Description
The Sustainable Development Goals underscore the need to build safe, healthy and more inclusive cities, with ample opportunities for decent work. The Constitutions of most African countries provide for the maximum freedom and welfare of all citizens on the basis of social justice, equity and human rights, but the political commitment to justice and the social protection of the poor is low at all levels of government. UN-Habitat and the ILO estimates that Sub-Saharan African cities have close to 200 million slum dwellers, most of who work in the informal sector where they simply do not earn enough to afford the high standard of shelter and services which government officials expect. While some elite neighborhoods in these cities enjoy high quality housing and residential environment, the bulk of the urban poor live in appalling and health threatening conditions. What does sustainability mean for such cities and townspeople? How do we build African cities that are not disconnected from people’s needs?
Many planner and government officials, who aspire to international standards of modernity, tend to dismiss the informal sector as ‘a chaotic jumble of unproductive activities’ that should be removed through their punitive and misguided policies of forced eviction and other forms of repression. The fact is that the informal sector has helped to promote local livelihoods and income in the cities, and thus to alleviate poverty, and to provide some degree of social protection. Sadly, the poor workers in the sector are exposed to numerous occupational hazards, as well as harassment by the Police and other government agencies. They suffer disproportionately from urban violence, and the negative impacts of climate change. The pattern of government spending on health and other social services places them at a disadvantage. They have little or no social protection, and rely largely on their own means, and on traditional kin-based social security networks.
We argue that government officials and planners, who have idealized notions of the modern African city, must learn to strike the right balance between the ideals of international standards and the reality of local conditions and requirements. While these officials should uphold the law that protects public health and the urban environment, current research suggests that the path to urban peace and sustainability in Africa lies in building more inclusive and socially equitable cities that accommodate the ways of life of majority of city inhabitants. There is a need to devise appropriate and well targeted interventions to ensure the safety, health and welfare of the poor and informal sector workers, with programmes of greater awareness training for workers; schemes to provide small amounts of credit and other financial services to the poor; and policies to increase job opportunities for youths and other disadvantages groups.
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