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Join us as we explore the RISE Africa themes over the next few months through the RISE Africa Roadmap of online engagements, shared resources, webinars and video provocations. Together, we will build momentum for the RISE Africa Summit in May 2021.
 
“In, around, and between our cities in Africa, the ability to move from place to place, to access the city, and to connect simply with home, work and play is absolutely vital. Mobility is the glue that makes our society rich, connects our people, builds new cultures, possibilities and even new economies. Investing in safe, reliable, accessible, affordable mobility options is essential to building the Africa we want.”

~ Kobie Brand, Deputy Secretary General: ICLEI, Executive Director: ICLEI Africa

 
 

What happened last month? 

African Mobility Month

Mobility is a complex feature of African cities, with people generally having to travel long distances between home, places of work and for recreation. We need to transition to sustainable modes of transport, completely rethink how we co-locate work, living and amenities in our cities, and drive action for inclusive approaches. This is urgent, given the climate crisis, structural inequalities of access and the need to avoid lock-in to unsustainable infrastructures and ways of living. The coronavirus pandemic, requiring transformation of our daily routine, has provided the opportunity to reimagine and realise the future of our urban mobility. Cities are at the forefront of driving positive change and are the catalysts for ensuring our African roads and spaces are accessible to all, safe, inclusive and climate friendly.

ICLEI Africa teamed up with its partners for the second edition of #AfricanMobilityMonth which ran from 18 September – 18 October 2020. This annual campaign is a call to action for relevant actors across the continent to share knowledge, experiences and ideas for people-centred, carbon neutral and resilient mobility. Through social media, stakeholders and partners engaged in dialogue, hosted virtual events, launched resources and spread general positivity for sustainable movement and transport of people, goods and services in African cities. The efforts of partners, including Open Streets Cape Town, ITDP, UNEP, UNHABITAT, GIZ, TUMI, WRI, Young Urbanists, and UCT, contributed to the successful implementation of the month-long campaign.

Aiming to unpack the ideas of Inclusive Mobility, a dedicated webinar discussion explored what inclusivity should mean in the context of planning for, and implementing, sustainable mobility and transport in African cities. A key underpinning was offered by Gail Jennings, who suggested that we need to shift our focus from performance indicators, to understand what people want to do with their lives, and how we can support this with greater access. Crystal Asige from the Open Institute reflected that as a person living with a disability, there is a need for universal design of our cities to ensure accessibility, independence and equal opportunities for all people regardless of their ability. Inclusive mobility systems must also consider the safety of both passengers and transport operators and the empowerment of women, as reflected by Naomi Mwaura of Flone Initiative. Cities across Africa have already started to plan and implement the integration of inclusivity into the transport processes, with Accra Metropolitan Assembly actively gathering data to inform and improve understanding of its mobility system and the potential interventions. The City of Tshwane are being proactive in their planning by involving stakeholders through comprehensive stakeholder engagement processes in the city’s planning process.

The uptake of inclusivity concepts in mobility and transport planning processes is promising and it is wonderful to see cities being proactive in their approaches. Campaigns, such as #AfricanMobilityMonth, provide valuable opportunities for sharing these approaches and finding further inspiration. It is also important to note that contexts and realities across the continent differ; although similarities do exist, cities’ demands and challenges are far ranging. Nevertheless, a strong entry-point for reimaging urban mobility systems is to plan for people, their needs and their aspirations. Revisit the recorded discussion here.
"We should not waste a crisis - we have the opportunity to reframe our transport systems in more appropriate ways, which can support public safety and the movement of people.”


~ Naomi Mwaura, Transport Entrepreneur and Founder, Flone Initiative


"Inclusive mobility is vital for sustainable African cities because it nurtures and celebrates diversity, provides citizens with opportunity to carve out lives that they want and can support environmental sustainability."


~ Jehan Bhikoo, Professional Officer: ICLEI Africa


“We are stuck in measuring accessibility, rather than understanding what people can 'do' with greater access afforded by inclusive mobility.”


~ Gail Jennings, Independent Researcher, Sustainable mobility

 
 
 

September winners

The RISEAfrica Annual Photography Competition has had numerous compelling submissions to this year’s theme: #hiddenflows.


September explored how people moves through our cities, the various forms of mobility and the impacts they have on our lives and the city. The Winners and finalists are shown here.


In November, we will reflect on the submitted images at the launch of the #hiddenflows exhibition on 11 November 2020. Register Below

For more information, click here.

