Africa Security Brief

a publication of the africa center for strategic studies

No. 35 | June 2018

Africa Security Brief No. 35 1

In November 2016, the Lagos State Government carried out a 

violent demolition of the Otodo Gbame urban slum in the heart 

of Lagos. Government forces showed up with sledgehammers 

and bulldozers. They lobbed teargas canisters and opened fire 

on protesters. Several dozen residents were killed and 

30,000 were left homeless. Many lost the few assets they 

owned. Lagos State authorities defended the demolitions calling the community a “ticking time bomb, an 

environmental hazard, and a den of armed robbers.”1

Such altercations between government authorities and 

urban residents in Africa are playing out increasingly 

regularly. African cities are growing by an estimated 

22 million people annually and are on pace to double 

over the next 25 years. Lacking other options, many 

who migrate into Africa’s cities are moving into unplanned settlements. In Nairobi, for example, almost 

70 percent of the total population live in unplanned settlements clustered in about 5 percent of the city’s residential area.2

Yet, Kenya does not even factor into the top 10 African countries 

with the largest percentage of urban residents living in slums 

(see Figure 1). 

From Urban Fragility to Urban Stability

By Stephen Commins

HIGHLIGHTS

•The share of Africa’s urban residents living in slums is steadily rising as a result of an expanding 

and increasingly youthful population. Meanwhile, residents of African cities report among the 

highest levels of fear of violence in the world.

•The inability of government institutions to resolve or at least mitigate conflicts over land, property 

rights, and services for urban residents, coupled with either absent or heavy-handed responses of 

security agencies in African slums, is contributing to a growing mistrust of African security and 

justice institutions. 

•Integrated urban development strategies—involving local government, police, justice institutions, 

the private sector, and youth—are necessary to build trust and adapt policies that strengthen 

economic opportunities, social cohesion, and security in Africa’s cities.

60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100

South Sudan

Central African Republic

Sudan

Chad

São Tomé and Principe

Guinea-Bissau

Mozambique

Mauritania

Madagascar

Sierra Leone

Percent

FIGURE 1. AFRICAN COUNTRIES WITH THE LARGEST 

PERCENTAGE OF URBAN POPULATION LIVING IN SLUMS 

Data Source: UNDESA
2 Africa Center for Strategic Studies

The rapid pace of urbanization is transforming the challenges 

African cities face to provide services, promote employment, 

and ensure basic security (see Figure 2). In many African 

countries, violence correlates with the unplanned and underdeveloped sections of these cities.3

 This pattern of urban 

fragility can threaten the national political equilibrium.

Revealingly, Africans report among the highest levels of 

fear for safety of any region in the world when just urban 

areas are taken into consideration. Levels of fear for safety 

in rural areas are significantly lower.4 This highlights the 

urban face of crime and violence in Africa. Around 40 percent of Africans living in urban areas report feeling unsafe 

walking in their own neighborhoods.5 Many urban residents express vulnerability due to lack of land or property 

rights, makeshift housing, and unplanned or insufficient 

infrastructure to support the growing communities of people living in informal settlements. 

These fears have direct social and economic implications. 

Surveys conducted with 750 South Africans in “hot spot” 

(or high crime) neighborhoods of Cape Town (Philippi East), 

Durban (KwaMashu), and Johannesburg (Hillbrow), reveal 

fear of being a crime victim stopped residents from participating in activities ranging from running a business from 

home, to allowing children to walk to and from school, to 

going to public places or parks, to using public transit, to 

walking to get food and water (see Figure 3).6

New forms of conflict and exclusion may arise in densely 

populated and underserved urban centers. For example, 

“[x]enophobic hostility towards other ethnic groups, ‘foreigners’,...and socio-economic struggles 

around issues of land and services [can] 

emerge.”7 This form of fragility manifests 

through a weak sense of shared identity, 

ethnic fragmentation, a sense of exclusion, 

and the absence of social cohesion. A form 

of “violent cultural trauma” describes the 

loss or disintegration of cultural beliefs 

and values as new social patterns begin to 

emerge.8 Each of these factors pose deep 

challenges to social stability. 

