Connections between rural areas and cities in Sub-Saharan Africa
The objective of this topic is to enable research on common challenges that are relevant to all sub-Saharan African countries and that could be met more effectively by them collectively rather than individually. In order to meet this objective, the research should be multidisciplinary oriented, including the humanities, use and integrate quantitative and qualitative methodologies, develop forward looking approaches when relevant and create knowledge platforms to ensure exchange and transfer of knowledge within Africa and with Europe.
SSH.2011.4.1-2. Connections between rural areas and cities in Sub-Saharan Africa
The objective of this topic is to enable research on common challenges that are relevant to all sub-Saharan African countries and that could be met more effectively by them collectively rather than individually. In order to meet this objective, the research should be multidisciplinary oriented, including the humanities, use and integrate quantitative and qualitative methodologies, develop forward looking approaches when relevant and create knowledge platforms to ensure exchange and transfer of knowledge within Africa and with Europe.
The research should address the following issues with the aim to investigate more closely the connections between rural areas and cities in Sub-Saharan Africa:
- Thinking and developing land use and agriculture in a sustainable way is nowadays a major challenge for African countries. Major activities like forestry, plantations, energy production (charcoal, bio-fuels) and tourism have large impacts on agricultural actors. Different forms of land use and agricultural heritage are also affected. Research should analyse how the agricultural actors adapt to their changing environment and what the impact of these adaptations, in turn, is on local populations, products and land use as well as social, economic and political arrangements in rural areas but also in cities.
- The quantity and quality of services in Sub-Saharan African cities often remain very poor and are inadequate to respond to the needs of high levels of population and migration from rural areas to cities. Research should analyse how cities attempt to respond in terms of services to such migration and to the inequalities they often generate. It should bring recommendations on a number of inter-related key issues such as education and training, communication, property rights, and other social and economic policies. The research should cover at least three interlinked rural areas/cities in East, Central, Southern and West Africa.