Learning from community voices, universities and knowledge processes - Experiences across Africa

For urban development to be both inclusive and effective, it is essential to incorporate the voices, perspectives, and knowledge of all communities, including the most marginalized groups.

Current norms in policy and research often dictate that academic knowledge is the primary reference for expertise, rigour or accuracy. And yet, the people who really know the priorities, politics, systems, and history of a place are the people and communities who have lived there for many years. To achieve equitable and effective urban progress, it is essential that researchers and politicians are able to hear and value the depth of knowledge held within communities. This panel discussion will address the obstacles encountered by Global South communities being less vocal and audible, limiting the comprehensive discussion of their lived experiences. The discussions will reflect on the barriers to integrating community voices in terms of exclusion, neglect of local perspectives, diverse community levels, and language and customary barriers. Speakers will highlight how academia can play a major role in highlighting and validating community issues, which often go unheard in policy discussions. The session will also highlight practical ways that community knowledge can be used to best effect by urban researchers, professionals, and politicians.

This session will be convened by the Integrated Urbanism and Sustainable Design program in Cairo (IUSD- Cairo) and the African Cities Research Consortium. It will explore the importance of community knowledge in urban reform, drawing on the experiences of Ain Shams University (ASU), Namibia University for Science and Technology (NUST), Slum Dwellers International (SDI) groups across Africa, the University of Stuttgart (USTUTT) and Manchester (UoM), in collaboration with the Namibia Housing Action Group (NHAG), and the Urban Development Fund (UDF) in Egypt.

The session will explore learnings from two ongoing projects: Go GLOCAL project, a triangular partnership between Egypt, Namibia and Germany in partnership between academia and local civil society organizations; and the African Cities Research Consortium, a collaborative approach to tackling complex urban problems by bringing together researchers, community groups, local authorities and donors. It will feature community-based leaders who have been actively involved in research and advocacy processes from Harare, Zimbabwe, and Windhoek, Namibia.

It will highlight the potentially transformative effects that occur when community expertise is valued within urban change processes. Universities' close ties to communities enable them to help establish people's needs and serve as platforms for amplifying diverse voices and generating innovative ideas. It will also explore how and why knowledge sharing and coproduction processes can break down – and what it feels like to be disempowered by processes that don’t fully value the contribution and insights of communities.