Presentation of ACRC’s Lagos city report

Taibat Lawanson, Professor of Planning and Heritage at the University of Liverpool, UK, presented findings from ACRC’s Foundation Phase research in the city, which she led from the University of Lagos (UNILAG). She explained that researchers examined nine major systems that determine how cities function. These include water supply, sanitation, transportation, health, education and energy, alongside food distribution, finance and digital connectivity. They found significant gaps in access to essential services, particularly for residents living in informal settlements.

According to the research, proximity to formal systems often determines access to essential services, leaving many urban residents underserved. On access to water, Taibat noted that although the Lagos State Government provides about 40% of the state’s daily water supply capacity, only about 30% of residents currently have access to public water.

WASH interventions and community-led governance

The co-lead of ACRC’s Lagos WASH project, Oluwaseun Muraina, explained how the initiative adopts community-led governance and social enterprise financing to improve water and sanitation services. Using the Okerube community as an example, she described engagement meetings held with community leaders, residents and landowners, culminating in a town hall discussion. She also highlighted a peer learning exchange visit to the Mukuru community in Nairobi, where the team studied existing solutions and explored lessons that could be adapted to the Nigerian context.

Waste management and community health

Team lead for the Lagos waste management project, Deji Akinpelu, spoke about the critical need for local government involvement in waste management. He advocated for a community-centred approach that prioritises community health over political expediency. He also issued a call for stricter enforcement against illegal refuse dumping, particularly on expressways, noting that the current situation is not sustainable.

Communicating research for public impact

The commissioning editor at The Conversation Africa, Wale Fatade, delivered a practical session on communicating research, arguing that academic findings should move beyond scholarly circles and be accessible to the public and policymakers. He noted that researchers too often publish in inaccessible journals using technical jargon. He challenged journalists to bridge the gap by converting dense academic work into clear, digestible content across formats such as news articles, features, and podcasts. He stressed that simplicity is the benchmark of genuine understanding.

Experience from the field

The managing editor of The Guardian Nigeria, Chinedum Uwaegbulam, drew on his experience covering property and environment to reframe stakeholder mapping as a strategic journalistic tool. Rather than a simple contact list, he argued that a well-constructed map shifts reporting from reactive event coverage to systems journalism, revealing power dynamics, conflicts of interest, and regulatory gaps behind the headlines.

Using Lagos as a case study, he walked participants through key actors spanning government regulators, international financiers, vulnerable waterfront communities, and informal sector workers. He stressed that combining stakeholder maps with data sources such as budget allocations and floodplain records enables evidence-based accountability reporting.

The regional coordinator for sub-Saharan Africa at SciDev.net, Ogechi Ekeanyanwu, framed science reporting as a mindset challenge rather than a technical one, encouraging journalists to translate broad research findings into human-scale stories and to build personal relationships with researchers to facilitate clearer communication.

The Guardian Nigeria’s weekend editor, Kabir Garba, cautioned against recycled data, urging reporters to interrogate why statistics remain unchanged over time and to focus reporting on accountability and the impact on neglected communities.

On her part, Thomson Reuters Foundation correspondent, Bukola Adebayo, challenged journalists to refresh tired narratives around evictions and demolitions by focusing on victims’ experiences and pursuing government accountability. She strongly advocated for multimedia storytelling as a more powerful means of audience engagement than text alone.

The board secretary for the PDM Network, Omobayo Azeez, thanked the participants for their engagement, the partners for their support, and the presenters for their generosity. He expressed a strong hope that the relationships forged would endure for the future of journalism in Nigeria and Africa, by extension.

Strengthening urban development reporting

The workshop successfully fostered meaningful exchange between journalists, researchers, and development practitioners, strengthening the bridge between academic research and urban reporting. Participants left with practical frameworks and a renewed commitment to in-depth reporting on housing, environment, and WASH in Lagos.

Photo credits: Tobi Fayelu

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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Header photo credit: Nairobi co-research team.

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.

The African Cities blog is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), which means you are welcome to repost this content as long as you provide full credit and a link to this original post.

What the evidence shows

Research conducted by LVCT Health, the University of Nairobi and ACRC points to a viable path forward. Key findings include:

> School feeding improves learner concentration, enrolment consistency and overall wellbeing.

> Parents in informal settlements have indicated a willingness to contribute a modest amount of money for the school feeding programmne – up to KSh 20 per meal.

