In 2017, the African Centre for Cities (ACC) was asked by the New Climate Economy‘s Coalition for Urban Transitions, to support National Urban Policy (NUP) in Ghana and Tanzania. In Ghana the work involved an update of the existing NUP, but in Tanzania the work was more complicated. While rapidly urbanising and confronting all the characteristics of unplanned human settlements, the Tanzanian administration was wary of devolving fiscal and governance control of its cities.
Confronted with this dilemma, ACC fell back on its tried-and-tested model of running a citylab. The Tanzanian Urbanisation Laboratory (TULab) was hosted by the Economic and Social Research Foundation (ESRF) in Dar es Salaam and the Ministry of Finance and Planning. Over 14 sittings, the TULab deliberated key pieces of urban policy research produced by local researchers. In what amounted to a subaltern, but highly generative process for Tanzanian urbanists, the end product was a roadmap to National Urban Policy that was launched by three Ministries in 2019. Tanzania’s actual NUP remains in draft format, but the notion of urbanisation providing a development opportunity, as opposed to an additional burden, remains alive in Tanzania’s policy discourse.
In this paper, the TULab originator, Anton Cartwright, reflects on the strengths and weaknesses of the three year process. The paper formed part of a University of Bristol project looking at how evidence is used in policy formulation in four African countries.
There is no shortage of policies in African countries, but evidence is under-utilised in policy formulation, despite the proliferation of monitoring and evaluation and performance evaluation toolkits and a growing rhetoric around evidence-informed policy.
About this case study
This is one in a series of four case studies written by African think tanks, commissioned as part of a research project that aims to unpack and better understand the use of different types of scientific and expert evidence in policymaking.
Each case study explores how evidence is defined, understood, and used in different national and sectoral policy contexts. This case study looks at climate-resilient national urban policy in Tanzania. The other three case studies cover: (1) Benin’s food security and nutrition sector (2) South Africa’s professionalisation of the public service (3) South Sudan’s national budget process.
Case studies vary in length, style, and approach. Each offers valuable insights into the factors and actors influencing evidence use within specific national and sectoral policy contexts. The case studies will also contribute to a research paper written by Dr Jessica Espey and Giada Casarin at the University of Bristol School of Geographical Sciences, which seeks to inform how evidence is used in international deliberations, particularly within the United Nations General Assembly.
The project is led by the University of Bristol, in collaboration with OTT Consulting, and four think tanks: ACED, African Centre for Cities, New South Institute, and Samahi Research. It was generously supported by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. The views presented in this paper are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the funding or partner organisations.
