The Micro-Grant Research Fund is a new initiative launched by the Executive Director of UN-HABITAT, Dr. Anna Tibaijuka on 11 May 2010. The Fund promotes innovative research in the area of sustainable urban and regional development leading to the publication of working papers, as part of UN-HABITAT’s Micro Research on Sustainable Urbanisation series. The Fund supports researchers and practitioners to conduct research on sustainable urbanization. It particularly encourages young researchers and those from the developing countries to pursue their research on topics related to sustainable urbanization and human settlements, which include housing and land, economic development and finance, urban planning and management, environmental issues, infrastructure, social development, information and monitoring, disaster and risk management.