Understanding urban property tax with Samuel B Biitir
As urbanisation accelerates across Africa, cities are under growing pressure to deliver essential infrastructure and public services – such as water, sanitation, drainage and electricity. Yet this expanding responsibility is unfolding in a context where sustainable funding and reliable financing mechanisms remain limited or entirely absent, leaving many local governments struggling to meet rising demands.So, how can African cities manage their expanding expenditure responsibilities, particularly in the face of persistent funding shortfalls? One potential solution lies in property taxation – a levy applied to the ownership, transfer or occupation of land and physical property.Ahead of an upcoming ACRC workshop in Accra, Chris Jordan is joined by Samuel B Biitir for a conversation around the challenges and opportunities of urban property taxation in African cities. With a particular focus on the Accra context, they discuss how property taxation could help to improve essential urban infrastructure and services, the need for political buy-in, the potential benefits and blockages posed by digitalisation, and the importance of transparency when it comes to securing citizen support.> Read more about ACRC’s urban property tax workshop in AccraSamuel B Biitir is a senior lecturer in the Department of Land Management at SD Dombo University of Business and Integrated Development Studies, and led ACRC's land and connectivity domain research in Accra.Chris Jordan is communications and impact manager for the Global Development Institute at The University of Manchester, and ACRC's communications manager.----Music: Brighter Days | Broke in SummerSounds: ZapsplatThis podcast presents the views of the speakers featured and does not necessarily represent the views of the African Cities Research Consortium as a whole.Stay up to date with the latest publications, announcements and insights from the African Cities Research Consortium:> Website> E-news> Bluesky> LinkedIn> YouTube> X (Twitter)
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31:06
Action research spotlight: Healthy school meals in Nairobi
School feeding programmes are a vital safety net for vulnerable children, providing them with healthy and nutritious meals that they might otherwise miss out on.Such initiatives are not new and have run in Kenya in different forms for decades; in Nairobi, for example, the county government has an existing school feeding programme in public schools. But the current programme does not apply to informal private schools, meaning that the majority of children living in the city’s informal settlements have been excluded from the government initiative. An ACRC action research project aims to fill this gap.In this episode, Veronica Mwangi, researcher and lecturer of economic geography at the University of Nairobi, joins Chris Jordan to talk about the issue of healthy diets and nutrition in African cities – particularly among children living in Nairobi’s informal settlements. They discuss the various economic, market-related and household-level factors hindering access to nutritious diets in these settlements – such as low incomes, high food prices and cultural practices – highlighting malnutrition and food insecurity as major concerns. They explore the potential that expanding the existing school feeding programme has to address these issues and improve the nutrition of children living in informal settlements, outlining how the action research team is working closely with the community to co-create an affordable, sustainable school feeding model that can be rolled out across informal schools.> Read more about ACRC’s school feeding programme action research projectVeronica Mwangi is a researcher and lecturer of economic geography in the Department of Geography, Population and Environmental Studies at the University of Nairobi.Chris Jordan is communications and impact manager for the Global Development Institute at The University of Manchester, and ACRC's communications manager.----Music: Brighter Days | Broke in SummerSounds: ZapsplatThis podcast presents the views of the speakers featured and does not necessarily represent the views of the African Cities Research Consortium as a whole.Stay up to date with the latest publications, announcements and insights from the African Cities Research Consortium:> Website> E-news> Bluesky> LinkedIn> YouTube> X (Twitter)
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31:58
Why do land brokers matter in African cities?
