Uganda
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Kampala aims to lead African cities in fight against climate change
The Ugandan capital is finding homegrown climate solutions.
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In Uganda’s small but fast-growing cities, ‘one planner is not enough’
‘Secondary’ cities are booming across Africa. Jinja is one aiming to get ahead the growth.
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New waste project challenges “infrastructure ideal” in Uganda
New project focuses on understanding the range of options poor urban dwellers have created and fought for to improve waste and sanitation services.
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In Kampala, an Uber for motorcycle taxis puts safety first
(Republished from Citiscope). KAMPALA, Uganda — Motorcycle taxis rule the road in this capital city, where estimates of the number of “boda bodas” ferrying passengers around town range from 65,000 to the hundreds of thousands. That’s at least five times more bodas than New York has yellow cabs. They’re also notoriously unsafe. Between the potholed […]
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Bodas are gold in Kampala’s art scene
Many Kampalans might view the city’s ubiquitous motorbike taxis as vehicles manned by thugs who drive recklessly, but artist Kino Musoke thinks they are simply gold. For this month’s Kampala Contemporary Art Festival KLA ART 014, for which 20 Ugandan artists were tasked with transforming bodabodas into works of art, he spray painted a Bajaj […]
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First aid training for Uganda’s boda drivers
On a dusty, potholed road in Gulu, northern Uganda, which he shares with bicycles, mini bus taxis and other vehicles, as well as pedestrians and, quite often, chickens and cows, Vincent Oloya is learning how to be a Good Samaritan. “I like being a bodaboda (motorbike taxi) driver but I prefer driving a car,” said […]
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Art and disability awareness intersect in Kampala
Ugandan Fred Batale is sitting in his car at Kampala’s LaBa! Street Art Festival, held in June. But it’s not just any vehicle he’s getting ready to drive. It’s a vibrantly painted automobile built using a tricycle as a base, with a canary yellow bonnet and a roof, back and windows constructed from polythene paper, […]
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Weekly urban news roundup: March 31, 2014
New protocol to restore Old Cairo. Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab attended the signing of a cooperation protocol between the housing and antiquities ministries to resume the restoration of historical sites in Old Cairo. AllAfrica. Bujumbura restricts the areas of jogging. In Burundi, jogging has just become a high-risk activity. If you’re not careful – if […]
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Weekly urban news roundup: March 17, 2014
Johannesburg is Africa’s busiest city for twitter The top tweeting cities in Africa have been revealed in a new study that seeks to analyse the behaviour of Twitter users. According to a study by strategic communications agency Portland, SA and Egypt are the most active on Twitter, with peaks for the Egyptian uprisings and the […]
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Film: Powering Namuwongo
Short film explores alternative energy systems operating in Namuwongo, an informal settlement in Kampla, Uganda, and the people who create and use them.
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Snapshots of rapid urbanisation across Africa
With rapid urbanisation taking place across the continent, what urban forms are we seeing in the fastest growing cities, and what will they look like by 2050?
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Plotting a better life in Ugandan slums
This short film, made by SciDev Net, explores the work of the Ugandan SDI Alliance in Kampala’s slums. It shows how the Alliance is using SDI tools to advance the right to the city through practical action on the ground.
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The Boda Boda Thieves
This film shows an insider’s view of urban Africa, its underworld and the generation gap between urban migrants and their first generation children.
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Uganda: Waste(d) Infrastructures
Jonathan Silver, of the London School of Economics, explores the challenges facing mid-sized cities such as Uganda’s third largest metropolis Mbale.
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Reflections from the Kampala Learning Centre: What does it mean to know your city?
This year, SDI launched an initiative called Know Your City in partnership with the Cities Alliance and United Cities and Local Governments Africa (UCLGA).