> At that contribution level, the programme could generate approximately KSh 1.2 billion annually – a potentially self-sustaining model that could be integrated with the Dishi na County programme.

> Broader benefits extend to parents, who regain time previously spent on meal preparation as well as savings from the school meals.

Recommended actions

Based on workshop discussions and study findings, the following steps are proposed:

> Extend the Dishi na County programme to cover APBET schools in informal settlements.

> Set meal contributions at a level that families can realistically afford – KSh 20 or below.

> Invest in shared infrastructure, including access to clean water, appropriate cooking energy and adequate food storage.

> Ensure that no child is excluded from meals due to a missed payment.

Looking ahead

The validation workshop demonstrated the value of bringing lived experience and research evidence into the same room. The conversation was grounded, practical and solution-oriented. With strong community willingness and a growing evidence base, there is a real opportunity to build a fair and sustainable school feeding system that works for all of Nairobi’s learners – regardless of which school they attend.

Photo credits: Rosebella Apollo

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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Empowering young leaders in the city

The “Empowering youth for civic activism and urban citizenship” workshop brought together more than 50 youth leaders, civic activists and volunteers, with a focus on leadership, advocacy, urban governance and digital activism. The organisers prioritised interactivity and inclusivity, with panel discussions, open Q&As, breakout sessions, group work and role-play exercises fostering opportunities for the youth participants to share knowledge and experiences. Expert speakers from institutions and organisations including HIPS, the Somali Public Agenda and SGEM led the sessions.

Each day of the workshop centred on a core theme: foundations of urban citizenship and governance; developing civic activism skills; and advocacy, lobbying and durable solutions.

Day 1: Foundations of urban citizenship and governance

The workshop opened with remarks from Deka Abdullahi, deputy director of management and operations at HIPS. She outlined the key objectives of the workshop and highlighted the importance of equipping young people with valuable skills, knowledge and insights to contribute to their personal and professional development.

Afyare highlighted Mogadishu’s significant democratic shifts, along with some of the major challenges facing the city today – including corruption. He emphasised the need for reform and transparent systems to address issues with stalled developmental progress, governance, inefficiencies and a lack of trust in leadership.

During the session’s interactive components, the youth participants shared concerns around their lack of representation under the 4.5 clan power-sharing model, as well as their perspectives on the role of young people in upcoming elections. Along with expressing a strong sense of responsibility and excitement about the potential of proposed election reforms, they discussed how youth can contribute to ensuring transparency, accountability and fair representation during the electoral process.

The final session of the first day was delivered by Mohamed Hajir, political pillar coordinator at the Ministry of Interior, Federal Affairs and Reconciliation, who emphasised the importance of equipping youth leaders to contribute meaningfully to the city’s governance. He explained the different city systems, such as water, electricity, housing and education. He highlighted that by equipping young people with knowledge and skills, and enabling them to understand and actively engage with social systems, they could play a more meaningful role in shaping Mogadishu’s future.

Day 2: Developing civic activism skills

After an introductory exercise that encouraged participants to consider what type of leader they are, Zainab Hassan, founder and executive director of SGEM, and Afyare Elmi led the group in exploring key aspects of leadership. Highlighting the significance of self-reflection, integrity and responsibility, they shared insights and real-life examples with participants about the skills and mindset needed to become future changemakers.

“Before this, I didn’t think about what kind of leader I am. When I see my personality result, I understand more how I can help my community. Maybe I don’t talk too much, but I listen, and that entails leadership.”

Social media specialist Ali Nur Salad then led a session on leveraging media for digital activism. Sharing his personal experience of being arrested for using social media to challenge government narratives and influence policymaking, he talked about how digital activism can amplify voices, raise awareness and influence sociopolitical outcomes. An interactive discussion then covered a range of practical strategies – such as crafting compelling messages and building online coalitions to engage with diverse audiences. Participants also presented their own ideas on how to use platforms like TikTok to share the perspectives of underrepresented communities.

The day closed with a presentation from Mahad Wasuge, director of the Somali Public Agenda, who provided a detailed analysis of the security situation in Mogadishu and specifically youth gangs, followed by a summary of the key takeaways from Zainab Hassan.

