The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) is set to mobilize stakeholders in Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, and Zimbabwe to improve urban living conditions through UN-Habitat’s Quality of Life Initiative.
As African cities grow rapidly, ensuring that urbanization leads to better living standards remains a pressing challenge, said ECA in a statement on Monday, noting that the quality of life initiative equips local authorities with the data and insights they need to ensure that urban expansion benefits every resident.
Central to the Initiative is the Quality of Life Index, which gives local authorities a pulse-check of urban life across nine critical domains, including access to basic services, housing and economic opportunities.
The initiative combines global benchmarks from the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with local priorities identified by city stakeholders, enabling each municipality to develop a bespoke index that reflects its unique context, values and priorities.
This evidence-based approach enables local authorities to make targeted decisions and measure their precise impact, the statement added.
At the request of participating countries, ECA will bring together diverse stakeholders, including policymakers, urban planners, national statistical office representatives and community leaders, in the coming months to discuss the core elements of a good quality of life and identify areas for improvement.
“Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, and Zimbabwe are at the forefront of Africa’s urban transformation,” said Atkeyelsh Persson, Chief of ECA’s Urbanization and Development Section.
“Urban growth is inevitable, but the quality of life it delivers is not guaranteed. Metrics like GDP might tell us how an economy is performing, but it says nothing about whether people in cities have clean water, safe public spaces or reliable public transport,” Persson said.
“Without real data on the human experience, decision-makers are left navigating urban development in the dark,” the statement qouted Giuseppe Tesoriere, ECA’s focal point for the Quality of Life Initiative, as saying.
MG/abj/APA