How is life in your city?
We interviewed more than 4000 young people across 27 West African cities to ask How is life in your city?
This is what we found.
In July 2020, we surveyed more than 4 000 young people across 17 countries and 27 cities in West Africa and the Sahel to find out how they feel about their cities – what they like, what they dislike and what they think should be the priorities for their local governments. Here are the first results.
Respondents to the survey were recruited through Facebook, which is widely used in almost all large cities in the region, and completed the survey online.
Africa’s fast-growing cities are youthful. More than two-thirds of the residents of some of the continent’s largest cities like Lagos, Dakar, Accra and Abidjan are below the age of 30. How these cities, and hundreds of others, will look like in 20-30 years depends on the ability of urban youth to shape urban development with their ideas, preferences and visions.
West Africans like their cities
Young West Africans like many aspects of their cities. 79% think that they are good places to make new friends, 67% say that it is easy to move around with public transport and 58% of respondents agree that their cities are interesting. Overall, young men have a slightly more favourable perception of their cities than young women.
The positive attitude towards their cities was also visible in the 2,780 comments that were made on Facebook. Most of them showed a considerable attachment to their cities.
Air pollution, noise, congestion,...
While young West Africans like many aspects of their cities, they also see downsides about life in big cities. Similar to other cities around the world these include a lack of affordable housing, noise and air pollution, congestion and a feeling of insecurity.
However, there are important differences across cities. For example, 78% of respondents in Accra (Ghana) and Dakar (Senegal) agree that it is difficult to find good housing that is affordable, while only 19% and 25% do so in Kano (Nigeria) and Kumasi (Ghana), respectively. Likewise, 93% of respondents in Conakry (Guinea) and 86% respondents in Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire) agree that they are often stuck in traffic jams, while only 3% in Bouaké (Côte d’Ivoire) and 7% in Touba (Senegal) agree with the same statement.
One important factor explaining these differences is city size. Generally, young West Africans in larger cities are more likely to agree that downsides exist in their city than respondents in smaller cities. Yet, even when city size is taken into account, important differences across cities exist. For example, Abuja performs better than most cities with respect to the abovementioned downsides of urban life even though it is larger than the average city that we surveyed.
Young women feel less safe than young men
Share of respondents who often feel unsafe when walking alone in the streets after dark (%)
Just as there are gender differences in the perception of the upsides of urban life, there are also gender differences in the perception of its downsides. The difference is strongest with respect to public safety. On average, the share of men who agree and disagree that they “feel unsafe when walking alone on the street after dark” is nearly identical (43% versus 41%). In contrast, 16 percentage points more women agree than disagree with the same statement (51% versus 35%).
Jobs, jobs, jobs, ...
If there is one problem that most young urban West Africans agree about, it is a lack of jobs. On average, less than one-quarter of respondents agrees that “it is easy to find a good job” in their city. In two cities (Lomé, Togo and Bissau, Guinea-Bissau), the share is below 10%. Only in Kano and Kumasi do more respondents agree than disagree that it is easy to find a job.
The result does not imply that West African cities do not create jobs. To the contrary, job opportunities are likely an important factor in the attractiveness of cities contributing to their strong growth. Yet, the pace of job creation in cities is exceeded by an even faster population growth, highlighting the challenge that policy makers face to create sufficient jobs. Moreover, the quality of available jobs might not always correspond to the expectations of respondents.
Local governments need to step up
The urgent need for more jobs for young people in cities is also reflected in the expectations that young West Africans have of their governments. On average, 71% of respondents say that improving the economy is one the most important policy tasks of local governments — roughly 12 percentage points ahead of the second most important policy field, health policy.
Yet, to meet these expectations, local governments in large cities do not only need to implement better policies. An equally important element is the creation of greater political accountability. Currently, only 40% of young West African respondents to the survey think that their vote in local elections makes a difference in how their city is governed. Perceived accountability is particularly poor in Abuja, Conakry, Lomé and N’Djamena, where less than a quarter of all respondents think their vote in local elections can make a difference. In contrast, in Sikasso (Mali), Bobo-Dioulasso (Burkina Faso), Praia (Cabo Verde) and Kenema (Sierra Leone), more than 50% think that local elections can influence how their city is managed.
Only if local governments listen to young inhabitants can they shape their cities to make them attractive places to live in the future. This is true everywhere, but even more so in West Africa where young people below the age of 30 make 70% of the population.
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