Recently published ACRC research, exploring land and connectivity in African cities, found “land brokers” to be significant players within urban land markets. In Mogadishu, Somalia and Kampala, Uganda in particular, the research found that brokers play a prominent role in influencing land dynamics in the cities – acting as intermediaries in transactions and often directly impacting land prices.In this episode, ACRC’s land and connectivity domain lead Tom Goodfellow is joined by Abdifatah Tahir from Mogadishu and Eria Serwajja and Muhamed Lunyago from Kampala for a conversation around the role of land brokers in urban land markets in African cities.They discuss the key role that brokers play in connecting buyers with sellers and facilitating transactions, along with the influence they have over land prices. Highlighting issues that arose in the ACRC research, they also talk about concerns around legitimacy, trust and transparency within brokers’ activities, land value discrepancies, and the need for regulation.> Read more in ACRC's land and connectivity domain reportTom Goodfellow is professor of urban studies and international development at the University of Sheffield and co-led ACRC's land and connectivity domain research. Abdifatah Tahir is a research fellow at the University of Sheffield and was formerly a postdoctoral research fellow with ACRC, working on the land and connectivity domain team in Mogadishu.Eria Serwajja is a lecturer in the department of development studies of Makerere University in Uganda and was part of the ACRC land and connectivity domain team in Kampala.Muhamed Lunyago is a PhD fellow at the Makerere Institute of Social Research (MISR) at Makerere University in Uganda and was part of the ACRC land and connectivity domain team in Kampala. ----Music: Brighter Days | Broke in SummerSounds: ZapsplatThis podcast presents the views of the speakers featured and does not necessarily represent the views of the African Cities Research Consortium as a whole.Stay up to date with the latest publications, announcements and insights from the African Cities Research Consortium:> Website> E-news> Bluesky> LinkedIn> YouTube> X (Twitter)
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52:17
Lessons in resilience from the Maiduguri floods
On Tuesday 10 September 2024, Maiduguri city residents woke up to an unparalleled natural disaster: flooding that severely damaged over half of the city and resulted in the significant loss of lives. The five bridges that connect the city’s two sides overflowed, dividing it into two blocs that were unable to reach out to each other. Almost the entire lower portion of the city remained under water for over two weeks before the flood waters began to recede.The Alau Dam – situated a few kilometres away from Maiduguri city – collapsed, leading to a flood that killed an estimated 77 people and displaced 300,000. As a city still recovering from the scourge of the Boko Haram insurgency, the flood has further compounded the economic and social challenges that city residents were already facing. The victims were faced with challenges of health care, infrastructural needs, mental health and psychosocial support needs, shelter and food.In this podcast episode, Chris Jordan speaks to Babakura Bukar about the devastation caused by the floods, the factors contributing to the dam collapse and how such a disaster could be avoided in the future. > Read more in ACRC’s Maiduguri city reportBabakura Bukar was ACRC's uptake lead for Maiduguri in the foundation phase of the programme.Chris Jordan is communications and impact manager for the Global Development Institute at The University of Manchester, and ACRC's communications manager.----Music: Brighter Days | Broke in SummerSounds: ZapsplatThis podcast presents the views of the speakers featured and does not necessarily represent the views of the African Cities Research Consortium as a whole.Stay up to date with the latest publications, announcements and insights from the African Cities Research Consortium:> Website> E-news> Bluesky> LinkedIn> YouTube> X (Twitter)
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21:47
Politics and progress in Accra with Abdul-Gafaru Abdulai
Accra is home to around 5 million people and plays a crucial role in Ghana’s national political landscape. Located on the coast of West Africa, development trajectories of the city are significantly influenced by national and global events.More than two thirds of the population are estimated to reside in informal settlements, with a great diversity of cultures and ethnicities across communities. Many of these areas have no or unreliable access to essential services including water, electricity and sanitation, and significant levels of inequality exist among different neighbourhoods.In this episode, Abdul-Gafaru Abdulai joins Chris Jordan to talk about the major findings from ACRC’s urban development research in the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area. He discusses how the city has changed over the last 25 years, including shifting geographical boundaries, along with the slow progress being made towards addressing Accra’s significant housing deficit and improving service delivery in disadvantaged areas.He notes how attitudes towards informal settlement residents and their needs are slowly changing, with some evidence to suggest that national and city elites are making efforts to enhance basic services in settlements like Old Fadama. Delving into insights from the city research into the political dynamics at play in Accra, he also highlights the importance of the city to national elites – largely due to its significant urban population and position as a swing voting city – and the need for greater cooperation and capacity building among city authorities to drive meaningful urban transformation.> Read more in ACRC’s Accra city reportAbdul-Gafaru Abdulai is an associate professor in the Department of Public Administration at the University of Ghana Business School, an honorary research fellow at the Global Development Institute at The University of Manchester and ACRC's Accra city lead.Chris Jordan is communications and impact manager for the Global Development Institute at The University of Manchester, and ACRC's communications manager.----Music: Brighter Days | Broke in SummerSounds: ZapsplatThis podcast presents the views of the speakers featured and does not necessarily represent the views of the African Cities Research Consortium as a whole.Stay up to date with the latest publications, announcements and insights from the African Cities Research Consortium:> Website> E-news> Bluesky> LinkedIn> YouTube> X (Twitter)
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