The central theme of this research is social inclusion pursued in the process of transforming cities towards sustainability. The key aim is to consolidate a new research network: Inclusive Cities and Global Urban Transformations, which emphasizes the importance of transforming the city towards
sustainability for all. Through this network, we strengthen: (1) interactions between scholars studying inclusive and sustainable urban development within UU; (2) collaboration between existing networks of scholars and practitioners to jointly explore a new agenda for the production of more open and inclusive urban space at a global scale.

• prof. dr. Els Rose
• prof. dr. Ajay Bailey

Securing access to safe, nutritious, and sufficient food for sub-Saharan Africa’s (SSA) growing population requires re-thinking and de-centering the concept of ‘food systems’ and ‘food security innovations’, beyond traditional questions of productivity and closing the yield gap, towards questions of sovereignty, inclusiveness and fairness. International and donor-supported food policies and interventions in SSA try to reach smallholder farmers with expert-led innovations (e.g., new seeds, technology, ICT services) to increase production and include them in value chain development to capitalize on market opportunities. However, there is little evidence that this has contributed significantly to food security or income in rural areas or cities in SSA, and there are increasing doubts among donors such as the Dutch government whether food security policies reach low-income farmers. Meanwhile, citizen-led innovations in Africa such as farmer-led development of irrigation, horticulture cultivation and marketing receive scant attention in food security research-policy debates, or worse, they are negatively presented in these debates and media reports.       

We observe that the current thinking on food security innovations seems to produce a ‘development trap’ for African farmers and consumers. We suspect that this ‘trap’ is produced by contradictory stereotypes and frames of communication that underlie ‘Western-centred’ neo-liberal food security policies. On the one hand, African farmers appear to be framed as potential entrepreneurs, creating the prospect of building a sustainable future of African food security on their shoulders, but on the other hand, food security policies appear to undermine this prospect by structurally framing their innovations as falling short of potential in comparison to ‘modern’ expert-led innovations. 

This project aims to critically unpack the stereotypes and frames of representation that underlie contemporary research-policy debates on food systems and food security innovations in SSA. It is these stereotypes and frames that define our perception of the problems and solutions, of those with decision-making power: policymakers, donors, investors and businesses. We will look at concepts and language used in policy documents, promotion material and media representations of food systems and food innovations. Taking inspiration from emerging research on farmer-led innovations in irrigation development in SSA, we hypothesize that persistent ‘colonial’ stereotypes of ‘African farmers’ and ‘African food systems’ hinder the design and development of (more) inclusive and fair food systems in SSA.

Together with stakeholders from government, private sector and NGOs, we aim to de-colonize the dominant stereotypes and communication frames and develop alternative communication strategies – a new and inclusive ‘language’ – to de-centre and broaden the discussion on food security in Africa. Our research questions are: 1) What stereotypes and frames can be identified in expert-led food security innovations in  Africa; and 2) What alternative communication strategies can be developed to legitimise food security interventions in a sustainable and de-colonial manner?  

• prof. dr. Eggo Müller
• dr. Guus van Westen
• dr. ir. Janwillem Liebrand
• Cristina Arribas Jimenez MSc

Global investments in large-scale infrastructural development have proliferated in recent years in Africa. Proponents argue that the investments are vital for further economic and social development in peripheral regions. Critical scholars and activists contend that such development model fails to generate opportunities for local populations because infrastructure and associated land acquisitions tend to displace and resettle them with little adequate follow-up. Mozambique currently represents a frontier of global investments that have led to over fifty displacement and resettlement projects. The expansion of the investment frontier is likely to lead to more of such projects.

Meanwhile, the country has established relatively progressive policies that oblige investors to conduct community consultations and obtain consent for those who would be resettled. Yet, grievances and redress systems remain weak, and processes of reconstructing livelihoods and adequate infrastructure in resettled communities are often controversial. Previous studies have largely focused on getting the procedures right, such as determining the fairer compensation. However, little is understood about new community-building and place-making that emerge out of resettlement experiences and new infrastructure development. As resettlement projects are becoming a part of larger regional and territorial development, including urbanization, it is urgent for us to understand what kind of places are made in and around resettled communities and explore the future transitions of these places.