Day 3: Advocacy, lobbying and durable solutions

The final sessions were designed to help the youth participants develop their knowledge and practical skills in civic engagement, advocacy campaigns and durable solutions for internally displaced people (IDPs). After a review of the discussions so far by Afyare Elmi, Zainab Hassan presented on civic rights and responsibilities – emphasising the role of young people in advocating for change, the importance of civic duty, and how effective leadership can drive social transformation.

Zainab Hassan and Shabaz Abdulqadir, a planning and development specialist, then led a session on advocacy and lobbying, examining core principles and practical strategies, and highlighting the importance of well-structured campaigns in influencing policy decisions. Building on the strategic framework provided by the facilitators, the youth participants then applied these strategies in their own group exercises, crafting policy proposals and practicing persuasive communication techniques.

“Shabaz’s session made me realise I can be a role model in my neighbourhood by educating others about their rights.”

Abdi Ismail Samatar, a Somali scholar and current senator in Somalia’s Upper House, also delivered a lecture on the role of youth in state-building and the critical contributions young people can make in a volatile region.

Mohamed Hajir led the final session of the workshop, looking at the challenges faced by people living in informal settlements and IDP camps in Mogadishu. Four young researchers who have conducted research among the city’s IDP communities also shared their insights and reflections.

Beyond the workshop

All in all, the workshop provided an effective platform to increase civic awareness and provide a stronger sense of responsibility among the youth participants – particularly regarding their rights and roles as young, urban citizens. They were not only supported in developing advocacy, leadership and digital activism skills, but also in fostering stronger networks among other young people, youth organisations and community stakeholders – laying the groundwork for ongoing collaboration.

Beyond the workshop, the organisers identified a need to create ongoing engagement platforms where young people in Mogadishu can build their skills and knowledge – such as online forums or mentorship programmes. In addition, strengthening partnerships with local authorities could help to ensure that youth initiatives align with broader governance reforms and have a lasting impact on the community.

Photo credits: Zakariya Abdulkadir

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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Mwaura’s story

In early 2017, during the first months of my fieldwork in the neighbourhood of Ituura, where Nairobi’s expanding sprawl meets the tea-growing highlands of central Kenya, I spent practically all my time with Mwaura. Then nineteen years old, Mwaura was the son of my hosts and an unlikely university student from one of the neighbourhood’s poorer families. Sharing a love of football, we spent hours playing an old edition of the FIFA video game series on his second-hand laptop. On weekends, we went to the local “Motel” to watch Premier League football, especially Mwaura’s beloved Manchester United, a team whose then turgid, workman-like style he was always capable of looking past.

For me and Mwaura, our lives of leisure obscured his family’s hardships. Mwaura’s father, Paul Kimani, a fifty-two-year-old long-haul lorry driver, made only sporadic appearances at the family home. The inconsistency of his earnings kept the family in a near-constant state of economic uncertainty. Mwaura’s mother, Catherine, was often forced to cobble together money for Mwaura’s university fees through borrowing from wealthier friends and relatives.

Nonetheless, these months were a time of optimism, the family’s hopes pinned on Mwaura’s fortunes after graduation, the aspirations for him to find “kazi”, formal paid work of the sort that would pay a consistent salary and help them “make it” (kuomoka) to the “stability” of something like middle-class status. With Mwaura stuck on the homestead due to strike action in Kenya’s university sector through early 2017, it was through him that I came to know the neighbourhood, its characters, and pressing dilemmas.

Selling ancestral land

On one of our trips to the Motel to watch a football match, talking during half-time, Mwaura pointed out to me a middle-aged man from Ituura who was making soup for the other guests. Mwaura was appalled by this man’s situation because he was known to have sold a large portion of his inherited land.

“He sold his land for like 7 million shillings in February!”, Mwaura exclaimed. “And now you’re a cook? You’ve finished that 7 million already!? How!?” I was taken aback at Mwaura’s tone of condemnation. At the time, I assumed he was echoing his father’s sentiments. Like other senior men from Ituura, Kimani regularly insisted that selling ancestral land was wrong, tantamount to parental neglect, a failure to pass inherited wealth forward to the next generation. But, as Mwaura’s words pointed out, this very same land was becoming extremely valuable in the shadow of an expanding Nairobi. I asked Mwaura why someone would have sold such a valuable asset. “Some people you can’t understand,” he explained. “They sell their land because they’re poor.” I asked what he had spent the money on. “These ones with short skirts,” he said bluntly, a reference to the women who sometimes accompanied older men to the Motel and were seen to be part-time sex workers.

