Promoting good urban governance and planning in Africa: Implications for the NEPAD agenda

Geoffrey I. Nwaka, Abia State University

African cities provide an appropriate platform for advancing the NEPAD mandate to alleviate poverty, promote good governance, and achieve the Millennium Development Goals. The paper discusses how cities and urban slums have developed in Africa over the last 50 years, the extent to which government policies have helped or constrained the poor, and the appropriate strategies to protect urban livelihood for the poor, and also ensure a healthy and socially acceptable environment. It examines the NEPAD Cities Programme, which seeks to develop African cities as engines of economic growth, and nodes of regional integration. It argues that in spite of continuing misgivings, NEPAD provides a potentially useful framework for dialogue between African leaders and the external collaborating partners. The NEPAD peer review mechanism can helps member countries to learn from each other best practices in good governance and planning needed to build cities that are productive, inclusive and socially equitable.