un-habitat in partnership with africa

UN-Habitat in partnership with Africa

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Onitsha, Nigeria © alessandro scotti/UN-Habitat


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introduction

uN-habitat has worked in many african countries for the past 36 years, and this growing portfolio is one of the most important for the agency.

Our projections show that around the year 20351, africa’s collective population will become 50 per cent urban. the majority of political constituencies will then live in cities, demanding means of subsistence, shelter and services.

uN-habitat is working with african governments to take early action to position themselves for predominately urban populations. by the 2043, african cities will collectively be home to 1 billion people – equivalent to the continent’s total population in 2009.

as the urban population almost doubles in the next two decades the imperative of steering and guiding the growth process through urban planning becomes a priority undertaking. equally urgent is the need to improve liveability and increase productivity of the city through expanding access to basic services. indeed, africa’s increased urban population is a powerful asset for the continent’s overall transformation. however, it can only attain its full potential when cities are properly planned and adequately serviced. a major change is needed in the course of africa’s urban development – a shift whose main thrust can be propelled by, first, a re-examination of the planning process and the delivery of basic services.

in our efforts to promote and enhance sustainable urban development in the region, uN-habitat in collaboration with governments in the continent convenes, every two years, the african ministerial Conference on housing and urban development (amChud). the thrust of amChud’s engagement throughout its seven years existence has been to tackle the african urban challenge as it manifests itself in the dimensions of growth, poverty, sustainability, governance, and also recognising the role which cities are playing as engines of development.

this brochure presents an overview of uN-habitat’s engagement in the continent, reflecting on what was achieved, how it was made possible, including outlining a strategy which was endorsed by amChud in march 2012 which highlights opportunities, challenges, and the way forward for achieving sustainable urban development in africa.

1 World Urbanisation Prospect 2011 Revision.


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UN-Habitat presence in africa

Source: UN-Habitat 2012

Madagascar

Mozambique

Cameroon

Liberia

Senegal

East Africa Kenya,Uganda,

Rwanda, Tanzania and Burundi

Cape Verde

Burkina Faso Chad

Mali

Gabon

DRC

Namibia

Libya

Egypt

Sudan

Somalia

South Sudan

SADC

Malawi

ECOWAS Benin Burkina Faso Cape Verde Ivory Coast Gambia Ghana Guinea Guinea-Bissau

Liberia Mali Niger Nigeria Senegal Sierra Leone Togo

AngolaBotswanaDRC LesothoMalawiMauritiusMozambiqueNamibia

SwazilandTanzaniaZambiaZimbabweSouth AfricaSeychelles


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Our presence and Accomplishments

project portfolio, target countries, main contributors and achievements

uN-habitat’s portfolio of ongoing projects in africa is valued at uSd 137.9 million. this represents 16 per cent of the current total global portfolio of the organization. more than 20 per cent of this portfolio (see Figure 1) is concentrated in the east africa, primarily for the Lake victoria Water and Sanitation initiative. uN-habitat also has a significant portfolio in the democratic republic of Congo, in the area of land reform and management, Somalia for post-crisis recovery and rehabilitation, and egypt and Libya in planning and capacity building.

Sub-regional projects implemented in partnership with regional economic bodies such as such as east african Community (eaC), Common market for eastern and Southern africa (COmeSa), economic Community of West african States (eCOWaS), Southern african development Community (SadC) are gaining more importance, and uN-habitat aims to enhance these. also gaining momentum are engagements in mozambique, South Sudan, rwanda, Liberia, Cameroon, Senegal, Nigeria, malawi, madagascar, burkina Faso, Kenya, and Chad.

uN-habitat’s strategic engagement in africa as reflected in Figure 2 below, has been possible through significant contributions from amongst others the government of the Netherlands (through the Water and Sanitation trust Fund), Libya, egypt, the european union, Japan, italy, Sweden through Sida, and united Nations sister organizations such as the united Nations high Commissioner for refugees (uNhCr), the united Nations environment programme (uNep) and the united Nations development programme (uNdp).