The speed of expenditure had been shocking. “He was not seen for like four months, and he came back with just 50,000 … Imagine! He was taking taxis around everywhere,” he told me, emphasising the lavish expenditure land sale had afforded this man. “If you’ve got money, how can you walk?” he asked rhetorically. I asked him who had bought the land. According to Mwaura, the buyer could only be identified as “some outsider”.

In 2017, Mwaura’s judgement of this neighbourhood man echoed wider debate taking place across Kiambu about the existential dangers of selling inherited, “ancestral” land. For its smallholder families, the vestiges of a peasantry now working for wages, land is inherited on a patrilineal basis but has been divided over successive generations into smaller and smaller chunks. With shrinking plots, it was becoming increasingly attractive for senior men to sell their family land, sometimes unilaterally, to generate “chunks” of money to cover household debts, to launch small-scale businesses such as chicken rearing, but also, to access heightened lifestyles of conspicuous consumption.

Local commentaries on such acts spoke of the dangers of alienating such family heirlooms, the effects of ancestral “curses” (kĩrumi singular, irumi plural) left by long-dead grandfathers who decreed that ancestral land should never pass out of family ownership. The speed at which land money was spent was often taken to be the kĩrumi at work, destroying the lives of land sellers, turning foolhardy excessive consumption into poverty and destitution. With not an ounce of sympathy, local newspapers condemned the so-called “poor millionaires” of Kiambu County who sold their lands but spent the proceeds on alcohol and women, only to be left with nothing in the end.

High-rise buildings in upper Kiambu

What Mwaura could have not known then was in a few years he too would be put in the same unfortunate position as the soup-seller’s son. With his own grudging consent, Kimani would sell a large part of his family’s land for millions of shillings, passing on none of the proceeds. In 2022, Mwaura continued to live on his family’s shrunken plot of land, hoping that his father would someday come through with his part of the sale money, while becoming increasingly bitter towards his hypocrisy.

The shadow of Nairobi

The trajectory of Mwaura, my friend and closest interlocutor, across the years between 2017 and 2022 captures a central topic in this book: the fate of Kiambu smallholders as their meagre plots of land skyrocketed in value in the shadow of an expanding Nairobi. In a region already profoundly shaped by colonial histories of land expropriation, Peasants to Paupers explores the terrain of peri-urban Kiambu as the city extends into its poorer northern hinterlands.

Drawing upon my fieldwork with Mwaura’s family, his neighbours, and friends in Ituura over these years, this book illuminates the way an urban frontier encounters a stratified post-agrarian landscape, creating new categories of “winners and losers” amidst the beginnings of a construction boom.

While some smallholder families were building rental housing on their land and becoming landlords, for others the commodification of land created a crisis of kinship as male heads of households sold ancestral land at the expense of their children. Within this urbanising terrain, this book observes the hollowing-out of a moral economy of patrilineal kinship. Despite the insistence of senior men that their land was “ancestral” and therefore inalienable, land sales took place, uprooting families, depriving children of their inheritances, and accelerating a region-wide process of downward mobility as younger generations contemplated their fate as a new class of landless and land-poor paupers.

Masculine breakdown

Peasants to Paupers traces the effects of this process by exploring a wider loss of confidence among young men in the moral horizon of patrilineal kinship and its emphasis on working towards the future by returning wages to the homestead. Faith in this vision is being eroded on the one hand by the grim economic terms of the peri-urban informal economy, with low-paying jobs that operate on a piecemeal basis.

But confidence in a normative vision of masculine responsibility is also undercut by land sales themselves – experienced within patrilineal families as acts of moral transgression that render young men like Mwaura doubly hopeless, contemplating his father’s betrayal of kinship’s future-orientation and the principles of passing on wealth.

Such overt practices of private accumulation served to compound a sense of patrilineal kinship’s breakdown when they came at the cost of others. It was not only senior men who were seeking to escape poverty through land sale. Amidst rural destitution, young men were seeking desperate and piecemeal attempts to cope with hopelessness about their futures through drinking alcohol. Meanwhile, young women were cultivating extra-marital relationships with wealthy “sponsors” precisely because their male peers were “wasting themselves”. Knowledge of such relationships further entrenched male distrust of women’s intentions, undermining the ideal of the harmonious patrilineal household, and fomenting a gendered self-perception of male abjection.