Urban fragility constitutes a significant 

threat to the political stability and economic 

well-being of African countries.9 Managing 

the urbanization processes and positioning cities as stable 

political and economic centers is an urgent security priority 

for African governments. 

Dr. Stephen Commins is Associate Director for Global 

Public Affairs and Lecturer in Urban Planning at the Luskin 

School of Public Affairs, University of California at Los 

Angeles. He has been an advisor on numerous World Bank, 

donor, and NGO initiatives on urban fragility. 

Abuja

Ouagadougou

Abomey-Calavi

Nnewi

Kigali

Mwanza

Uyo

Bujumbura

Dar es Salaam

Huambo

Bamako

Luanda

Port Harcourt

Yaoundé

Bukavu

Onitsha

Kumasi

Lilongwe

Lusaka

Monrovia

800

700

600

500

400

300

200

100

0

Percent

FIGURE 2. AFRICAN CITIES WITH THE LARGEST RATE OF 

GROWTH BETWEEN 1995 AND 2025

Data Source: UN-Habitat

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

Philippi East KwaMashu Hillbrow Total

Running a business

from home

Allowing your children

to play in/move around

freely in your area

Going to 

forests/bushy areas

Going to open

spaces or parks

Allowing your children

to walk to/from school

Walking to work/town

Keeping 

animals/chickens

where you live

Walking to the shops

Using public transport

Walking to fetch

wood/water

FIGURE 3. FEAR OF CRIME STOPS SOUTH 

AFRICAN CITIZENS FROM PARTICIPATING IN 

ACTIVITIES

Source: South African Cities Network.10
Africa Security Brief No. 35 3

TRUST, JUSTICE, AND VIOLENCE

Central to the connections between insecurity and political 

fragility in cities is the interplay of unplanned growth, low 

levels of trust in security sector institutions, the youth bulge 

(with pressures on livelihoods and public spaces), and the 

emergence of ungoverned spaces (i.e., controlled by nonstate 

actors, including criminal networks). The inability of state institutions to mitigate and resolve conflicts over land, services, 

and livelihoods is a major contributing factor to urban violence. 

This, in turn, spurs the creation of vigilante organizations and 

the imposition of street justice as various groups seek to either 

protect or enforce their self-interests.11 Distrust is heightened 

when security forces use heavy-handed means, such as razing 

homes, in response to urban instability. Such actions further 

weaken the ability of public institutions to maintain order. 

In surveys conducted by Afrobarometer, more than half of 

crime victims did not contact the police because, among other 

things, they feared being asked for a bribe or being dismissed 

out of hand.12 Moreover, 54 percent of respondents said that 

getting assistance from a court was “difficult” or “very difficult,” and 30 percent reported paying a bribe for assistance.13

In addition, 43 percent reported not trusting courts or trusting them just a little, while 60 percent experienced lengthy 

delays in court cases.14 Poor people were the least likely to 

trust the court system. Young people were often the target of 

harsh policing, which was worsened by a widespread lack 

of facilities or procedures for juvenile justice. 

A World Bank study on urban fragility in Africa used the 

experiences of Nigeria, South Sudan, and the Republic of 

the Congo to highlight how inequality, alienation and disaffection, and lack of educational opportunities—especially 

among young men—leads to higher levels of crime and violence.15 It found that:

In many fragile states, “systems of law and order, 

ranging from the police, judiciary, penal systems and 

other forms of legal enforcement, are dysfunctional 

and considered illegitimate by the citizens who they 

are intended to serve.” Per consequence, “capacity 

gaps in providing basic and accountable security services is a key determinant shaping urban violence.”16

Justice systems play a central role in providing both legitimate processes for the resolution of grievances that might 

otherwise lead to conflict and disincentives for crime and 

violence. In unplanned settlements, a major challenge for 

citizens is land tenure rights and access to courts for resolving ensuing disputes. Similarly, accessing government 

services for registering businesses, recording births and 

deaths, and obtaining identity cards that are required for 

accessing other services—such as health care or schools—

can contribute to a lack of trust and underreliance on formal 

government institutions. 