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a coal-fired power in Cape town, South africa. © simsa. Licenced under the Creative Commons attribution-share alive 3.0Unported Licence


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FIGURE 2: Main Contributors to the ongoing Portfolio in Africa

FIGURE 1: Geographic Distribution of Ongoing activities in Africa

Burkina Faso 1,525,566

Cameroon 91,852

Cape Verde 500,279

Chad 2,126,966

DRC 6,625,018

East Africa 29,175,241

ECOWAS 2,103,570

Egypt 12,402,200

Gabon 34,000

Kenya 4,052,061

Liberia 4,766,471

Libya 13,885,374

Madagascar 1,251,150

Malawi 760,000

Mali 434,347

Morocco 361,080

Mozambique 3,303,997

Namibia 877,507

Nigeria 1,130,472

Rwanda 2,349,422

SADC 1,271,702

Senegal 2,000,000

Somalia 22,418,182

Southern Sudan 2,670,131

Sudan 4,496,847

Tanzania 1,019,562

Uganda 149,296

Zimbabwe 508,422

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alexandria habour, egypt. © Javarman/shutterstock


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uN-habitat’s portfolio in africa is very diverse in terms of geographic coverage and development partners. this portfolio is attracting support from various countries and multilateral organizations interested in promoting sustainable urban development and recovery in the continent.

uN-habitat’s key accomplishments in the region in the past decade include, among others: the strengthening of the urban safety; promoting good urban governance and improvement of housing; addressing post-conflict reconstruction and rehabilitation, slum upgrading, water, waste management and basic urban services; capacity building, vulnerability and climate change; supporting decentralization programmes, land tenure and spatial planning.

box 1: the synopsis of UN-Habitat’s engagement in africa over the last 10 years are

Areas of Engagement Country

Development and implementation of urban planning and management policies

Benin, Eritrea, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Egypt, Libya, Sudan and Uganda

Formulation of land management policies and legislation for implementation

Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Liberia, South Sudan, South Africa , and Somalia

Design and delivery of local government capacity building and training

Central African Republic, Ghana, Lesotho, Liberia, Mozambique Rwanda, Sudan, South Sudan, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Somalia, Egypt, Cameroon and Libya

Development and execution of urban governance and municipal decentralization policies

Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Mozambique, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Somalia, Egypt, Morocco and Libya.

Design and delivery of housing and slum upgrading programmes including development of housing and shelter policies

Burkina Faso, Benin, Burundi, Cape Verde, Cameroon, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Mozambique, Uganda, Somalia,Egypt, Morocco and Sudan.

Urban planning including housing surveys and profiles

Central African Republic, Burundi, Cape Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Nigeria, Tanzania, The Gambia, Burkina Faso, Mozambique, Zambia, Sudanand Uganda, Somalia


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noted below:

uN-habitat’s efforts on sustainable urbanisation in the african continent have been widespread, from North africa to Sub-Saharan africa, thanks to the support of governments, and increased contributions from respective development partners. in recent decades, a lot has been achieved in bringing greater attention to the challenges associated with urban growth and the increased urban population in the continent. more needs to be done, as more and complex challenges emerge which require a focused and renewed engagement from both the governments and partners.

these challenges, opportunities and solutions for the road ahead are outlined below.

OPPORTUNITIES

expansion of urban population - a surprising fact of urbanisation in africa is that in less than eight years, its urban population will be larger than the total urban population of europe (569 vs. 553 million people in 2020). it will be also larger than the urban population of Latin america and the Caribbean (533 million), the first region to become predominantly urban in the developing world2.this critical mass of people in urban areas represents a great opportunity. today africa is 41 per cent urban.

2 United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2010), World Urbanization Prospects: The 2009 Revision. United Nations, New York

Reconstruction and rehabilitation of urban infrastructures (housing, schools, markets, government buildings)

Burkina Faso, Chad, Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, Sudan, Somaliaand Egypt.

post-conflict reconstruction and rehabilitation, and disaster risk reduction

Mozambique, Burkina-Faso, Sudan, South Sudan and Somalia

Youth, women and gender empowerment and mainstreaming

Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Kenya, Senegal and Uganda


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accra, ghana. © UN-Habitat

Highest economic growth among all regions in the world - despite the turbulent global economic environment in recent years, growth in africa remained robust at around 5 per cent in 2011. excluding South africa, which accounts for over a third of the region’s gdp, growth in the rest of the region was even stronger at 5.9 per cent in 2011, making it one of the fastest growing developing regions in the world3. according to the projection, “28 out of 52 countries will grow by more than 5 per cent per year between 2012 and 2016”4.

economic growth stimulated by increased urbanisation - urbanisation and economic growth has not gone hand by hand in africa, low income countries have a very low level of urbanisation, concomitantly; high income economies are highly urbanized. this means that as african countries urbanize they become more prosperous.