Against the backdrop of an eroding belief in the achievement of patrilineal household, Peasants to Paupers explores how Kiambu’s young and poor cope with their downward mobility. It charts their challenging journeys as they ward off hopelessness, struggling not to become “wasted” like their alcoholic peers. It draws out the moral debates taking place on the economic margins about whether work can materially provision a reasonable middle-class future. These debates reveal the limits of a bootstrap mentality of labour’s virtue under conditions of wage-limited precarity. While some manage to maintain their hopes for a better tomorrow, for others the grim realisation that they will never meet their aspirations prompts a deep hopelessness and a “giving up” on the future.

In highlighting these themes, this book argues that Nairobi’s expansion is driven not only by the outward push of an urban frontier but by the vulnerability written into the city’s rural hinterlands by the region’s colonial and post-colonial history. The urban frontier’s “expansion” can just as easily be seen as a “retreat” for Kenya’s peri-urban post-peasantry, no longer able to maintain the moral economy of patrilineal kinship and keep the family tethered to land. In such a changing landscape, this book argues for the study of kinship’s moral economy as a critical field, especially as scholars of an urbanising Africa begin to explore the way expanding cities shape their once-rural hinterlands.

Across the globe, enormous numbers of people’s lives are defined by their access to land, which is in turn mediated by kinship. In such settings, kin relations themselves become central mechanisms in the creation of new class distinctions, shaping economic fates across generations. This book closes by calling for a return to studying the imbrications of class, kinship, and landed property.

> Read the full, open access version of Peasants to Paupers by Peter Lockwood

Photo credits: Peter Lockwood

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.

The African Cities blog is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), which means you are welcome to repost this content as long as you provide full credit and a link to this original post.

Safe streets make for safe cities, but a lack of lighting can exacerbate the everyday insecurity of urban residents. ACRC’s safety and security research in Lagos found the absence of streetlighting in low-income areas to be a key concern among residents, as the cover of darkness facilitates urban crime and makes law enforcement more difficult.

Building on this, researchers have been looking into the condition of streetlighting in Lagos, conducting an in-depth assessment to better understand the provision, quality and impact of streetlighting in the city. With a focus on improving safety, security and livelihoods, they also aimed to uncover the challenges of streetlight provision in informal settlements.

A new research report presents the findings from this study and offers a framework for examining the challenges and opportunities of streetlighting systems – especially around accessibility and impact in cities like Lagos, that are experiencing rapid urbanisation, crime and extreme poverty.

Highlighting successful initiatives to build streetlight infrastructure in Lagos and drive improvements at the community level, the research findings underline the potential for action research to pilot new models for catalysing urban reform in low-income areas.

Key findings

1. Multiple stakeholders are involved in the provision of streetlighting, operating across varying levels and including governments, the private sector, community groups and civil society organisations.

2. Streetlighting takes various forms, from conventional, grid-based lights, powered by fossil fuels, to more sustainable solar streetlights that use LEDs.

3. Decisive state action is needed to power streetlighting interventions in informal settlements, which have been largely left behind so far, but stand to benefit from improved streetlighting.

4. Financial barriers and politically driven procurement are key challenges, along with limited resources and technical capacity, which must be addressed to improve streetlighting provision.

5. Low-income communities across the city have come together to drive progress, enabling residents to achieve some level of streetlight infrastructure in their neighbourhoods by co-producing solutions with the state and NGOs.

Light at the end of the tunnel?

As highlighted by the report, existing streetlighting infrastructure in Lagos is insufficient to meet the scale of the challenge. Solutions will only be found through inclusive engagements that push against established approaches to infrastructure development. Building on this, the authors recommend:

> Local communities need to be involved in planning and delivering urban infrastructures, to ensure the equitable distribution of benefits, with neighbourhoods shaped by the people and for the people.

> A proactive, transparent and collaborative management strategy is needed to address conflicting priorities among multiple stakeholders, while working towards shared goals of energy efficiency and improved public services.

> The state should create an enabling environment for investment in sustainable urban infrastructure, through reliable investment funding and a more robust regulatory framework for domestic energy production and solar markets.

> The state should move from broad, untargeted energy subsidies to targeted support for vulnerable households and informal communities, while actively promoting private-sector-led renewable energy solutions, especially for streetlighting and off-grid communities. 

