Integrated Planning in Western Africa: Experiences from Cameroon and Nigeria

According to the National Urban Policy report of Sub-Saharan Africa (UN-Habitat, 2018), West Africa is the second-fastest urbanizing area of the African continent. Although different and unique, Cameroon and Nigeria are faced with similar challenges when it comes to their urban future. It is imperative a planning process that integrates socio-economic and spatial aspects, to tackle fast and uncontrolled urbanization, climate change, socio-economic inequalities, and ineffective.

According to the National Urban Policy report of Sub-Saharan Africa (UN-Habitat, 2018), West Africa is the second-fastest urbanizing area of the African continent. Although different and unique, Cameroon and Nigeria are faced with similar challenges when it comes to their urban future. It is imperative a planning process that integrates socio-economic and spatial aspects, to tackle fast and uncontrolled urbanization, climate change, socio-economic inequalities, and ineffective governance, and to enhance the potentialities of a growing region. The Integrated Development Planning approach relies on the endogenization of development processes, it is founded on consensus building and a participatory approach. Haiti is presenting challenges which are not tacked in the same way. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Development in Cameroon, and the Niger State in Nigeria, have taken on this challenge developing ambitious programs. Their experiences are precious for the West-African region, as they touch on cross-cutting themes, like gender balance, youth inclusion, social and environmental justice, urban-rural linkages, risk reduction, multiculturalism, resilience, nature-based solutions, safety and security, people-centred smart cities and human rights. They are examples of how IDPs are effective ways to localize the New urban Agenda (NUA) and the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development (SDG), and to transpose them to an appropriate and implementable scale. Another aspect the programs share is the focus on capacity building through equipping the local community and technical staff, with tools and skills to handle planning related challenges. 

Finally, both projects had to navigate the outbreak of Covid-19 and other diseases, and the insecurity produced by bandits and terrorist groups. In that regard, it is important to learn how the IDP process, includes health, safety and security.  The different countries will share their experiences and lessons will be learned.  The planning instruments that will be presented analyze the context considering five dimensions: Territorial, Environmental, Socio-Cultural, Economic, and Governance.  Even with good or appropriate tools, country like Haiti will be facing some specificities which contraste with the situation in Cameroon and Nigeria with IDP.