Migration in African Intermediary Cities: Why Multi-stakeholder Partnerships are Key to Inclusive Action

Blog originally posted on OECD Development Matters.

By Janina Stürner-Siovitz, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, and Lasse Juhl Morthorst, Research Fellow, The Equal Partnerships Project, Research on Migration, Displacement and Integration, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg

Intermediary cities in Africa are becoming major hubs of mixed migration, but local governments often lack legal mandates and resources to include migration questions in urban planning. Multi-stakeholder partnerships open opportunities for inclusive and context-sensitive urban migration governance.

Africa’s intermediary cities are experiencing the growing effects of mixed migration movements (a broad concept including migrants, refugees, victims of trafficking, etc.) and of national migration policies. Intermediary cities, often hosting between 50 000 and 1 million inhabitants and connecting rural areas and smaller towns with capital cities, account for the highest relative share of urban conglomerations among African cities, a trend forecast to continue in the future. Along with natural population growth, intra-African migration is a major contributor to urban expansion. While the transformation of Africa’s intermediary cities into cities of origin, destination and transit offers many opportunities, migration movements may also reinforce pre-existing structural challenges including the provision of accommodation and basic services, access to (informal) labour markets, and ensuring social cohesion. Yet, not only do local governments lack the human resources, funding and legal mandates to engage on mixed migration, their perspectives are hardly included in national and international decision-making on migration and asylum, despite the direct impact of resulting policies on urban areas.

Read the full blog here.