News

09/07/2024

Strengthening Risk-Informed Urban Development in Sub-Saharan Africa

Third Live Event of the Learning Process on Flood Management

Strengthening risk-informed urban development in Sub Saharan African Cities | Photo: GIZ

SADC Peer-to-Peer Learning Platform for Integrating Disaster Risk Management into Urban Planning and Development

The race against time to determine resilience-driven solutions to highly complex and existential urban disaster risk challenges is increasingly necessary more so in Africa. Projections point to the fact that by 2050, 90% of the global urbanization will be experienced in Africa and Asia. Despite Africa’s low contributions to Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions, the continent remains the most vulnerable to hazards and risk drivers like such as, but not limited to, climate change and (climate) variability. Evidently, Africa’s cities face exponential growth, unplanned urbanization trends and unfolding vulnerabilities threatening thus, to undo urban development gains. By 2050, most of the countries in the region will have made an urban transition, meaning that more than 50% of their population will live in urban areas, which are in turn, the cornerstone of Africa’s socio-economic development (IFRI 2022). As hubs of infrastructure, services, trade and people, cities are faced with one of the major urban threats in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), namely floods, subsequently challenging the continent’s socio-economic development ambitions. Urbanization is arguably an inevitable, unstoppable yet positive trend which nevertheless has the potential to greatly increase risk.

To incorporate integrated Disaster Risk Management (DRM) and climate change adaptation measures into multilateral and bilateral development cooperation programs - within and across all sectors -, Connective Cities (CC) and the Resilience Initiative Africa (RIA) have called the joint initiative on risk-informed urban development (RIUD) to enable peer to peer exchanges through a hybrid modular learning processes (LP). The LP focuses on strengthening risk-informed urban development by creating innovative solutions for flood risk management in urban systems situated in Sub-Sahara Africa with a focus in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Region.

The LP enables the use of an agile, barrier-reduced learning and exchange platform for RIUD, which is used by regional, national, and local governmental and non-governmental actors. The modular and systemic approach of the LP for RIUD includes areas related to "Sustainable Urban Development” and "Good governance” facilitating the formation of new partnerships across vertical and horizontal scales for urban/regional resilience. Through the differentiated yet complementary political counterparts, between CC and RIA, the GIZ is able to ensure scalability and wide-spread transfer and communication of the results (i.e. RIUD SADC Publication).

To enhance resilience in southern African cities, CC and RIA developed a series of hybrid modular LPs (Live Events and virtual Insight Sessions) which focus on peer to peer exchange on integrated flood risk management in SADC as part of Sub-Sahara Africa.

The kick-off event in Windhoek, Namibia took place in April 2023 and marked the first round of the LEP by creating feedback loops to inform the development of context-specific, gender-equitable and climate-change-sensitive solution options directed at tackling urban flood risk challenges in both structural and non-structural terms. During the kick-off event, the peer-to-peer exchange was guided by initial thematic areas i.e: 1) Understanding and managing flood risk drivers, 2) Green infrastructure and nature-based approaches for risk-informed solutions, and 3) Risk communication flows and good governance.

 

The second round of the LP included a series of virtual insight sessions and a live event held in eThekwini, Republic of South Africa in November 2023. This Live Event created an in-person platform for participating cities and international experts to exchange further and fine-tune their respective project ideas while getting inspired by good practices from the region, including those showcased by the city of eThekwini.

 

While the third round of the LP is ongoing, the SADC Regional Workshop on “Flood Management for Risk-Informed Urban Development” took place in the hosting city of the SADC Secretariat, namely Gaborone, Botswana, from the 11th – 13th June 2024. The specific objective of this event was to finalize the bankable project proposals by enhancing the quality and eligibility of the so far developed proposals through expert and peer review, while also exploring the necessary institutional arrangements for successful submission to financing institutions, and potential implementation.

