Equal Partnerships – African Intermediary Cities as Actors and Partners in Urban Migration Governance

Africa is witnessing an ongoing transformation from a rural to an increasingly plural urban society. While this transformation has been well-documented, the focus of scholarship and practice has been predominantly on human mobility towards and into major urban areas and capital cities. In contrast, intermediary cities, the in-between the rural and the metropolitan, have been largely absent in academic and policy debates. The Equal Partnership project explores the opportunities and challenges of collaborative, urban migration governance in African intermediary cities. The project is coordinated by the University of Nuremberg and developed in collaboration with the city network United Cities and Local Governments of Africa (UCLG Africa), the German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS), and the think tank Samuel Hall. Funded by the Robert Bosch Stiftung, the project works in cooperation with six intermediary cities from East, North and West Africa. Through participatory research and workshop formats, the project brings together local, national and international actors to develop practical impulses and policy recommendations for multi-stakeholder partnerships of urban migration governance in African intermediary cities.