Since March 2020, government policy and programming has shifted significantly.

First, Nairobi Metropolitan Services finally began infrastructure improvements in Mukuru, an informal settlement of 100,000 households on private land. Research in 2015-16, led by the Muungano Alliance, catalysed the gazetting of a Mukuru Special Planning Area in August 2017. Nairobi County, supported by the Alliance and a consortium of 40 agencies, finalised some sectoral plans in March 2020. Nairobi Metropolitan Services is facilitating the process for finalising the overall integrated development plan in the next few months.

Second, by July 2020, the Alliance recognised the imperative to register as many informal settlement residents as possible, in order to pressure the government to provide a universal programme of support for all informal settlement residents. When the government subsequently rolled out an emergency cash transfer programme it included, for the first time, informal settlement residents. The cash transfers represent a positive and significant shift in government response to disasters in informal settlements that Muungano hopes will continue beyond the Covid-19 response.

This rapid process of Covid-19-related information-gathering and dissemination reflects the substantive capabilities within the Muungano Alliance. Logistically, they were able to manage the initial interest by hundreds of their members, develop an appropriate monitoring framework, and roll out multimedia posts. Strategically, the information became a way of demonstrating the organisational power of informal settlement residents. It raised the profile and legitimacy of the Muungano Alliance and helped to extend and deepen relations with relevant state agencies.

It is likely that this work had a positive influence on inclusive responses to Covid-19 by the Government of Kenya.

This article originally appeared in the Covid-19: Community resilience in urban informal settlements briefing paper, part of the Covid Collective Research for Policy and Practice series published by the Institute of Development Studies (IDS). 

Learn more about: 

• Covid Collective
• Muungano Alliance

Note: This article presents the views of the author 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.

Catch up on our webinar introducing the African Cities Research Consortium (ACRC) and outlining how the Consortium and its international partners are planning to tackle complex, political and systemic problems in some of Africa’s fastest-growing urban areas.

ACRC has been awarded a contract of £32 million from the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) over the next 6 years. Building on the political settlements analysis established by the Effective States and Inclusive Development research centre, ACRC will adopt a city as systems approach to addressing complex urban problems. Through engaged action research we aim to catalyse progress for disadvantaged communities in a number of focus cities and beyond.

Speakers

• Professor Diana Mitlin, The University of Manchester
• Professor Sam Hickey, The University of Manchester
• Dr Martin Atela, Partnership for African Social and Governance Research, Nairobi
• Chaired by Dr Admos Chimhowu

Find out more

• The African Cities Research Consortium
• The Effective States and Inclusive Development Research Centre
• Follow the African Cities Research Consortium on Twitter
• Sign up to the African Cities Research Consortium newsletter

This post originally appeared on the Global Development Institute Blog.

Note: This article presents the views of the author 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.

On 17th October, the Global Development Institute held a day-long symposium to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the 5th Pan-African Congress which was held in Manchester.

Organised by its Africa Research Group, the event brought together researchers to discuss ‘75 Years after the 5th Pan-African Congress: Decolonising Africa’s Development Agenda’. You can catch up with the presentations and panels below.

The 1945 Pan-African Congress was held in Manchester and brought together intellectuals and activists such as W.E.B Du Bois, Kwame Nkrumah, Nnamdi Azikiwe and Jomo Kenyatta. The Congress was a springboard for these key figures in connecting with each other and developing new national strategies towards hastening decolonisation.

Africa: 75 years after the Manchester Pan-African Congress – HE Dr Amani Abou-Zeid, African Union

Challenges of Africa’s Economies and Prospects for post Covid-19 Recovery – Dr Samuel Maimbo, World Bank

De-colonising Africa’s Development: The Challenge – Prof Aminu Mamman, The University of Manchester, Sally Ncube, Women’s Coalition of Zimbabwe, Prof Paul Mativenga, The University of Manchester

Citizens Driving Africa’s Development – Prof Diana Mitlin, The University of Manchester

Major Limb loss in Uganda and research in Kenya on Covid-19 prevention – Prof Mahesh Nirmalan, The University of Manchester

This post originally appeared on the Global Development Institute Blog.

Note: This article presents the views of the author 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.