Representatives of seventeen (17) cities from eight (8) member states from Sub-Sahara Africa with a focus on the SADC region continued co-creating and finalizing bankable project proposals along the following themes:

  1. Nature-based solutions
  2. Sustainable urban drainage systems
  3. Local community capacity development

The welcoming remarks to the event were provided by the SADC Secretariat, Mr. Alex Banda; the GIZ SADC/Botswana Country Director, Mr. Christoph Schmidt; the National Disaster Management Office - Office of the President, Coordinator, Mr. Moagi Baleseng; and Tlokweng District Council Chairperson, Honourable Mr. Collen Mochotlhi were followed by a panel discussion on “Integrative approach: Exploring synergies and complementarities for Risk informed urban development”. Moderated by Ms. Sabine Drees, representative of the German Association of Cities, the panel discussion set the scene for a lively exchange of approaches to risk informed development and its challenges in urban areas. The panelists included representatives of the SADC Secretariat, the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction Africa (UNDRR), the City of Cologne and the Tlokweng District of Gaborone.

 


Key take-aways from the panel session:

  • There are underlying systemic risks, and everyone affected should learn from each other. DRM should not only be interdisciplinary but also trans-disciplinary.
  • People in different part from within a water catchment, should communicate with each other. In Europe there are catchment risk partnerships, which is a planned approach. There are also international partnerships that address risks across countries which share catchments.
  • Local governments do not manage risks alone, they also engage local businesspeople and other stakeholders. The public and private sector should work together and complement each other. Cost-benefit analysis on prevention and mitigation measures vs. disasters at city level, should be communicated to the private sector as per how resilient the private investments could be. PPP’s are pertinent to risk informed development.
  • Engineering solutions should also include nature-based approaches, good governance, community engagement and indigenous knowledge. It is important to consider a bottom-up and a whole of society approach, while the State can leverage its expertise to drive local based solutions.
  • Municipal associations advocate for cities. The work done by cities are given a voice and echoed by the municipal associations in global and regional fora.
City representatives pitching their projects to the panel of judges during the live event. | All photos: GIZ

Project proposal Pitching

A key aspect from this workshop was the Project Proposal pitching, done by city participating cities to a panel of expert judges, with vast experience on the various thematic areas of Risk informed Urban Development.  The purpose of the pitches done by the cities were to gain critical feedback on the proposals developed as part of the year long learning process, and for the city representatives to learn if there are any technical considerations to be made, or how they can better steer their proposals towards financing and implementation. During the workshop, 9 cities carried out the pitches, with their proposals falling under the themes of Nature-based solutions, Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems and Local Community Capacity Development. The cities that pitched their proposals were the following:

  1. Dar es Salaam (TZ) – Enhancing Flood Resilience in Dar es Salaam City through Nature-Based Solutions: Zingiziwa Forest Pilot Study
  2. eThekwini (ZA) – Flood Protection Guidelines for Risk informed urban Development
  3. Tlokweng/Gaborone (BW) - Urban Drainage Master Plan and Phased Implementation for the design and construction of Gaborone/Tlokweng Stormwater drainage masterplan a mix of proposed Nature based Solutions (NbS) and infrastructure solutions.
  4. Garowe (SO) - Nature based Stormwater drainage Solutions
  5. Lusaka (ZM) - Feasibility Study to address wetland restoration
  6. Maputo (MZ) - Promote the implementation of resilient infrastructures to improve drainage and stabilise rainwater in the KaMavota County District
  7. Polokwane (ZA) - Nature Based Solutions for Flood Risk Management or climate change resilience in City of Polokwane
  8. Marienthal (NA) - Integrated drainage system development and implementation in Mariental
  9. Windhoek (NA) - Flood Risk Management in the City of Windhoek
City representatives pitching their projects to the panel of judges during the live event. | All photos: GIZ


Key take aways on the role of municipal associations for RIUD in the SADC-Region

UNDRR, SADC, ICLEI, GIZ and the German Association of Cities representatives deliberated during a parallel session, on the potential role of municipal associations in the further rollout of the RIUD approach in the SADC region. The results of the open discussion were presented during the last day of the event, highlighting the following items:

