Dr. Lena Gutheil

• Lena Gutheil

Civil society participation in urban governance in Africa. Supporting CSOs’ political voice for a transformation of citizen–state relations

Urbanisation offers great potential for Africa’s economic and social development but the rapid transformation is also putting a strain on Africa’s cities. Citizens have long demanded participation in urban governance that goes beyond elections. Although participatory processes have become increasingly evident, they are still far from being institutionalised at scale. This policy brief argues that participatory processes need to be thoroughly embedded in politics in order to move beyond particularistic gains towards a structural improvement of relations between citizens, CSOs, and local governments.

doi:10.18449/2022MTA-PB05

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• Benedikt Erforth
• Lena Gutheil

Why we should talk about megatrends in Africa

• German

Megatrends have become ubiquitous phenomena in public policy debates. A thorough understanding of what this concept entails is often missing. We address this gap by unpacking the notion “megatrend” and tracing the significance it has for understanding the transformation of African societies.