By Professor Diana Mitlin, CEO of the African Cities Research Consortium 

Covid-19 has brought a new realization to many governments and development agencies. Investment in towns and cities is essential. People need to live in healthy neighbourhoods with access to basic services. With this new interest, it is critical that appropriate learning takes place so that interventions can be successfully designed.

Over 95% of all Covid-19 cases globally occur in urban areas. Pandemics are dependent on the interactions of humans with their environment and these interactions are intensified in towns and cities. Too little attention is given to the multiplicity of ways in which the “urban” nature of settlements and livelihoods influences what is possible in terms of responses to the health and economic emergencies.

Globally, at least one billion people live and work in conditions of urban informality and precarity. Hundreds of millions more people living in cities located in low and middle-income countries can just about afford formal homes with improved access to services such as piped water, electricity and access to healthcare, but these services are patchy and may be unaffordable.

In this context, some have argued that an essential response to Covid-19 is the ‘de-densification’ of urban areas. For example, the South African Minister for Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation identified 29 areas, in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Western Cape and Eastern Cape for de-densification, targeting 356 010 households to contain the spread of Covid-19. The risk is that this will catalyse a new round of evictions, displacing people from their homes.

This response is based on a misconception. The problem isn’t density itself; it is the overcrowding resulting from low-incomes, expensive housing and the lack of infrastructure and services – and this is caused by state neglect. The lowest income urban residents are facing a global health crisis. The risks associated with Covid-19 are exacerbated by debilitated – or outright non-existent – health services and infrastructures.

Overcrowding and lack of access to basic services prevent the implementation of two key measures that populations are being urged to adopt: social distancing and increased hygiene, particularly handwashing. And with limited political influence they are unable to secure adequate supplies of water, access to sufficient space for social distancing and places to isolate those who are sick.

In Nairobi, the scale of deprivation in informal settlements is evident. In Mukuru, for example, only 1% of residents have access to a private water tap and private sanitation. The lack of provision means that a public tap serves an average of 234 households, and there is one public latrine for every 547 households.

In terms of state interventions, curfews and lockdown have made income generation difficult to impossible. Informal traders have been stopped from operating, while formal shops selling food and other goods are allowed to be open. Formal manufacturing businesses have closed, laying off workers. Low-income households face acute difficulties with limited savings; the need to pay for food, rent and services; and limited access to social protection.

Low incomes make it impossible for many living in towns and cities of the global South to secure adequate accommodation. Poorly informed government strategies to reduce poverty lay too much emphasis on cash incomes and not enough on the social wage (i.e. access to affordable basic services including water, sanitation, energy, health and education). While social protection measures – when provided to those living and working informally – have helped address immediate needs, they are not a substitute for a comprehensive approach to address all needs including access to public services. While community groups have sought to improve access to the services required for health and support those in need, without state investment this cannot be done effectively and at the scale required.

The required response has to prioritize essential investment in basic services and the provision of affordable housing, assisting low income households to secure access to the services and housing that they need for good health and wellbeing. “Affordable” in this context cannot be synonymous with “low-cost” unless low-cost is indeed affordable to the lowest-income households.

There is a new attention to towns and cities in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. While at times it seems that the most likely outcome of Covid-19 responses is an ossification of pre-existing inequalities, persecutions and structural failures, some positive progress is being made.

In Nairobi, the national government has committed to informal settlement upgrading. In August 2017, the government declared Mukuru a Special Planning Area. Plans for infrastructure improvements in water and sanitation, roads, drainage and electrification have now been finalized. Faced with Covid-19 and in recognition of the need for basic services, implementation by Nairobi Metropolitan Services began in May 2020.

The Government of Kenya has shown an increased commitment to address the needs of low-income urban residents in recent years. On 14 February 2020, for example, Nairobi’s City Hall and the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure announced their intent to scale up the upgrading of informal settlements with a Special Planning Area for the neighbourhoods around the Central Station. This new-found political commitment has been further reinforced at the time of Covid-19 with an acceleration of plan implementation in Mukuru and significant new upgrading initiatives across the city. A new programme, Kazi Mtaani has provided social protection for casual and informal workers whose livelihoods have been disrupted by the pandemic and associated measures. This programme pays people to work on improving the environment and delivering services through infrastructure investments, enabling them to buy essentials such as food.

