Contribution of Urban Reform Coalitions to Advancing Development in Africa

• In Event: New Perspectives on the Comparative Politics of Cities in the Global South

Abstract

There is an imperative for urban reform in Africa. An estimated 56 per cent of the population live in informal settlements with inadequate access to basic services and without tenure security. Coalitional politics is being used by multiple urban social movements – and agencies that support their work – to address the scale and nature of disadvantage in towns and cities across the global South. To advance our understanding about how coalitions might form and function effectively, this paper introduces and analyses the contribution of coalition to reform in 12 African cities. These empirical findings emerge from studies with primary and secondary data that analyse economic, social and political change.
Our study finds a diverse range of experiences as multiple stakeholders seek to configure strategies that address issues of poverty and social exclusion. We show that knowledge (supported by academics) is an effective tool which legitimises grassroots needs and interests and around which diverse interests are willing to convene. Such efforts have resulted in commitments to provide tenure security for specific neighbourhoods and policy reforms. However, programmes to roll out infrastructure improvements in informal neighbourhoods – with consequential improvements in economic opportunities, and well-being - have not been forthcoming. Hence we find evidence that coalitions have secured improvements in political opportunities but that substantive redistribution remains challenging.

Authors

• Ezana Haddis Weldeghebrael, University of Birmingham

• Diana Mitlin, University of Manchester