Productive, Livable Cities Will Open Africa's Doors to the World

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

A new World Bank report notes that Sub-Saharan Africa’s cities are crowded, disconnected and costly

African urban areas contain 472 million people, and that number is expected to double over the next 25 years

If well managed, cities can help countries accelerate growth and “open the doors” to global markets

WASHINGTON, February 9, 2017 – Urbanization is a source of dynamism that can enhance productivity and increase economic integration, says a new World Bank report, Africa’s Cities: Opening Doors to the World, released today.

If well managed, cities can help countries accelerate growth and “open the doors” to global markets in two ways: (i) by creating productive environments that attract international investment and increase economic efficiency and (ii) by creating livable environments that prevent urban costs from rising excessively with increased densification. By generating agglomeration economies, cities can enhance productivity and spur innovation and national economic diversification.

However in Africa, concentration of people in cities has not been accompanied by economic density. Typical African cities share three features that constrain urban development and create daily challenges for businesses and residents: they are crowded, disconnected, and costly. To support the development of cities that work—cities that are livable, connected, and affordable, and therefore economically dense—the report calls for policy makers to direct attention toward the deeper structural and institutional problems that misallocate land, fragment development, and limit productivity.

Africa’s cities are quickly gaining in population. Urban areas contain 472 million people. That number will double over the next 25 years. The largest cities grow as fast as 4 percent annually. Productive jobs, affordable housing, and efficient infrastructure will be urgently needed for residents and newcomers.

The growth of cities will be central to development in Africa as well as elsewhere. But for urbanization to bring the benefits that it should, cities will need to offer incentives to investors through agglomeration and higher productivity.

Cities also must become more livable to their residents by offering services, amenities, and housing for the poor and the middle class. Mayors and ministries will need to resolve structural problems and improve conditions for both people and businesses.

Starting with reforms to land markets and regulations, while increasing and coordinating early infrastructure investments, African governments can build cities that work. Successful urbanization will also support Africa’s agricultural and rural transformation by effectively absorbing the labor being released by these sectors; by providing a market for agricultural produce; and by financing further transformation and commercialization.

Key Recommendations

Reform urban land markets (simplify property rights, strengthen city plans)—over the next 20 years, growth in Africa’s urban populations will increase new demand for infrastructure, for housing and other physical structures, and for amenities. To meet this new demand, city leaders and planners must use adaptable strategies. Plans and regulations should allow the best use of land—but they should also permit uses, and users, to change over time, as demand evolves further. Three key considerations will be how to handle land and property rights; how to value land and manage land prices; and land use and urban planning.

Coordinate early infrastructure investments. Cities must improve the institutional and the physical and infrastructural structures, making them more livable and affordable for people and more attractive to business.

Global education Sexual abuse and corporal punishment ‘widespread’ in Tanzania's schools

Human Rights Watch report calls on UK and other aid donors funding ambitious education programme to put pressure on government to halt abuses

The report says female students are exposed to sexual harassment and that in some schools male teachers coerce them into sexual relationships. Photograph: Graeme Robertson for the Guardian

Ben Quinn

Sexual abuse, harassment and corporal punishment are widespread in schools in Tanzania, according to a report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) that called on donors funding one of Africa’s most ambitious education programmes to press for government intervention.

The report also found that more than 40% of adolescents in Tanzania were left out of quality lower-secondary education, despite a decision to make this schooling free. The country has one of the world’s largest youth populations, with 43% of people under the age of 15.

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The east African state, which has put young people at the heart of its aspiration to become a middle-income country by 2025, has been lauded for its December 2015 move to abolish all fees and charges for secondary schools. Enrolment has significantly increased as a result, according to the government.

But in its report, “I Had a Dream to Finish School”: Barriers to Secondary Education in Tanzania, the human rights group said that the country’s government needed to do more to address crowded classrooms, discrimination and abuse, which undermined many adolescents’ education.

It found that school officials conducted compulsory pregnancy tests and that, in most cases, girls were not allowed to re-enrol after their children were born.

The use of “brutal and humiliating forms” of corporal punishment was also found to be common in schools, affecting attendance. Although still lawful in the country, HRW said this violates Tanzania’s international obligations, and that the frequency with which it happened was “alarmingly high”.

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The report said female students were exposed to widespread sexual harassment, and that in some schools male teachers attempted to persuade or coerce them into sexual relationships.

Although Tanzania was once regarded as one of Africa’s development success stories and one of the continent’s largest recipients of aid, international donors suspended nearly $500m (£400m) in budget support to the country in 2014 in response to claims that senior government officials siphoned off funds.

Nevertheless, major education programmes aiming to raise the quality of learning in its primary and secondary schools have received significant levels of external investment. Key donors include the World Bank (pdf) and the UK, which is investing more than £150m in education over an eight-year period (2013- 20).

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Elin Martínez, children’s rights researcher at Human Rights Watch, said the UK government was to be commended for its funding, but added: “Effective investment is about more than just pumping money into the system and getting children to physically attend school. It’s about making sure children are treated right once they get there too.

“Donors, including the UK, should push the Tanzanian government to make sure children are safe in schools, and it should urgently grapple with two of the biggest problems we’ve uncovered: corporal punishment and widespread sexual abuse.”

A spokeswoman for Britain’s Department for International Development (DfID) said the UK had helped more than a half a million students to receive a higher quality of education in Tanzania. “We are working with the government of Tanzania to implement lasting improvements to the education system, and have recently supported significant advances in literacy rates, pupil-to-teacher ratios and the number of pupils passing exams,” she added.

DfID support comes through two main initiatives – the Education Quality Improvement Programme and the Education Programme for Results, which was previously known as Big Results Now.

The former only provides support when key education results in primary and secondary education have been achieved, according to DfID, while the latter has worked with Tanzanian education authorities to develop a campaign to reduce corporal punishment and guide teachers on abiding by codes of conduct.

HRW interviewed more than 220 secondary school students, out-of-school adolescents, parents, education experts, local activists, development partners, and national and local government officials in eight districts in four regions of Tanzania.

https://www.theguardian.com/…/sexual-abuse-and-corporal-pun…