In Nairobi’s slums, a legal needs assessment conducted by 

the NGO Microjustice4All found such lack of access, particularly for women and children. It therefore created a “toolkit 

with information on birth certificates, cohabitation contracts, 

inheritance proceedings, land and housing registration, registration of women’s businesses, access to microfinance, and 

social benefits.”17 The success of the program led to its expansion to six “outlets” in additional slum areas of Nairobi. Over 

an 18-month period, it conducted 5,322 consults, 468 cases, directly assisted 3,921 persons, and held 25 events that reached 

2,466 people.18 This type of outreach allows families to more 

easily access the services available and, in the process, gain 

trust in the institutions intended to serve these communities. 

In general, governments have not given adequate attention 

to issues around corruption, criminal justice, and community 

policing. Yet corruption significantly undermines citizens’ 

trust in political arrangements and reduces citizen willingness to engage with formal policing and justice systems. Perceived corruption in the security and justice sectors has a particularly debilitating effect on public trust. Violent crime and 

conflict in such contexts are more likely.19 Corruption also 

creates more room for vigilante justice and can encourage 

the formation of informal militias to carry out enforcement 

of “justice” from the street. 

YOUTH BULGE

Africa is expected to see an increase of 174 million youth (15-

24 year olds) between 2000 and 2030, a rate of growth that far 

exceeds that of any other region (see Figure 4). Not only do 

young people account for about 20 percent of the population, 

they represent 40 percent of the workforce and 60 percent of 

the unemployed.20 The rapid pace of urbanization, combined 

with the relatively youthful age of African urban populations, 

limited access to education, and high proportion of young 

people with few job prospects, presents a major risk factor for 

political stability. A key problem is that many governments 

see young people as threats rather than as opportunities. 
4 Africa Center for Strategic Studies

The need to belong and find identity draws young men to 

gangs, criminal networks, extremist groups, and vigilantism. Indeed, youth find identity in such groups, particularly 

when faced with economic inequality and unemployment. In 

Kenya, community-based armed groups take three different 

forms: vigilantes, militias, and gangs. None of these are static 

and all have some degree of legitimacy in the eyes of parts 

of the communities in which they operate. So while any of 

these groups can at times provide security to parts of communities—and at times they even act like a formal security 

provider since they might collect “taxes” from individuals 

or businesses for their services—that practice can easily become perceived as extortion. While some groups rightfully 

turn over potential criminals to the police, others engage in 

egregious human rights abuses when they feel justice is not 

sufficiently swift.21

INTEGRATION

Efforts to foster stability in Africa’s rapidly evolving urban 

landscape have emphasized an integrated approach based on 

reducing insecurity while promoting greater well-being for 

urban residents. Basic foundations for this approach focus on 

effective policing, a competent and honest judiciary, and the 

inclusion of youth in planning processes as a central means 

for building confidence in public institutions and reducing 

fragility. Under such an integrated framework, citizens are 

protected by security forces that respect their rights, and urban residents can access legitimate dispute resolution mechanisms. Meanwhile, other causes of fragility—such as lack of 

access to education, basic government services, clean water 

and sanitation, and employment—must be addressed as part 

of a complementary effort to create sustainable, 

stable urban areas.

South Africa’s initial efforts to adopt an integrated 

approach to urban fragility began in 1996 with the 

adoption of a National Crime Prevention Strategy. 

In 1998, the South African government issued a 

White Paper on Safety and Security. Almost immediately, cities such as Johannesburg began creating 

Community Policing Forums (CPFs) to implement 

the strategy at the community level. The CPFs, 

which the South African Police Service endeavored to establish at each police precinct, aimed to 

create a mechanism to increase communication, 

build trust, improve police services to the community, and promote joint problem identification 

within communities. A key lesson from the CPFs, however, 

was that their focus on crime prevention failed to address 

other drivers of urban fragility and their links to deficiencies 

in governance.

AFRICA OCEANIA NORTH

AMERICA

ASIA CENTRAL

AND SOUTH

AMERICA

EUROPE

110

90

70

50

Percent

30

10

-10

-30

FIGURE 4. RATE OF GROWTH FOR 15-24 YEAR OLDS 

BETWEEN 2000 AND 2030

Data Source: UNDESA

ABIDJAN’S TREICHVILLE: LESSONS FROM 

COMMUNITY-BASED EFFORTS AND SOCIAL 

COHESION

In the late 1990s, one of Abidjan’s municipalities, 

Treichville, adopted a strategy to ensure that the entire 

community had a role in maintaining urban safety. 

