the 2nd Asia-Pacific Housing Forum.

For more information and for online registration, please log on to http://www.aphousingforum.org/. You may also contact the Secretariat at 2APHFSecretariat@habitat.org.ph or at (632) 897 3356 or 897 3069 loc. 107.About Habitat for Humanity InternationalHabitat for Humanity International is a global non-governmental organization that welcomes to its work all people dedicated to the cause of eliminating poverty housing. Since its founding in the USA in 1976, Habitat has built and rehabilitated more than 300,000 houses in dozens of countries, providing simple, decent and affordable shelter for more than 1.5 million people with homes they helped build and which they have paid for with affordable, non-profit loans. For more information, please visit www.habitat.org/apAbout Habitat for Humanity Philippines Habitat for Humanity Philippines, is a non-profit Christian Ministry that helps build responsible and self-reliant communities by enabling Filipino families in need to acquire affordable, decent and durable homes. It also partners with organizations, institutions and individuals in transforming lives and promoting people's dignity through building homes and conducting community development programs. Through volunteer labor and donations of money and materials, Habitat for Humanity builds and rehabilitates simple, decent houses with the help of homeowner families. Habitat houses are sold to partner families at no profit, fiances with affordable, inflation-adjusted mortgage loans.

The homeowners' monthly mortgage payments go into a local revolving fund and are used to build more Habitat houses. In addition to monthly mortgage payments, homeowners invest their own labor - "sweat equity" - into building their Habitat house and the houses of others, increasing the pride of ownership and fostering the development of positive relationships within a community. To date, Habitat for Humanity Philippines has helped rebuild the lives of over 24,000 families and built over 200 school classrooms nationwide.Issued on behalf of Habitat for Humanity by Ysmael Moyer Valenzuela & Associates, Inc.

Biography of Tokyo Sexwale

ZAR.co.za - Biography of Tokyo Sexwale: "Sexwale"

Once an ANC activist, political prisoner and populist politician, leading businessman Mosima Gabriel (Tokyo) Sexwale is a man with a personal history as fascinating as the changes that have taken place in South Africa. He was once of the ANC's most ambitious politicians and tipped for great things. Nelson Mandela named him premier of the country's largest Gauteng province. Apart from his other qualities, personal courage alone made Tokyo Sexwale an extraordinary premier. From the beginning, during his first days in office in 1994, he ventured into hostels in East Rand townships where, before the elections, death tolls had sometimes risen to over 20 a day. Hostels were no-go areas for everybody save Inkatha Freedom Party warlords. But Sexwale ignored the risks. He left the Inkatha hostel-dwellers singing and dancing and agreeing to make peace with their neighbouring communities - which they did. Three months later South Africa's most conflict-ridden province descended into a calm broken only by the clashes of criminal syndicates. It must also have taken considerable nerve to have walked alone in the dead of night into a darkened, mutinous prison, lit only by fires and with injured people littering the floors, to negotiate the release of a white warder. When Sexwale came out of Modderbee on the East Rand at dawn that day in the middle of 1996, he left a peaceful prison - and he had the young warder safely with him. His bravery, and a belief that if a job were difficult then he personally should do it, sometimes frustrated colleagues. But if there are reservations about his leadership style among the many people canvassed on the subject, their judgements have been tempered by more than equal measures of praise. A senior aide who worked closely with him says:

"He has tremendous leadership ability, but often has difficulty in translating good ideas into action. He can see what needs to be done, but does not always trust those around him to carry out his plans."
In 1977 Sexwale was sent to Robben Island to serve a life sentence. He recalls one of his first impressions on arriving on the island and seeing Mandela:

