Introducing the closing ceremony for the inaugural Africa Urban Forum (AUF) in Addis Ababa last week, Ethiopia’s Minister of Urban and Infrastructure, Chaltu Sani Ibrahim urged participants “to reflect on the historical significance of…a landmark event marking a significant milestone in our collective journey towards transforming Africa’s urban landscapes”.
Indeed, despite the overwhelming urban thrust of continental demographic trends over the last two decades, and concomitant gestures such as the African Union’s 2014 adoption of the African Charter on the Values and Principles of Decentralisation, Local Governance and Local Development, Africa’s leaders have largely eschewed prioritising a phenomenon whose existence has historically been viewed as a threat to rural prerogatives.
Lack of political will to meaningfully engage with Africa’s urbanisation is evidenced by the shortage of African Union member state signatures on the Charter, as well as by the fact that the Charter’s Consultative Local Governance Forum—a platform for sub-national interface with the AU—has yet to convene. For representatives of organised local government this feel like an egregious oversight, symptomatic of a deeper political disregard.
In light of these gaps, numerous participants viewed the very fact that the AUF happened—particularly given its overlap with the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation—as a small miracle. “The attendance of more than 25 ministers with some responsibility for urban development or planning is also a positive sign,” said Edgar Pieterse of the African Centre for Cities. “AU insiders all suggest that the profile of the AUF will translate into much more political attention in future years,” he added of the Forum, whose second iteration in 2026 has already been announced.
Not only did the AUF happen, its overarching narrative—woven through numerous Sessions and Plenaries, and summarised in the resultant AUF Declaration—broadcast a unified message signalling the urgency of not only keeping the Charter’s commitments alive, but reanimating and resourcing those conversations with pragmatic and collaborative action.
Notably, this includes harnessing the Declaration’s momentum by first and foremost focusing on its own stated agendas of: 1) Strengthening political will through organising national-level annual urban forums; 2) Implementing institutional frameworks and aligning policy by strengthening the AU STC-8 to oversee the implementation of sustainable urban development initiatives across Africa; and 3) Advancing capacity development by organising an “Annual Cities and Urban Development Week” to raise awareness, share best practices, foster collaboration and track progress on urban development.
“I have a sense of mission accomplished, I have a sense of hope,” said UN-Habitat’s Executive Director, Anacláudia Rossbach of the Declaration, which, reflecting the principles of the New Urban Agenda and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, gives urban actors at all levels a clear and progressive political mandate for action.
That said, fundamental questions remain around how to achieve the lofty goals laid out. In particular: fiscal autonomy for subnational government (reducing barriers to direct financing and the need for novel financing mechanisms, including taxation of “informal” sectors, which is not unproblematic); administrative decentralisation and functional coordination within subnational government (the importance of an integrated approach here is clear, but the devil, as always, is in the details); and the holy grail of equitable solutions to including “the informal” in urban development.
Threaded through that foundational core are the vital seams of sustainability, capacity building and Africa’s youth dividend. While no one was pretending that these challenges are anything other than monumental, as with the Forum itself, the takeaway from the Forum is that the work can now begin.
In her closing speech, Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development of Uganda and Chair of the Sub-Committee / Urban Development STC-8, Judith Nabakooba, graciously thanked AUF participants for their presence, urging everyone to “return to our respective governments and communities as ambassadors of the urban agenda, championing its principles and commitments”.
Invoking the “sense of purpose and urgency” of the work ahead, she left participants with a quote from Nelson Mandela: “the greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall”.
