On November 16 and 17, 2009, Kigen Korir of Kituo Cha Sheria (an implementing partner in Mombasa, Kenya),  Marianne Carliez (Urbis Program Manager) and Franck Daphnis (President/CEO of DIG), met with 50 grantees of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in Durban, South Africa, at the Foundation’s Urban Poverty Special Initiatives Conference.  The goal of the conference was to enable the urban practitioners working with the Gates foundation to meet one another and present their work. Melanie Walker (Senior Program Officer at the Gates Foundation) emphasized the importance of measuring impacts (what beneficiaries get from the programs) and outcomes (what the foundation gets for its money in terms of amplified voice of the poor and poverty reductions). Participants broke into groups to discuss some of the quantitative indicators they are using to demonstrate the extent to which their programs reduce poverty, as well as qualitative indicators and surveys to measure voice of the poor. Finally, participants discussed potential future funding opportunities in the urban arena. 

Kigen, Franck, Marianne and Tom Hewitt from Umthombo (who joined the urbis team in July)  presented the Urbis program to the participants, focusing on the program’s method for identifying tangible opportunities to improve the lives of the urban poor and our vision for success and achievements in each city.  Kigen specifically highlighted how Urbis capacity building has enabled CBOs’ to access federal funds, which has resulted in $560,000 in government-funded community projects to-date, 20 of which are projects prioritizing the empowerment of women.  The workshop was very interesting and productive, and a wonderful venue in which to present the Urbis program’s and partners’ successes to some of the world leaders in international urban development.