Transforming informal settlements to protect residents' rights
From its base in Freetown, the Sierra Leone Urban Research Centre is working to ensure residents' rights in informal settlements across the country.
Fisherpeople听and fish sellers in Portee Rokupa 鈥� one of the economic activities analysed by SLURC livelihood research.听Credit: Julian Walker
Since its inception in 2015, the听听has set about shifting the way Freetown thinks about informal settlements. In just four years, it has helped get informal settlements recognised in the National Land Policy, in the country鈥檚 New National Development Plan, and in the ongoing preparation of the Mayor鈥檚 Freetown Transformation Plan (2018鈥�2022).
It has provided public access to more than a thousand documents relating to urban issues and become a sought-after research partner, involved in seven new projects with international consortia, attracting more than a 拢1m to fund the next five years of the centre鈥檚 work. And it has achieved this by building the capacity of the urban professionals and communities within Sierra Leone itself.
With funding for the first three years from Comic Relief, the SLURC was set up by Dr Andrea Rigon and Dr Alexandre Apsan Frediani at The Bartlett Development Planning Unit (DPU), in partnership with Dr Joseph Macarthy and Braima Koroma at the Institute of Geography and Development Studies, Njala University in Sierra Leone. To date, it has involved more than 30 staff from across The Bartlett and 果冻影院, and more than 100 students.
To appreciate the centre鈥檚 achievements, it is worth understanding the context: Sierra Leone鈥檚 civil war from 1991 to 2002 displaced a third of the population. Its fragile post-war recovery was undermined in 2014 by the Ebola epidemic, which killed about 4,000 people and slowed the economy. The country ranks 179th out of 188 on the Human Development Index, while its maternal mortality is the highest in the world.
Research session on gender and livelihoods in Freetown.听Credit: Julian Walker
Locally-relevant research
From the beginning, the founders were clear that the centre needed to be an autonomous structure, invested in Sierra Leone, and capable of continuing to shape positive change on the ground. Breaking with the norm, local researchers would not be paid individually by overseas universities 鈥� drawing them away from the business of their own institutions 鈥� but contracted to the SLURC, which would be able to set a locally-relevant research agenda when partnering with international scholars.
This was crucial, believes Rigon, who won a 果冻影院 Public Engagement Award for his work on the project. 鈥淭o understand how epidemics like Ebola spread and the urban conditions that increase that type of risk, for example, you need to be embedded in the local context. At the time, people weren鈥檛 researching these urban issues.鈥�
But the logistics of establishing the centre were complicated, he says. 鈥淯niversity systems are largely designed for Europe and North America, so it鈥檚 not easy to set up and build facilities in Sierra Leone.鈥� As a result, the SLURC is an organisation controlled by Njala University and the DPU (Rigon and Frediani sit on the board), and civil society in Freetown to 鈥渆nsure that the voices of local people are always present in shaping research agendas and advocacy goals鈥�.
鈥淎 university like 果冻影院 draws on resources from 鈥� and its students come from 鈥� all over the world. So it has a responsibility to do it in a way that doesn鈥檛 take away agency from local entities. How to do that is a very challenging question for higher education institutions,鈥� says Frediani. He describes the centre as a fantastic learning journey 鈥渁bout how we work in international partnerships and how we create equitable relationships 鈥� what we call 鈥榩artnerships of equivalence鈥欌��.
Mapping livelihood sectors of informal settlement residents.听Credit: Julian Walker
Today, the SLURC is run by an Executive Director (Macarthy) and a Director of Research and Training (Koroma) at Njala University. The DPU provides access to international networks; the local academics connecting it to networks on the ground in Freetown and across Sierra Leone. 听
Brokering relationships
Rigon says that was always the vision: to create a research capacity able to generate knowledge that was locally relevant 鈥� and manage it to make sure it was available to urban actors who could use it to change things. 鈥淲e found that there was lots of knowledge but it wasn鈥檛 being shared, it was one institution鈥檚 competitive advantage over another when applying for funds. And research was being repeated: so people were being asked the same question again and again, without seeing any impact.鈥�
The SLURC started sharing what it had. Gradually, it brought together existing knowledge into a database and made it available to everyone. This independence has enabled the centre, in a very short space of time, to become a broker of relationships. It鈥檚 arguably its most powerful role. 鈥淕roups of residents in the city see us as a partner, as someone who is advocating with them,鈥� says Frediani. 鈥淭o be able to create that space between government, grassroots organisations and NGOs, in what is a competitive environment, is a key achievement. We鈥檝e been able to create a more nurturing environment for conversations between different stakeholders that were not being had before.鈥�
Training was the most powerful way the SLURC did this. It brought together government officials, NGO staff, university lecturers and people from the local communities, and got them to carry out research together in the local settlements. And they did it in the rainy season. 鈥淭hey got soaked together, laughed under the same umbrella,鈥� says Rigon. 鈥淭hese were people who didn鈥檛 understand why they were in the same room together at first.鈥�
Neighbourhood planning through participatory photography workshop.听Credit: Alexander Macfarlane
By the end of the training 鈥� and the SLURC has done lots of this 鈥� people are making plans to visit each others鈥� churches. The impact has 鈥渞eally changed the discourse in the city about informal settlements鈥� says Rigon, getting the message home to governments that informal activity is the backbone of a city like Freetown and their policies on eviction and demolition damage 鈥渟o many people鈥檚 livelihoods that it could become a threat to national security and economy鈥�. 听
Community ownership
The message has been supported by key research projects. Frediani points to a听, which looked at how humanitarian responses in urban areas 鈥� in the wake of the Ebola crisis and environmental disasters 鈥� had an impact on community empowerment. 鈥淭argeted research in this field hadn鈥檛 been done before. It was a nuanced way of looking at how to include communities in humanitarian responses.鈥�
In a partnership with听, the SLURC developed a methodology to capture the community鈥檚 concerns and aspirations for their neighbourhood. The community neighbourhood plans that resulted from this participatory process now fill a gap in an otherwise top-down planning system that previously didn鈥檛 have a mechanism for local residents to feedback on the municipal area plans. They are now recognised in national policy, and Frediani says that they are already seeing communities using their plans to negotiate where infrastructure and development should go in their neighbourhood.
While the SLURC can鈥檛 take the credit for all the positive changes happening in Sierra Leone, its impact is visible on the ground and the international stage. In 2016, the centre travelled with the former Mayor of Freetown, along with his team, to the Habitat III conference, brokering a number of international contacts for the city. Frediani says this kind of relationship building is critical to carrying out meaningful work and 鈥渘ot easily factored into a research bid鈥�. The city鈥檚 new Mayor, Yvonne Aki Sawyerr, has embraced the centre, recently visiting 果冻影院 for a week of talks.
Research session with resident of an informal settlement in Freetown.听Credit: Julian Walker
鈥淥ne of the things we鈥檝e learned from SLURC is that it鈥檚 not just about building capacities in the Global South but our own capacities to be able to do this work 鈥� globally, but also locally, in London,鈥� says Frediani, who was recently consulted by 果冻影院鈥檚 Public Engagement Unit to share lessons learned to develop the unit鈥檚 targets.
In 2019, a delegation from 果冻影院, including the university鈥檚 then Vice-Provost International Dame Nicola Brewer and Vice-Provost for Africa Professor Ijeoma Uchegbu, visited Najala University to celebrate five years of the SLURC partnership.
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