NAIROBI, (insidesomalia.org)- The Italian government has announced a donation of 600,0 00 euros to the UN-HABITAT which will go towards improving the living conditions of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Somalia.

In a statement of appreciation to the Italians, UN-HABITAT headquarters here Saturday said shelter and settlement were important components in the agency's response to humanitarian and emergency needs in the Somali regions.

The donation will go into an ongoing IDP project currently financed by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) in Jowhar/Baidoa in south - centre Somalia.

"The intention is to ensure that displaced communities and vulnerable groups have e access to secure and improved living conditions, both in their temporary locations and in permanent settlements," said the UN human settlement agency.

In urban areas, assistance to displaced communities must not exclude the broader category of the urban poor and the host communities.

Resettlement, land management, site upgrading and improved service delivery are part of a broad concept that addresses sustainable urban growth, as initiated in Hargeisa, Bosasso, Garowe, and now in Jowhar and Baidoa.

The contribution was made after discussions between the agency's Somalia team an d the Italian Cooperation which started in late 2007.

Italian representatives subsequently participated in a successful Joint Monitoring Mission in February and a Steering Committee in April 2008 of the UN-HABITAT' s Somalia Urban Development Programme (SUDP).