The longstanding mayor, François Albert Amichia, 

promoted a theory of social cohesion and unity for 

development. Mayor Amichia argued that viewing 

yourself and your neighbors as integral to mutual 

security would lay the groundwork for development. 

In 1996, the municipal council created a surveillance 

brigade, the Treichville Sécurité Vigilance, whose 

members were recruited from violent areas, thereby 

giving community members responsibility for their 

own safety. The brigade employed young people, 

and petty crime decreased. 

In 1998, Ivoirian mayors formed le Forum Ivoirien 

pour la Sécurité Urbaine (the Ivoirian Forum for 

Urban Security) and implemented a violence prevention project by each creating a comité communal 

de sécurité (communal security committee or CCS). 

Each CCS is multisectoral and includes the mayor, 

continued on next page...
Africa Security Brief No. 35 5

As part of an effort to address these challenges, communities began creating Community Safety Forums (CSFs). 

The establishment of CSFs was intended to “promote the 

development of a community where citizens live in a safe 

environment and have access to high quality services at [the] 

local level, through an integrated multi-agency collaboration between organs of state and various communities.”23

Upon their establishment (and periodically thereafter) 

CSFs conduct “safety audits” within communities and 

develop “community safety plans.” They then work 

to implement the plan and provide an annual report 

on their progress to the municipality and the province. There is no set standard for such plans because 

they depend on participants for elaboration and are 

constrained by each municipality’s resources in terms 

of implementation. Yet, effective CSFs inform municipal leadership on means to enhance urban safety 

beyond community policing. Community safety plans 

are then included in integrated development plans at 

the municipal level (see Figure 5). 

Sedibeng District Municipality in Gauteng Province 

created an Intersectoral Forum on Safety and Security 

in 2004. At the time, officials observed that soaring 

crime rates were driving businesses, their clients, employees, and residents out of the District. Renamed 

a CSF in 2006, the Sedibeng Community Safety Forum holds regular meetings with government departments, 

business, schools, churches, and the wider community to 

share information, identify possible crime generators and 

maximize scarce resources through collaboration.

Since its creation, the Sedibeng CSF has contributed to the 

establishment of social crime prevention units at the district 

level as well as contributed to the installation of closed-circuit 

television systems across the region, all of which caused a significant decrease in violent crimes in the Vereeniging Central 

Business District. For this, it received recognition under the 

Best Community Corrections Category in 2011.24 In short, 

community involvement in an integrated approach to security and safety contributed to increased security, improved 

service delivery, and economic development. 

FROM URBAN FRAGILITY TO URBAN SECURITY

Integration

Security and reduction of urban fragility are a much wider challenge than increasing police presence or responding 

to violence. They require coordinating all services through 

inclusive planning and attention to governance across the 

city. Governments, donors, and communities need to recognize urban fragility and insecurity as a set of development 

problems that can increase the short-term and medium-term 

risks of conflict. Policing, criminal justice, and security sector 

FIGURE 5. INTEGRATED FRAMEWORK FOR URBAN 

STABILITY

Source: Mumba Development Services.25

city officials, traditional leaders, school officials, the 

private sector, and representatives from religious 

organizations and associations for youth, women, 

and the elderly. The CCSs have periodic meetings to 

discuss how to reduce urban violence, build capacity, 

organize activities for at-risk groups, and provide 

an opportunity for stakeholders to share concerns. 

During the 2010 electoral crisis, the CCSs reportedly 

played a key role in mediating conflict in Treichville 

by identifying individuals suspected of inciting violence and using the community cohesion theory 

Mayor Amichia had developed to defuse tensions.22

As a result, while most had expected highly diverse 

Treichville to suffer deadly violence in the wake of the 

contested presidential poll, the area in fact remained 

calm. The Mayor credited the city’s work on social 

cohesion and community security for this outcome.
6 Africa Center for Strategic Studies

reform, therefore, should be approached as part of a wider 

governance strategy to provide security to urban residents 

while building trust and cooperation. Making the reduction 

of fragility part of urban planning and development recognizes that not only are violence, crime, fear, and insecurity 

detrimental for local communities, but they are also major 

inhibitors of economic growth and investment. 