Header photo credit: passionng / iStock. Streetlights in Lagos, Nigeria.

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.

The African Cities blog is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), which means you are welcome to repost this content as long as you provide full credit and a link to this original post.

Header photo credit: Chris Jordan

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.

The African Cities blog is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), which means you are welcome to repost this content as long as you provide full credit and a link to this original post.

“Kush is very easy to find here in Kolleh Town. People sell it openly, sometimes on the roadside, near junctions, and even close to our schools. You don’t even need to go far.”
– Community member, Kolleh Town, Sierra Leone

Kush is a type of synthetic drug that is widely used by young people in Sierra Leone, especially in the informal settlements of Freetown. It is inexpensive and readily available, making it highly accessible to unemployed and marginalised youth. Its use is associated with a range of harmful effects, including extreme sedation, organ damage and mental health complications.

In 2024, Sierra Leone’s president Julius Maada Bio, declared a “war on Kush”, calling the situation a national epidemic and an “existential crisis” for the country and its young people.

In this context – and following the initial ACRC city research – the team in Freetown decided to focus an action research project on kush use. Led by the Institute for Development, researchers set out to understand how communities in Freetown are responding to the growing kush problem. Their approach was to learn from community voices, exploring how local groups could work together to prevent and reduce drug use.

Researchers found significant community-driven responses already underway. Peer support, open family dialogues and school-based awareness campaigns emerged as particularly effective. Youth engagement in meaningful activities, such as vocational training and employment opportunities, was consistently highlighted as critical for preventing drug use.

The study focused on two communities, Kolleh Town and Olosoroh, which highlighted different ways of dealing with the crisis. Kolleh Town faced substantial challenges due to entrenched supply networks, limited enforcement and passive attitudes among authorities. In contrast, Olosoroh demonstrated stronger leadership commitment and proactive collaboration between teachers, youth leaders, police and NGOs, aiming to address the issue through education, awareness and behavioural interventions.

Key findings from the action research included:

1. The kush crisis in Freetown is driven by socioeconomic vulnerability.

Users of the drug are often male, aged between 15 and 30 and are unemployed or not in education. For these marginalised youth, kush becomes a readily available coping mechanism to alleviate poverty, boredom and stress.

2. Community responses require consistency and peer engagement.

Effective community-led responses include peer support among young people, open family dialogues and school-based awareness campaigns. However, these efforts are often undermined by a lack of continuity and consistency.

3. Supply chain disruption is hampered by corruption.

Law enforcement efforts are weakened by police complicity and corruption, with reports of arrested dealers released after paying bribes. The police should focus on high-level suppliers and traffickers rather than low-level users.

4. A holistic response must provide economic alternatives and accessible health support.

Investing in vocational training, job creation and recreational activities for at-risk youth are all essential. Current health facilities and rehabilitation centres are severely limited, unaffordable and overwhelmed.

5. Sustainable solutions depend on coordinated reform coalitions.

The complexity of the kush crisis requires inclusive reform coalitions that bring together youth representatives, traditional leaders, religious figures, police and NGOs, to build trust and coordinate efforts. Coalitions that build on existing community networks have the greatest chance of success.

Throughout the project, IfD researchers worked closely with community members. Communities had tried different strategies and reported that they were running out of ideas on how to deal with the kush problem. As such, they were very engaged with IfD’s approach, particularly as it provided a bridge between community members and national policymakers.

The findings of the research were presented to officials from the governmental departments, such as the mental health department at the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Social Welfare, National Task Force on Drugs and Substance Abuse, National Drug and Law Enforcement Agency, media houses and other partners.

Subsequent meetings with these agencies were pivotal in building consensus around the ACRC’s research-driven model, especially on the importance of a reform coalition of actors passionate about creating a community-led solution with strong institutional support to address the challenges posed by kush.

Researchers at IfD are continuing to support community responses and are actively pushing for a holistic policy response from government ministries.

Header photo credit: Fabian Plock / Canva Pro. View over a coastal informal settlement in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

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.

The African Cities blog is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), which means you are welcome to repost this content as long as you provide full credit and a link to this original post.

Header photo credit: Action pour la Paix et la Concorde (APC).

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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Header photo credit: Action pour la Paix et la Concorde (APC). View of Bukavu over Lake Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo.

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.

The African Cities blog is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), which means you are welcome to repost this content as long as you provide full credit and a link to this original post.