"There is Nelson Mandela - the tall man amongst all prisoners on Robben Island - figuratively and literally. He was also taller than the jailers. Here is a man who, for 27 years, had to reshape himself, to emerge as ... some people call him, a saint. He is not a saint. He is fallible. And he's quick himself to admit whenever he has been rash, that he is also fallible. But in full glory you find Nelson Mandela towering above Robben Island. You meet him in the position of chancellor of the university of Robben Island."
Fellow Robben Island prisoner and close friend of Sexwale, Mzi Khumalo, formed the Pan African Mining Group with Sexwale and involved them both in mining and oil across Africa. He recalls a time there when prisoners became angry with elderly Rivonia trialist Wilton Mkwayi whose practice it was to squirrel away food to feed the pigeons. The birds would repay this kindness by defecating over the small recreation area the prisoners shared. Mkwayi had back problems, however, and was too frail to clean up the mess.The prisoners decided that they had had enough. They called a meeting at which consensus was sought on compelling Mkwayi to stop feeding the pigeons. Khumalo recalled the mood of the meeting.
"Tokyo disagreed with us; he said this man had been there for 20 years, and that the birds kept Mkwayi sane. I did my nut. Eventually Tokyo won the day; he offered to clean up the mess."
But the saga did not end there, Khumalo recalls with a laugh:
"Now, if Tokyo has one serious fault it is this - he loves to talk. So when the time came to clean he began, but some new people came into the section, so he put down his spade and went to speak to them, and the rest of us did the cleaning. He cleaned on other occasions; he does not shirk responsibility but if he can delegate he will."
A former Gauteng cabinet colleague expressed a slightly different view:
"He didn't always delegate, particularly if he felt he could make a stronger personal impact. However, he wasn't scared to take the rap."
Another close aide said:
"One of his biggest frustrations was that he went into government as a hugely successful mobiliser of popular support and a shrewd tactician, but he could not use that effectively in a government context."
To see Sexwale at a public event like the launch of Johannesburg's Inner City renewal campaign was to see him at his best. Switching between English, Afrikaans, Sotho and Zulu, he had the crowd laughing, cheering, pondering and applauding. No other politician could compete. Thabo Mbeki, who shared the platform with him, was well spoken in English only, and lacked the easy charisma so typical of Sexwale and Mandela. His style has not found favour with Thabo Mbeki of whom he said, "The president's shoes are huge and Thabo has tiny feet." (In 2001 Sexwale was accused, along with Cyril Ramaphosa and Mathews Phosa, of plotting to overthrow Mbeki from power. Sexwale denied the charges and all three received the backing of Nelson Mandela.)In the end, government stifled Sexwale, aides say. He too has acknowledged that he became exhausted by internal African National Congress intrigues.Khumalo says:
"One day he phoned me and asked me to come and talk. On the island it was our practice when discussing serious issues, to walk. We walked up and down, talking for about two hours. He told me he was thinking of leaving government for business, and I said, "Tokyo, Gauteng is too small for you."
Sexwale's primary interests are oil and diamond mining, for which he has concessions across Africa and Russia in a company he established called Mvelaphanda Mining (mvelaphanda is Venda for "progress").Not long after Sexwale announced his resignation from government, Harry Oppenheimer, patriarch of the Anglo-American and De Beers corporations, remarked at the opening of a diamond college in Johannesburg that few understood the local and international diamond-mining industry the way Sexwale did.Trained by the Soviet army during his Umkhonto we Sizwe days, Sexwale is reported to have networks among some of the major industry executives in the Russian state diamond company and has been offered concessions in the Federation. He has finalised diamond concessions in a number of Southern African states including Angola and is negotiating oil and diamond concessions in other African states.Finnish president Martii Ahtisaari approached him to be Finland's honorary consul-general in South Africa, and after Mandela gave his consent - there is little Sexwale does even now, without seeking Madiba's approval - the Finnish flag went up outside his Houghton home.Sexwale is a firm believer in economic patriotism:
"Japanese businesspeople work for Japan, the British work for Britain. The success of the African renaissance in repositioning our part of the world, depends upon economic patriotism. South Africans have to work for South Africa. Black business people will have to become economic freedom fighters in the true sense of the word. There needs to be greater opportunities for all, particularly in rural areas. Marx says if capital does not grow, it stagnates. We must see opportunities - and not only crises or global meltdowns."
He has a range of suggestions - from corporations freeing up their training centres at weekends for skills training and education to harnessing non-governmental organisations more effectively in developmental work.Sexwale has not made himself available for any elected ANC position; but he iremains active in his branch.
"A good leader must also be a good follower and as a member of the rank and file, I am prepared to be led. I love the ANC, it is a lifelong commitment to me. However, I am not cut out for government politics, it's too restrictive." As a successful entrepreneur Mr Sexwale is deeply committed to pursuing the dream of economic prosperity of the country's black majority. Relaxing at his office at home, his guitar and piano on one side, books lining the walls - a thick volume on Che Guevara wedged between a tome on The Competitive Advantage of Nations and Who Owns Whom - Sexwale muses:
"The challenge of existence is to fall in love with life and come to terms with all its joys and sorrows."Other famous quotes by Sexwale:
"The liberation struggle of our people was not about liberating blacks from bondage, it was about liberating white people from fear."
"Associate yourself not only with success but with failure too. Know your limitations, surround yourself with experts and good critics."
"If blacks get hurt, I get hurt. If whites get hurt, that's my wife, and if you harm coloured people, you're looking for my children. Your unity embodies who I am."