Integrated urban policies increase the trust between citizens 

and urban officials. Together, communities and governments 

design urban plans that are flexible in the face of continued 

in-migration and local insecurity. With this type of governance, increased trust, as reflected in access to basic services—including access to a fair judicial system—and respect 

for the role and authority of legitimate police, contributes to 

urban security. An integrated approach to building secure 

communities should be embedded in governmental policies, 

strategies, and programs with the aim of their effective implementation at the local level. 

A fundamental challenge to planning in Africa’s rapidly 

evolving municipalities is often the absence of basic information about certain communities. This makes the development of appropriate and adequate policy responses very 

difficult. Cities have used new technologies, in addition 

to surveys and related tools, to develop comprehensive 

profiles of the causes and drivers of fragility and insecurity. The urban profile of Treichville created by UN-Habitat 

provides a useful example of how a comprehensive map can 

be developed. It examined the municipality’s governance 

structures, its finances, available land and tenure arrangements, the presence of slums, environmental aspects and 

means for managing disasters, the city’s economic situation, 

the existence and quality of basic urban services, the level 

of security, and what cultural resources the city had that 

could draw in visitors and boost revenue.28

Trust

Improvements in security begin with greater public trust. This 

occurs, in part, through the delivery of basic services and infrastructure as well as the presence and trustworthiness of 

government staff who are accessible to people on the street. 

Holding community-level forums to discuss issues and advocate open innovation is also needed, as is working with 

communities to identify needs and risks. Increased trust results 

when security forces improve their ability to maintain relations, particularly with underserved low-income households.

Policing and Justice

Improved policing should be part of a wider safety strategy. 

This entails various forms of community policing, cross-government approaches, stronger oversight through statutory 

bodies, and greater community participation.29 Improved policing also involves a focus on the composition and capacity of 

the police force, including the recruitment of officers (as well 

as more women officers), and ensuring political, ethnic, and 

religious diversity.30 Police should receive regular training and 

have ongoing engagement with community leaders and youth 

organizations to build trust and communication. Officers also 

USING SIMPLE WEB PLATFORMS TO HELP 

COMMUNITIES BUILD MAPS

The absence of maps (including the placement of 

dwellings and businesses) and accurate census data 

prevents many African cities from building needed 

infrastructure (e.g., paved roads, clean water and sewage 

systems, and cell phone towers) or planning for the 

construction of needed schools, health care facilities, 

police stations, and public transit systems.26 Because 

many of the poorest and most fragile communities 

have not been mapped, the NGO Humanitarian Open 

Street Map Team (HOT) works with these communities around the world to create such resources. Such 

collaboration brings citizens, governments, NGOs, and 

donors together to better determine the needs of these 

communities and the policies necessary to help them.27

In Liberia, for example, HOT has worked in several 

cities to map neighborhoods, including the identification of access to infrastructure such as water points 

and health services. In Uganda, HOT has worked with 

university students and community members to map 

access to financial services, including mobile money 

agents. In the past, such data was collected through 

periodic and expensive national surveys, missing many 

inaccessible neighborhoods. This program uses Twitter and the simple web platform Open Street Map, 

allowing anyone to add data and use it for free. HOT 

conducts free training sessions for communities to use 

their cell phones to contribute to such maps. 
Africa Security Brief No. 35 7

require adequate communication and mobility resources as 

well as reasonable pay. Both police and citizens should be able 

to anonymously report corruption and requests for bribes, 

thereby also increasing trust. 

Improving urban stability also requires promoting incentives 

for sustained judicial reform. Doing so would bring together 

various government sectors on a regular basis to provide 

further “glue” to strengthen an integrated approach to security. Providing improved access to the justice system and 

improving overall court management and performance are 

priorities. Particular consideration is needed for addressing 

the challenges of unplanned urban spaces, namely land tenure and property rights, as well as ensuring the efficiency 

of the administrative agencies that register birth and deaths 

and provide identification cards and documents required for 

access to health services or schools. 

