By Rosebella Apollo, ACRC research uptake officer
ACRC held its second city managers meeting in Accra, Ghana from 11-15 November 2024. The five-day engagement convened a total of 15 delegates, including ACRC’s senior management team (SMT), city managers and representatives from the operations and research uptake teams.
The biannual convening provided an opportunity to collectively reflect on the implementation phase of the programme, taking stock of the action research (AR) portfolio projects, harnessing cross-city learning across our implementation cities and sharpening understanding of ACRC’s theory of change.
A preview of ongoing action research initiatives
Currently, the portfolio of action research initiatives that have kicked off include a zero-waste project in Accra, which seeks to organise women into cooperatives to manage waste at the Old Fadama informal settlement, with an element of compost production. Nairobi is running with a school feeding initiative targeting the informal schools that have been left out of the mainstream school feeding system in the informal settlement of Mukuru. Harare has been working on a proposal targeting the informal sector to upgrade the Glenview 8 furniture complex, with potential for a city-wide scale-up across other informal markets.
In addition to a plethora of pipeline projects across the different cities, progress is being made around a sanitation project at Ggaba market in Kampala, and streetlighting initiatives in Lagos.
Inclusivity in the zero-waste project
The first day of the Accra meeting provided an opportunity to engage with People’s Dialogue on Human Settlements (PD, ACRC’s lead implementing agency in Accra) for insights on the zero-waste project. Working closely with the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), traditional rulers and the Old Fadama community, PD has made great strides in securing land from AMA to set up a sorting and compost facility for processing compost manure from organic waste.
PD has been keen on changing the narrative on waste management by introducing women into waste management – a space that has been dominated by men. Currently, the team is organising women into cooperatives to run the waste management initiative and exploring linkages to access markets for compost manure.
Strengthening portfolio development of action research initiatives
As traction builds around ACRC’s implementation phase, the city managers are constantly looking out for ideas to spark proposals for new action research initiatives. The meeting therefore included time dedicated to deepening understanding around portfolio development and management.
AR portfolios could be looked at from three perspectives: where the action and research work simultaneously; projects that start with small-scale action and bring in research to refine it further; and projects that start with research and then bring in action, with room for iteration to strengthen the initiative.
For new portfolios, ACRC is keen to work with implementing agencies that are interested in taking up proposed initiatives, building momentum and scaling it up. In AR, it was established that the action part was the most important. However, research is key in establishing gaps and helping the implementation team to get the action right.
One approach to portfolio development was establishing where the community lies from a lens of prevalent challenges and opportunities that can be harnessed to strengthen action. Key takeaways for portfolio development include the need to think beyond the foundation phase domains – with room to seize emerging opportunities, but also alive to initiating projects that are doing things differently in the communities we work in.
Operationalising ACRC’s theory of change
The city managers meeting reiterated the centrality of ACRC’s theory of change to the design of portfolio initiatives and research uptake activities across the implementation cities. The four preconditions for urban transformation outlined in the theory of change are: greater elite commitment, enhanced state capacity, mobilised citizens and strengthened reform coalitions. These are deemed by ACRC as integral elements in advancing the reform frontier.
Elite commitment emerged as a crucial factor in scaling up action research initiatives, either through state programmes or market driven interventions. To further operationalise the theory of change, there might be need to adapt it to city and perhaps even project level contexts. With respect to uptake, the theory of change was found to be a useful tool in defining strategic partners for advancing reforms. Further, research uptake tests how well the theory of change is working with potential for refining it.
Launch of the Accra city report
As part of broader uptake initiatives, PD organised a launch for the Accra city report at the San Marino Hotel. The launch attracted 120 participants, including traditional rulers from Accra and Old Fadama, representatives from government agencies, ministries and departments, FCDO, UN-Habitat, civil society organisations, members of the community, academic partners and friends from the media.
The two-hour event was moderated by Accra’s city manager with brief presentations from the Director for Local Governance and Decentralisation, Samuel Seth Passah; ACRC’s CEO, Diana Mitlin; and professors Nana Ababio and Abdul-Gafaru Abdulai from the University of Ghana. The launch was presided by the Minister of State for Local Government Decentralisation and Rural Development, Hon. Osei Bonsu Amoah.
According to Hon. Amoah, the report provides an assessment of the current situation with a vision for the future and practical guidelines to steer progressive policies. Overall, the city report highlights how Accra is facing non-sustained growth and development, due to failures relating to politics, institutional fragmentation and siloed city systems, in addition to other coordination challenges. On the brighter side, Accra housing deficits have reduced from 2.8 million in 2010 to 1.8 million in 2030, even though informal settlements have proliferated in the city.
A glimpse of urban agriculture
Later in the week, the ACRC team visited an urban agriculture site in Accra. The farm is located behind JA Plant Pool – along a 30-metre-wide railway reserve in the heart of the city – and is divided into neat rows of farming beds allocated to 35 registered members (farm holders). Using water pipes connected to a borehole, the farmers can sustain agricultural activities throughout the year.
PD is exploring collaboration with the farmers’ association to test feasibility of compost manure from the zero-waste initiative, as well as opportunities for the market end of the compost manure value chain.
A personal highlight from the week-long engagements in Accra is that in addition to advancing the reform frontier, ACRC is nurturing some serious soccer talent! This was eminent during an epic seven-aside soccer match with fellow ACRCers at the Peduase Valley Resort. Research directors Tim Kelsall and Shuaib Lwasa, along with uptake director Ismail Ibraheem, are certainly ones to watch…
Photo credits: Rosebella Apollo and Know Your City TV
Note: This article presents the views of the authors featured and does not necessarily represent the views of the African Cities Research Consortium as a whole.
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