3 World Bank (2012) Global Economic Prospects: Uncertainties and vulnerabilities. January 2012 http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTPROSPECTS/Resources/334934-1322593305595/8287139-1326374900917/SSARegionalSummary_GEPJan2012_Eng.pdf, last accessed 2 March 2012.

4 The Economist (2012) Into Africa: Emerging opportunities for Business. June 2012 www.eiu.com


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Nairobi, Kenya © Credit


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increased urbanisation leads to higher prospects of development - urbanisation in africa is providing vital opportunities for positive economic development such as industrialisation and entry into export markets, as well as social and human advancement. Cities generate economies of agglomeration important to sustain economic growth and generate jobs and opportunities. Cities are also attracting national and foreign investments.

increased coordination of different levels of government - central governments are increasingly appreciating that they need to work closely with local governments and other actors. Cities can mobilise more financial resources and integrate other development actors at national and international levels. National governments, are also initiating decentralization measures working with active and creative regional and local authorities and also creating better outcomes with higher social impact.

FIGURE 3: Sub-Saharan Africa: GDP per capita level and Proportion Urban Population, 1960 to 2010 (Andrew to fix diagram in text)

700

600

500

400

300

200

100

0

40

30

20

10

0

1960

1965

1970

1975

1980

1985

1990

1995

2000

2005

2015

Sources: UN-Habitat, 2012

gdp per capita (constant 2000 uSd) proportion of population that is urban ( per cent)


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CHALLENGES

Urban basic services - despite commitments made by african governments over the last 50 years to improve basic service delivery, the Continent suffers from a severe backlog in the provision of urban basic services to the extent that it will not meet the minimum targets of the millennium development goals.

Urban planning - the major factors contributing to the above include the manner in which territorial and urban planning is implemented. the underpinning principles, operational modalities and the overall institutional settings have contributed to impairing the capacity of governments in africa to increase access to basic services, improve quality of delivery, generate prosperity, and ensure overall sustainability. an urgent challenge, therefore, is how to rectify the inherent distortions in urban planning, particularly in the context of climate change.

Urban sprawl - most african cities are growing in a discontinuous, scattered and low density form that is not sustainable. Cities are expanding to endless peripheries with very low residential densities. if the current trend is left to continue, by 2030 majority of african urban centres will have doubled their spatial areas. a lower density reduces economies of scale and generates inefficiencies.

rigid zoning - Where inefficiency in service delivery exists, it is often compounded by the continuity in the inherited tradition of rigid zoning as a major feature of urban planning. the inflexible separation of land-use functions not only fragments the african city, but more seriously, it creates a severe strain on infrastructure and service delivery.

reactive planning: the demographics of african urbanisation present a dynamic opportunity for urban development in the Continent. however, today most african cities are implementing reactive policies and actions to interventions generated by real estate developers and informal builders. Few cities are planning at the scale for the problems they are facing. in most cases their interventions are symbolic and micro and not commensurate with the magnitude of the urban challenges.

the disconnect: in many african cities there is a lack of clear linkage between urban land-use planning, infrastructure investment and service delivery. most urban plans have not been linked to major infrastructural investment programmes including super highways, industrial parks, power networks, modern waste water treatment and even neighbourhood revitalisation programmes, such as slum improvements.


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Climate Change: although some countries and cities are making efforts to integrate climate change aspects in the development agenda, efforts are still limited and not systematically integrated in planning tools and related investments. Cutting across all the above challenges is the impact of climate change. this much discussed phenomenon not only generates an exponential magnification of the demand for services but also necessitates more sustainable modes of delivering services.

THE WAY FORWARD

transformative national urban policy- uN-habitat is committed to help countries prepare National urban policies that can reassert the role of cities and towns in national development. this will contribute to maximising the strategic positions of cities and regions, and in some cases to recreating new comparative advantages for higher levels of prosperity. governments embarking on a new National urban policy will be able to come up with better, more creative, productive and inclusive urban development.