Youth 

Youth-focused approaches are challenging because they often require working outside of formal school structures and 

other formal institutions. However, they are necessary to 

promote the engagement of young people in security. When 

governments start seeing young people as allies rather than 

as police targets, they can work with youth organizations 

to bring young people together. Community organizations 

and government agencies should approach young people 

around their interests, for instance in health, sports, civic engagement, training and education, community engagement, 

arts, and culture. A “second chance” approach is vital, for 

example, through youth centers and after-school programs. 

Programs should also aim to reach younger groups through 

recreational activities (as opposed to targeting older youth 

for skills development).34

Programs need to help youth connect with governments, likely 

through meetings with local leaders where youth issues and 

participation are raised and addressed. Such programs can 

also help address the challenges of the youth bulge through 

employment, civic engagement, and reforms in juvenile justice. 

RESTORING TRUST THROUGH ACTIONS 

AND COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS: LAGOS, 

NIGERIA

Between 1999 and 2015, two successive governors 

worked to include all sectors of society—from state 

authorities to civil society and the private sector—to 

promote the development of the city of Lagos. Lagos 

State’s 2013 State Development Plan aims to make the 

city “Africa’s Model Megacity and Global, Economic 

and Financial Hub that is Safe, Secure, Functional and 

Productive.”31The governors increased transparency 

and accountability in urban planning, involved civil 

society in land use and budget preparation, and worked 

with the private sector to establish a State Security Trust 

Fund that provides funding for safety improvements 

such as lighting, police patrol vehicles, and school security.32 The initiatives also sought to engage rather than 

criminalize street youth through programs bringing 

them into public service roles, which, while difficult, 

has resulted in increased levels of public trust, greater 

citizen engagement, and improved services.33

PARTICIPATORY BUDGETING IN YAOUNDÉ, 

CAMEROON

In 2006, Cameroon’s largest city, Yaoundé, decided to 

test an approach for increased and sustained citizen 

involvement in municipal decision-making. The approach uses community participatory budget meetings 

allowing citizens to voice priorities for their neighborhoods. In turn, city officials share with residents 

what budgetary trade-offs any decision might entail. 

The process intends to be collaborative, transparent, 

and pro-poor. Since then, two of Yaoundé’s districts, 

II and VI, have maintained the practice. 

In Yaoundé II, meetings routinely saw 350 residents 

participating in 2009, during its first phase. In, 2010, 

there were five times more participants (1,700). In 2011, 

an average of 11,330 residents participated in meetings. 

The increased attendance can be partially attributed 

to the fact that officials sent text messages to nearly 

50,000 residents of Yaoundé II and VI, encouraging 

them to participate. In addition, NGOs also began to 

attend. Indeed, the number of NGOs involved rose 

from 17 in 2009 to 65 in 2011. 

These participatory processes remain vibrant. Yaoundé 

II and VI have reportedly seen real results in terms of 

“cleaning up” these districts and making them safer 

and more livable for residents.35
8 Africa Center for Strategic Studies

In several countries (e.g., Ghana, Liberia, Senegal), the Passport to Success program works to support urban youth in 

continuing their education so that they develop life and 

work-related competence. The programs have been specifically designed for vulnerable youth who are in school 

but at risk of dropping out, as well as those who are out of 

school, out of work, or working in dangerous environments. 

Program activities include workplace readiness skills, such 

as interviewing, respect for authority, and time management, along with tools for how to be a good employee. 

Participants receive assistance in developing a career plan. 

The program has been successful in increasing school retention (in Morocco there was a 44-percent decline in school 

dropout rates for youth who participated in the program) 

and employment opportunities.37

CONCLUSION

A context-specific, integrated approach that creates forums 

for local government, police, justice institutions, and youth 

to share perspectives and coordinate efforts can provide a 

means to pilot alternate approaches for reducing fragility 

and increasing security in Africa’s urban areas. Working with 

communities, these actors can strengthen the effectiveness 

of government agencies, contributing to a shift from urban 

fragility to urban stability.