 
 

WINNER - @ghana.must.go

Accra, Ghana
•Night Life• Major streets in Accra at night are always busy. They are filled with Vehicles moving from one place to the other, usually from their places of work to their homes. Most of these vehicles are cars , with a large number being Private Cars and Public Transports (Trotro). Motorbikes , tricycles and bicycles race along with these cars. You may find a few people walking along the road too.

 
 

FINALIST - @naibishotit

Uganda | The endless traffic jam along Jinja highway

This road connects Kampala city to Jinja city. It's also an important commercial link to the outside world for not only Uganda but also the other two landlocked East African countries of Burundi and Rwanda. Almost all vehicles carrying imports from the Kenyan port of Mombasa use this road through Uganda upto the eastern part Democratic Republic of the Congo.

FINALIST - @mpel7art

Dakar, Senegal
S C È N E D E R U E V I⠀⠀

 
 

RISE Africa Roadmap to 2021

 
 

ICLEI Africa’s LoCS4Africa 2020 virtual congress, in partnership with The Covenant of Mayors in Sub-Saharan Africa and others

Co-hosted by The Government of Rwanda, The City of Kigali and The Rwandan Association of Local Government Authorities (RALGA)


LoCS4Africa explores unlocking finance across four tracks, and 3 cross-cutting themes

RISE Africa @ LoCS4Africa


Localising the SDGs through an urban food lens in the Global South: lessons from the Hungry Cities Project

An African Centre for Cities, Balsilie School of International Affairs & ICLEI Africa Side Event @ LoCS4Africa, as part of RISE Africa
Monday, 9 November 2020 14:30 – 1700 CAT, and Tuesday, 10 November 2020 – 14:30 – 17:00 CAT


There are growing efforts to localise the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which acknowledge the vital role of local government and urban actors in driving sustainability. These efforts are supported by an intuitive understanding of the interrelation between each of the SDGs, yet the integration of the SDGs is not as clearly articulated by the underlying SDG targets and indicators. This side event offers global reflections on SDG localisation efforts, and proposes that FOOD offers a useful lens for approaching sustainability in a holistic manner (Day 1). It then delves into the learnings emanating from many global South Cities engaged in the Hungry Cities project to shed light on food insecurity, food retail environments and policy implications for food and urban sustainability (Day 2).


Uncovering the #hidden flows in our cities: a photographic dialogue

Wednesday, 11 November 2020 – 12:00-13:00 CAT


You are invited to the Launch of the #hiddenflows photography exhibition. The exhibition explores the lived experience of many urban Africans and their relationship with the resources that sustain them and let them flourish. Particularly, we are interested in the hidden resource flows that are not taken into account in city planning or decision making. Through the use of photography we endeavour to communicate many ways in which African citizens interact with their city. This exhibition highlights and create a collective understanding of how urban metabolisms unfold formally and informally in African cities, and will be used to convene dialogue among viewers to explore the ideas and events depicted in the photographs. This launch event will share insights from the project coordinators and key participating photographers.
 
 

Upcoming webinars

Circularity in Africa Cities

Wednesday, 25 November 2020 – 12:00-14:30 CAT


The African Circular Economy Network and ICLEI Africa are facilitating the co-authoring of a discussion paper entitled "Circularity in Africa Cities." It is being drafted through a collaborative multi-stage, online, multi-author co-creative process and is scheduled for publication in Q1 2021. The objective of this Event is to receive feedback from stakeholders on the discussion paper and to engage interested parties in the drafting and publication process. Please join us in reflecting on the unique approaches to realising circular economy in African Cities.

Our Nature, Our Cities: A One Health Perspective on Urban Public Space

Tuesday, 1 December 2020 – 12:00-14:30 CAT


One Health is emerging as a concept that connects Animal, Human and Environmental Wellbeing through the ideas of shared space and codependence. This is particularly relevant in light of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has brought the question of distance, shared environment and public health. This webinar reflects on what a One Health perspective can offer to reshaping public space in our cities. It will present some varied provocations for rethinking public open space design and incorporating nature and greenery in urban development to support liveability, public safety and wellbeing. These include developing public foodways, centering mental wellbeing through tacit interaction and valorising access to nature among competing urban development priorities.
 
 

RISE Africa, brought to you by ICLEI Africa, with support from our partners: 

African Centre for Cities, NRF, South African Cities network, African Circular Economy Network, Djouman, The Nature of Cities, IIED, GSB-AGC, WWF, Tores Foundation, Covenant of Mayors SSA, AU Youth Envoy

 

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