In this NWO-Aspasia Project, two PhDs and the principal investigator undertake ethnographic and visual studies to explore the nature and extent of various resettlement experiences in central and northern part of Mozambique. Further, based on the insights derived from these field-based studies, a series of policy recommendations will be elaborated.

• Emilinah Namaganda

Forcibly displaced populations are on the rise worldwide, induced by armed conflicts, environmental crises associated with climate change and global capitalist development accelerating a phenomenon of ‘land grabbing’. While previous studies have mainly focused on procedural equity and economic compensation involved in the displacement and resettlement process, the social-cultural and political remaking of resettled communities have remained an unexplored terrain. This research project first conceptualizes land grabbing as capitalist frontier expansion by which displaced and resettled communities are forced to thrive on the edge of this frontier. Second, it aims to explore and show how people constituting the resettled communities achieve distributional justice from the periphery. More specifically, the project elaborates on a case study of a community resettled from the Limpopo National Park created for tourism development in southern Mozambique. Using ethnographic methods that enable longitudinal observation, the project follows processes through which the community interacts with investors, the local government and neighbouring communities, and pursues livelihood recovery and community development in the new destination. Through this case study, the project considers how new modes of thinking around the displaced community at the edge of the capitalist frontiers can provide for generating new values for society, based on responsible foreign investments and international assistance for community reconstruction.

Like in many cities in the Global South, urban dwellers in sub-Saharan Africa experience severe sustainability challenges in their electricity systems which conventional responses cannot fix. Despite governmental ambitions to universalize access to electricity networks, energy users and (co-)providers have developed a diversity of collective and individual solutions at the edge of, in the interstices of, or simply in place of universal electricity networks and beyond conventional models in energy supply and use. Applying concepts of postcolonial debates to urban sustainability studies, this project assumes that the heterogeneous demand and supply options represent an emerging but understudied form of energy transitions. The key objective is to identify pragmatic pathways to sustainable energy systems in African cities by exploring how to better coordinate different use and service provision channels. More specifically, the objectives are 1) to develop a typology of the heterogeneous technological solutions and practices in the (co-)provision, use and governance of energy services; 2) to understand the co-existence, interplay and hybridity of these constellations; 3) to co-create a participatory tool for their sustainability assessment; and 4) to co-design governance guidelines that systematically address the heterogeneity of energy supply and use. Based on empirical studies in Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) and Maputo (Mozambique), the project will develop and disseminate tools and guidelines applicable to other urban contexts in the Global South. The project achieves these objectives through transdisciplinary partnerships between researchers in the Netherlands, Tanzania and Mozambique and a broad range of local, national and international stakeholders.

• prof. dr. Jochen Monstadt
• Mathias Koepke MSc

More information here.

In Mozambique, large-scale agribusiness is competing for scarce land and water on which poor populations depend for their livelihoods and food security. Mainstream donor and government policies stimulate large-scale agribusiness investments in the country. By comparing different interventions aiming to strengthen local

inclusive development, and finding synergies between medium- and large scale agribusiness investments and the local private sector, including smallholder farming and micro- and small (women) enterprises, this participatory action research aims to identify the main conditions for successful development of local livelihoods and food security in a context of foreign investments. A key focus is on the gender and land rights dimensions of the interventions. Evidence generated at grass-root level contributes to knowledge development on policy, legal and institutional perspectives. Overall outcomes and recommendations will provide input for evidence-based policy development for civil society, government, donors and private sector stakeholders via existing multi-stakeholder networks in and outside Mozambique.

Project partners: ActionAid Mozambique (lead partner), ActionAid Netherlands, International Development Studies - Utrecht University (in collaboration with LANDac)