Improved municipal planning in African CiTies – IMPACT for a climate resilient future

Sub-Saharan Africa’s most pressing challenges include both the development of skills and sustainable governance systems. These challenges are particularly daunting in view of the significant impacts that climate change will impose on African populations. African city government officials are required to deal with these challenges while facing major resource shortages. It is therefore essential that local governments do not work alone, but harness the skills and energy of multiple and diverse city stakeholders. However, viable mechanisms to enable these engagements are rarely implemented successfully and research is needed to explore effective collaboration mechanisms.

The aim of this project will be to investigate improved municipal planning in African ciTies (IMPACT) mechanisms (processes or interventions that enable collaboration between diverse sets of stakeholders) and how they can contribute to building climate resilience via more inclusive planning and action. This project will put research into use by engaging stakeholders in sub-Saharan African cities in the co-production and implementation of improved IMPACT mechanisms. The proposed research will be conducted in two cities in Malawi and two in Zimbabwe. Through consultative and learning engagements, mechanisms will be identified, implemented, and monitored to highlight barriers and enablers to their implementation. In addition to traditional academic outputs such as research papers, long-term legacy will be pursued through the production of a set of guidelines and training and capacity development for a diverse set of municipal and other governance stakeholders.

The research project will be led by the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives Africa, with the collaboration of the African Climate and Development Initiative at the University of Cape Town, the University of Malawi, the Chinhoyi University of Technology (Zimbabwe), and the cities’ local stakeholders.