Features Addressing the Climate Vulnerabilities of Urban Africa Call for proposals Deadline: November 30, 2008 ECOPOLIS Graduate Research and Design Awards Deadline: May 15, 2009. Information Kit on the Safe Use of Wastewater in Agriculture IDRC, the World Health Organization, and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations have released an information kit to help countries reuse wastewater while ensuring the safety of drinking water.

Access to safe drinking water is one of the basic rights often denied to populations in developing countries. Photo: Peter Bennett.

The Urban Poverty & Environment Program (UPE) funds research and activities in developing countries that apply integrated and participatory approaches to reducing environmental burdens on the urban poor and enhancing the use of natural resources for food, water and income security.

Read UPE's Program Plan for 2005-2010.

The main emphasis of UPE's work from 2005-2010 is the Focus Cities Research Initiative (FCRI). UPE is funding integrated research projects in eight cities, in order to generate sustained and in-depth research. To learn more about this initiative, please visit the Focus Cities web page.

UPE produces a newsletter to share information about our work and related activities on urban issues throughout the world. To subscribe, send an e-mail to the following address indicating that you wish to subscribe to our bulletin: upe@idrc.ca.

• About UPE
  

• How to Apply for UPE Funding
  

• Projects
  

• Events and Calls
  

• Publications and Resources
  

• Team Members and Contact Information
  

Points of view: Coming clean on wastewater irrigation 2008-09-18
Read water experts' points of view on wastewater irrigation.

Through Children's Eyes 2008-09
How do children perceive environmental issues in their community? In this audio slideshow, former IDRC intern Sarah McCans describes the innovative project she undertook, working with children in Kampala, Uganda, as they communicated their experience through drawings.

Breaking the Cycle of Urban Poverty 2008-09
Team members from the Focus Cities Research Initiative spent five days sharing their challenges and successes in tackling urban poverty and environmental decay in eight cities in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

Urban Agriculture Project Wins Canadian Urban Design Award 2008-08
An innovative urban agriculture project led by McGill University’s Minimum Cost Housing Group — an IDRC partner — has been honoured with a National Urban Design Award.