In Senegal, l’Institut Africain de Gestion Urbaine (the 

African Institute for Urban Management) launched 

a project in 2017 to better understand and find effective means to address youth violence in Dakar. The 

project aims to: 

• Diagnose the factors that cause youth exclusion 

and ensuing violence

• Help youth (both boys and girls) develop policies 

and strategies to address such exclusion and insecurity

• Facilitate the development of innovative platforms 

and solutions, designed by youth and using technology, to help youth secure the space they live in 36

In Zambia, the World Justice Project supported an 

effort by Street Law Zambia to educate 400 middle 

schoolers (ages 11-14) in four schools in the slums of 

Lusaka on their legal rights when faced with police 

brutality and gender-based violence. Such programs 

help empower youth by providing them with strategies 

and resources to access security as well as play a role 

in their communities.

ADDRESSING YOUTH VIOLENCE IN DAKAR 

AND PROMOTING THE RIGHTS OF YOUTH IN 

LUSAKA
NOTES

1 Ogechi Ekeanyanwu, “Nigeria’s relentless real estate developers destroy 

entire slum,” TRT World, August 2, 2017.

2 Moritz Schuberth, “Hybrid security governance, post-election violence 

and the legitimacy of community-based armed groups in urban Kenya,” 

Journal of Eastern African Studies 12, no. 2 (2018), 388.

3 Clionadh Raleigh, “Urban Violence Patterns Across African States,” 

International Studies Review 17, no. 1 (2015), 90-106.

4 Ghassan Baliki, “Crime and Victimization,” Background Note for the 

World Development Report 2014: Risk and Opportunity (Berlin: German 

Institute for Economic Research, 2014).

5 Pauline M. Wambua, “Call the Police? Across Africa, Citizens Point to 

Police and Government Performance Issues on Crime,” Afrobarometer 

Dispatch No. 57 (Afrobarometer, 2015).

6 South African Cities Network, “The State of Urban Safety in South Africa 

Report 2017” (Johannesburg: SACN, 2017), 42.

7 Rossiasco Uscategui and Paula Andrea, “Urban Fragility and Violence in 

Africa: A Cross-Country Analysis” (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2015), 6.

8 World Bank, “’Invisible Wounds’: A Practitioners’ Dialogue on Improving 

Development Outcomes through Psychosocial Support,” Workshop 

Report (Washington, DC, 2014), 10.

9 Stephen Commins, “Urban Fragility and Security in Africa,” Africa Security 

Brief No. 12 (Washington, DC: Africa Center for Strategic Studies, 2011). 

10 South African Cities Network, 42.

11 Oluwakemi Okenyodo, “Governance, Accountability, and Security in 

Nigeria,” Africa Security Brief No. 31 (Washington, DC: Africa Center for 

Strategic Studies, 2016).

12 Wambua, “Call the Police?” 7.

13 Carolyn Logan, “Ambitious SDG goal confronts challenging realities: 

Access to justice is still elusive for many Africans,” Afrobarometer Policy 

Paper No. 39 (Afrobarometer, 2017), 18.

14 Ibid., 5, 20.

15 Uscategui and Andrea, 22.

16 Ibid., 2, citing Robert Muggah, “Researching the Urban Dilemma: 

Urbanization, Poverty and Violence” (Ottowa: International Development 

Research Centre, May 2012), 49.

17 “Microjustice Kenya: The Microjustice Toolkit for Women and Children 

in Nairobi Slums,” World Justice Project website, available at <http://

worldjusticeproject.org/our-work/programs/microjustice-kenyamicrojustice-toolkit-women-and-children-nairobi-slums>.

18 “Key Performance Indicators: Microjustice4All Country Programs 

per October 31, 2017,” Microjustice4All website, available at <http://

microjustice4all.org/mj4all/index.php/mj4all-network/output-impact/

outputs>.

19 Institute for Economics & Peace, “Peace and Corruption 2015: Lowering 

Corruption – A Transformative Factor for Peace” (2015).

20 Julius Agbor, Olumide Taiwo, and Jessica Smith, “Sub-Saharan Africa’s 

Youth Bulge: A Demographic Dividend or Disaster?” in Foresight Africa: 

Top Priorities for the Continent in 2012 (Washington DC: Brookings 

Institution, 2012), 9.