  • The role of municipal associations for RIUD was recognized as relevant, particularly at their interface between local governments/municipalities and regional and global fora, as well as with the national chambers of commerce.
  • Municipal associations within SADC MS could enhance the relevance of transboundary approaches for regional integration.
  • While the development of a SADC Strategy for RIUD and local governments could set the frame and enable a potential regional association of municipalities, the establishment of municipal associations in SADC MS, as well as strengthening of the existing and in most cases also financed by MS and their city members in the SADC. This can be achieved through i.e. peer-to-peer exchanges, by contributing towards building a series of business-cases for RIUD and DRM approaches in urban systems.
  • The establishment of a “rotating peer-to-peer learning and exchange platform” or “resilience hub” or “SADC Forum for RIUD”, inclusive of municipal associations which can allocate resources, could facilitate the continuation and sustainability of the regional aspirations towards multi-level good governance, integration, and resilience building at municipal level.

In parallel to the peer-to-peer exchange sessions on the bankable project proposals, the live event facilitated the building-up of a community of practice, which is in a capacity to also address multi-actor, multilevel and cross-sectoral interdependencies for agenda coherence (i.e. Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015 2030 (p.22 VI., §47); Paris Agreement (Art. 7, §1; Art. 8 §4; Art 7 §7); Agenda 2030, SDGs: 9; target 9.1; 11, target 11.5; 13); New Urban Agenda Habitat III (Item 77 &101)).

The peer-to-peer learning and exchange sessions taking place. | All photos: GIZ


Field trip

On the last day of the live event, the participants went on a guided field trip courtesy of the Gaborone and Tlokweng Districts. Tlokweng as one of the visited sites is described to have its primary cause of flooding related to an inadequate storm water drainage system. The absence of proper drainage systems leads to significant disruptions for residents, including those commuting to school and work. The second site was Segoditshane River which traverses Gaborone City, showcase a good example on how development decisions can create and exacerbate risks, affecting not only the local community but also other critical infrastructure. The last site was the Old Naledi, which started first as an informal settlement after Gaborone was declared the Capital City of Botswana. In the 70s, the area was recognized as formal settlement and residents were finally recognized with residential certificates. Old Naledi, despite its own uniqueness of a formal settlement continues to experience challenges of an informal settlement.

Guided field excursion | All photos: GIZ

 

Next Steps

The workshop was closed by the Mayor of Gaborone City, His Worship Austin Abraham, where he shared the following Setswaan idiom of “"kgetsi ya tsie e kgonwa ke go tshwaraganelwa", which loosely translates to “Working together, we can defeat all hurdles”. The idiom shared by His Worship, effectively describes the one-year Learning Process that has been implemented in Sub-Sahara Africa, where urban practitioners from over 29 cities across 14 countries, came together to discuss how to better handle floods and ensure resilient development. Additionally, the role of the non-city actors must also be recognized in the proposal and capacity development of the urban practitioners throughout this one-year Learning Process.

As per the future of this joint initiative on RUID and to further build on the established community of practice, participants also decided/discussed to jointly support the elaboration of Guidelines for Risk Informed Urban Development that will include aspects of i.e., sustainable urban drainage systems, nature-based solutions, and local community capacity development.

With the constructive feedback provided by the whole range of actors across the Live Events in Windhoek (NA), eThekwini (ZA) and Gaborone (BW), the city representatives are now looking towards turning their project concepts into bankable project proposals, ready to be taken up by implementing and financing entities.

The virtual insight sessions with the aim of building capacities of urban practitioners will still be taking place, with many different inputs under the umbrella of Risk informed urban development planned.

Contact: Karl-Heinz Gaudry, Ricarda Meissner


Author:
Jimmy Yoedsel, Connective Cities


Related Content

Top