Compact cities - african cities need to move away from rigid planning and from urbanisation that creates low densities and long distances: an unsustainable model that generates cities poorly connected, socially divided and economically unproductive.

Kampala, uganda © Duncan Purvey/stockphoto


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Leaders and decision - makers from africa need to promote cities which optimises demographic and economic densities. african cities must be more inclusive, more economically viable, greener and safer places for all.

there is an urgent need to promote a structural change for a more compact city at a human scale that minimises transport and service delivery cost, optimises the use of land, reduces energy consumption and supports the protection and organization of urban open spaces.

guided urban expansions and infill projects are excellent means to create more compact cities. this has a great potential for the creation of sustainable patterns of development which need to be accompanied by legal and financial tools to enable municipalities to acquire and manage sufficient land, pay for compensations, create public land and open spaces, and regulate mix-land uses, etc.

synchronizing and synergy: there is an urgent need to develop, consolidate and refine effective mechanisms for fostering closer collaboration and coordination among public institutions, first, among national ministries, and secondly across administrative levels. however, the tendency towards operating in a sectorial manner has remained a major impediment for the realisation of the full potential of such mechanisms, especially within the current multiparty democratic dispensation.

the urban agenda transcends individual ministries, and its outcomes are more than the sum of its parts. uN-habitat is ready to support governments to foster collaboration and change the target of urban intervention. ministerial performance on the ground, and specifically at the city level, needs to be measured not by the traditional sector outputs, but by the contribution it makes to achieving defined strategic outcomes.

Capacity Development: an urgent priority is the development of appropriate programmes for developing local capacity in planning and improving service delivery. the critical requirements at this level are not only skills and expertise, but also the need to come back to basic aspects such as the capacity to harness and deploy resources and potentialities in the private sector and among communities and neighbourhoods.

Closing the Urban Divide: in addition there is an urgent need of transforming planning and basic service provision from factors which perpetuate urban inequity to instruments for fostering inclusiveness and prosperity. urban investments have to take into account the needs and interests of all social groups including the urban poor, women and youth. uN-habitat can assist governments in developing skills and mechanisms for ensuring that spatial as well as project design are fully inclusive.


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initiating Legal reforms and enhancing institutional capacities: underlying the success of the above measures is the urgent need to review existing laws and by-laws with the objective of streamlining them and bringing into line with the desire of promoting better cities. it is also desirable to adopt simple norms and basic principles that can guide urban development and facilitate the transmission of tools and guides to end-users. it is important to work with governments to reduce and prevent social conflict, political instability, bureaucratic procedures, and corruption to create an environment conducive to strong and flexible institutions.

Learning to Do things together: achieving higher levels of sustainable urban development is not an accident. it requires clear policies, simple norms and basic principles, and concerted efforts from public, private and social actors and requires that different levels of government learn to work together.

effective decentralisation demands strong coordination capacities from the central government and dynamic and well-governed city governments that can respond to the challenges of subsidiarity as a new organizational principle. Likewise, creative local entrepreneurship is to be combined with regional and national support and with a clear and solid intervention from private and social actors.

south-south cooperation: While appreciating that africa is not unique, the continent’s has to be understood and its potential optimised. experiences of other parts of the world need to be harnessed, particularly those from the South. indeed, lots of innovations are taking place in asia and Latin america. apart from bilateral arrangements, collaboration with ministerial bodies of these regions needs to be developed, and uN-habitat is ready to play a facilitating role in this process.

uN-habitat remains committed to africa. With the support of the african development bank and other development partners, uN-habitat is keen to strengthen positive collaboration and partnerships with all levels of governments, non-governmental organizations, private sector and regional economic communities such as the Common market for eastern and Southern africa (COmeSa), the east african Community (eaC), and the economic Community of West african States (eCOWaS), etc. to eradicating urban poverty and in transforming africa’s urban development agenda.


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uNited NatiONS humaN SettLemeNtS prOgrammep.O.box 30030,Nairobi 00100,Kenya;tel: +254-20-7626742; Fax: +254-20-7625015; [email protected] www.unhabitat.org/publications

become a uN-habitat partner for better cities in africa become a city changer…

Contact us at [email protected] For more information please visit our websites www.unhabitat.org

Windhoek, Namibia. © attila Jándi/shutterstock

un-habitat in partnership with africa

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