21 Schuberth, “Hybrid security governance,” 386-404.

22 Anja Grob, Alex Papadovassiliakis, and Luciana Ribeiro Fadon Vicente, 

“Case Studies on Urban Safety and Peacebuilding: Lagos, Beirut, 

Mitrovica, Treichville and Johannesburg,” Technical Working Group on 

the Confluence of Urban Safety and Peacebuilding Practice Paper No. 19 

(Geneva: Geneva Peacebuilding Platform, 2016), 9-11.

23 “Community Safety Forums Policy,” Government of South Africa Civilian 

Secretariat for Police, March 22, 2011, 13.

24 “Sedibeng Community Safety Strategy 2013-2017,” SaferSpaces 

website, available at https://www.saferspaces.org.za/uploads/files/

COMMUNITY_SAFETY_STRATEGY_2013_-_2017.pdf, 32.

25 Mumba Development Services, “Capacity Building Process for Portfolio 

Councillors in Community Safety, Community Service in Cooperation 

between SALGA-DSL-GIZ-VCP partnership,” slide presentation prepared 

for the training program of the GIZ Inclusive Violence and Crime Prevention 

Programme Building Skills for Safety Planning Project, November 15-16, 

2016, 33, South African Local Government Association website, available at 

<https://www.salga.org.za/Documents/Knowledge%20Hub/Gazettes/

GIZ-DSL-VCP-SALGA.pdf>. 

26 Steven Livingston, “Africa’s Information Revolution: Implications for 

Crime, Policing, and Citizen Security,” Africa Center Research Paper No. 

5 (Washington DC: Africa Center for Strategic Studies, 2013).

27 Humanitarian Open Street Map Team (HOT) website, available at 

<https://www.hotosm.org>.

28 UN-Habitat, “Côte d’Ivoire: Profil Urbain de Treichville,” Urban Profiles 

Series (Nairobi: UN-Habitat, 2012).

29 Sean Tait, Cheryl Frank, Irene Ndung’u, and Timothy Walker, eds., “The 

SARPCCO Code of Conduct: Taking stock and mapping out future 

action,” Workshop Report from the ISS Conference in Johannesburg, South 

Africa, March 16-17, 2011 (Pretoria: Institute for Security Studies, 2011). See 

also, Simon Robins, “A Place for tradition in an effective criminal justice 

system: Customary justice in Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Zambia,” Policy 

Brief No. 17 (Pretoria: Institute for Security Studies, 2009).

30 “Women Police Climb the Ranks in Africa,” UN Women, April 12, 2016.

31 “Lagos State Development 2012-2025,” Lagos State Government’s Ministry 

of Economic Planning and Budget, September 2013, 1.

32 Grob et al., “Case Studies on Urban Safety and Peacebuilding,” 2-5.

33 Diane de Gramont, “Governing Lagos: Unlocking the Politics of Reform,” 

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (January 2015).

34 Matthew French, Sharika Bhattacharya, and Christina Olenik, “Youth 

Engagement in Development: Effective Approaches and Action-Oriented 

Recommendations for the Field” (Washington DC: USAID, 2014).

35 Edward Paice, “The Booklovers, the Mayors, and the Citizens: Participatory 

Budgeting in Yaoundé, Cameroon,” Africa Research Institute (May 2014).

36 African Institute of Urban Management, “La violence chez les jeunes à 

Dakar : Contexte, facteurs et réponses,” Final Report from the Workshop 
Kate Almquist Knopf, Director

National Defense University

Fort Lesley J. McNair

Washington, DC 20319-5066

+1 202-685-7300

www.africacenter.org

Africa Security Briefs

Joseph Siegle, Ph.D.

Director of Research

sieglej@ndu.edu

+1 202-685-6808

ISSN 2164-4047

The Africa Center for Strategic Studies is an academic institution established by the U.S. Department of Defense as an objective

forum for research, academic programs, and the exchange of ideas. The Africa Security Brief series presents research and

analysis with the aim of advancing understanding of African security issues. The opinions, conclusions, and recommendations 

expressed or implied within are those of the contributors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Africa Center.

for the Research Project on Youth Violence in Dakar, Senegal, May 

10, 2017 (Dakar : International Development Research Centre, 2017).

37 “Passport to Success: Preparing Young People for the World of 

Work,” brochure, International Youth Foundation website, available 

at <https://iyfnet.org/library/passport-success-preparing-youngpeople-world-work>.