Covid-19 has highlighted the housing needs and the precarious and low incomes of many urban households across the global North and South. The costs of the health emergency have been exacerbated by the associated economic emergency. It is not possible to secure wellbeing in this context. And that reality is now exposed on streets and screens around the world.

The Kenyan response has demonstrated that it is possible for governments to use the health emergency to reset development priorities. Public works can provide essential monies for households while enabling people to work safely outside and provide the services that are required for good health. A willingness to engage with community organizations such as Muungano wa Wanavijiji has enabled local safe isolation centres to be identified in informal settlements. If we are to secure the SDGs and meet the needs of the most vulnerable citizens, the international research community needs to understand better the triggers for such progressive change.

More governments need to recognise that housing and basic services have to be affordable and accessible.  Livelihoods need to be protected; and if they cannot be protected then household incomes have to be secured. However, despite all these efforts, there is a risk that some will be left behind, more than ever in the current COVID-19 context, and these households should not be forgotten. It is more evident than before that this is not only a question of justice. It is also a pragmatic response to our interconnectedness and what it means to thrive, individually and collectively.

Read more:

• Gupte and D. Mitlin, COVID-19: what is not being addressed, Environment and Urbanization, October 2020.
• Mitlin, S. Bartlett, Editorial: Acquiring housing – understanding outcomes, improving choices and “leaving no one behind”, Environment and Urbanization, August 2020

This post originally appeared on the Global Development Institute Blog.

Note: This article presents the views of the author 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.

Researchers from the Global Development Institute have been awarded a new research contract of £32 million to establish the African Cities Research Consortium (ACRC), funded by the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) as part of UK Aid.

Led by Professor Diana Mitlin, ACRC and its international partners will tackle complex problems in some of Africa’s fastest growing urban areas. Over 6 years, research will generate new evidence to catalyse integrated, sustainable, inclusive approaches to urban development.

African Cities will approach urban areas as complex systems, undertaking engaged political analysis, in order to address large scale development challenges. A ‘city as a system’ approach aims to move beyond the sectoral silos of research and interventions by treating each city as a complex system. It builds upon the political settlements analysis establish by our Effective States and Inclusive Development research centre, and will integrate political and technical analysis undertaken alongside key players on the ground.

The African Cities Research Consortium brings together engaged partners including the UK-based IIED, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, and ODI, African-based groups such as ICLEI Africa, PASGR and SDI, as well as international organisations, such as the IRC and UNU-WIDER. Closer to home, it will utilise expertise from across The University of Manchester,  particularly within the Manchester Urban Institute and the Global Inequalities research beacon.

CEO Diana Mitlin said, “The long term prospects for much of Africa will hinge on creating more sustainable, equitable and inclusive cities. The African Cities Research Consortium will enable us to tease out the complexities and highlight potential solutions to improve urban centres across the continent.”

ACRC has the ambitious aim of generating new evidence to catalyse integrated, sustainable, inclusive approaches to urban development challenges. An initial focus on 13* African cities will allow us to undertake focused, inter-connected research that delivers real insights for local authorities, civil society and donors. 

Tade Akin Aina, Executive director of the Partnership for African Social and Governance Research (PASGR), based in Kenya will be the Uptake Director for the Consortium. He said, “Covid-19 is highlighting structural inequalities within cities across Africa. By taking a holistic approach and bringing together communities with local authorities and donors, I’m confident the African Cities Research Consortium will play a vital role in improving urban areas.”

Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor of The University of Manchester commented, “The University of Manchester is proud of its contribution towards tackling global challenges and the new African Cities Research Consortium epitomises this approach. With rigorous research, combined with the engaged networks and insights of partners from very different spheres, we’re confident that great progress will be made.”

* The initial 13 African cities are: Accra (Ghana), Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), Bukavu (DRC), Dar es Salaam (Tanzania), Freetown (Sierra Leone), Harare (Zimbabwe), Kampala (Uganda), Khartoum (Sudan), Lagos (Nigeria), Lilongwe (Malawi), Maiduguri (Nigeria), Mogadishu (Somalia), and Nairobi (Kenya).

Photo by Virgyl Sowah on Unsplash

This post originally appeared on the Global Development Institute Blog.

Note: This article presents the views of the author 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.