Ethiopia uses formal social protection programmes as a political instrument. Some of these, however, have an adverse effect on citizens’ equitable access to resources. Integrating informal social protection platforms into the system could help reduce both societal grievances and state fragility.

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.Megatrends Policy Brief 2022 05, 14.07.2022, 10 Seiten