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Kampala stakes its place on East African art map
African art lovers are preparing for the Kampala Art Biennale, which will be held throughout August in venues around Kampala. The Biennale is presented as an innovative project with the intention of showing contemporary works from around the continent and creating debate on its current value. According to the organizers, the first edition will give […]
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Community-driven solutions to climate change
“Climate change is improving on what we have so we can sustain in what we are doing” — Edith Samia, National Slum Dwellers Federation of Uganda. A delegation from South Africa, Uganda, and Tanzania attended the second biannual Local Climate Solutions for Africa (LOCS) conference from October 30 to November 1 in Dar es Salaam […]
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New approaches to urban refugee livelihoods
As the growth in urban refugee numbers far out-strips a parallel growth in humanitarian financial assistance and as the average length of displacement is now 17 years, feeding and providing direct services to these populations is no longer a viable option. Their ability to provide for themselves not only enhances their protection by reducing, for example their need to trade […]
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Three Fellowship Opportunities for African Doctoral Candidates
The Social Science Research Council offers fellowships to support the completion of doctoral degrees and to promote the next generation of social science researchers in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda. The fellowships support dissertation research on peace, security, and development topics. All applications must be submitted using the online application portal. The application […]
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Advanced training in land management
SIDA invites applications for the Advanced International Training Programme (ITP) on Applied Land Governance.
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IFRA Nairobi: Call for Applications for Fieldwork Grants (2017)
IFRA-Nairobi is offering fieldwork grants to masters and doctoral students to conduct their research in 2017.
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Ph.D. Research Opportunity in waste/sanitation in Ugandan cities
Opportunity for Ph.D. student beginning in August 2016 to assist with an international research collaboration on waste and sanitation in African cities.
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Consultancy Opportunity: Piloting Capacity Assessment Tool in Uganda
Consultancy position available with the Global Land Tool Network (GLTN) Unit through UN-Habitat.
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Bayimba International Festival of the Arts
Every third week of September, Kampala comes alive as a vibrant and eventful city when an unparalleled feast of music, dance, theatre, film, and visual arts from renowned and upcoming artists is brought to Kampala, when Bayimba Cultural Foundation presents the three-day Bayimba International Festival of the Arts.
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Future of Cities Forum
The annual Future of Cities Forum brings together 150 mayors, city planners, scientists and representatives of civil society and the private sector to discuss key challenges for future urban development. This year’s Forum takes place in Kampala, Uganda.
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The role of peri-urban agriculture in Kampala
Competition for land in peri-urban areas has contributed to a reduction of agricultural land in Kampala.
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Who could benefit from a bus rapid transit system in cities from developing countries? A case study from Kampala, Uganda
This paper evaluates the bus rapid transit system in Kampala and argues for new bottom-up policies that pay attention to the internal diversity of a population.
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Local and participatory approaches to building resilience in informal settlements in Uganda
This paper describes how the National Slum Dwellers Federation of Uganda contributes to building resilience in informal settlements.
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Sanitation markets in urban informal settlements of East Africa
This article analyses sanitation markets in the informal settlements of three case study cities, namely Kigali (Rwanda), Kampala (Uganda) and Kisumu (Kenya).
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Coping with urban food insecurity: findings from Kampala, Uganda
This article researches the drop of matoke consumption and related factors in food-insecure households of Kampala.
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Planning Kampala: histories of sanitary intervention and in/formal spaces
This article takes a historical look at Kampala’s sanitary planning and finds patterns that elucidate the contemporary city’s absence of sanitation infrastructure.
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Urbanisation by subtraction: the afterlife of camps in northern Uganda.
As peace returns to northern Uganda, a unique arithmetic of development is evident in the former Internally Displaced Persons camps. In analysing material from interviews with landowners, ‘remainders’ who stayed behind after the camp closed, local leaders and officials, this article emphasises the paradoxes, tensions and conflicts of this special path to development.
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Decentralization is Dead, Long Live Decentralization! Capital City Reform and Political Rights in Kampala, Uganda
African cities are currently experiencing some of the highest population growth rates in the world. Accompanying this growth is constant and continuing pressure on national and local governments to develop political and institutional structures that respond to the multiple demands this demographic change provokes in relation to service delivery, economic development and social wellbeing.
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Innovative communal sanitation models for the urban poor: Lessons from Uganda
This paper reports on the construction and management processes related to two toilet blocks in Uganda, one in Jinja and one in Kampala. Designs, financial models and insights into the process and challenges faced are presented and reflected on.
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Household demand for sanitation improvements in low-income informal settlements: a case of East African cities
Informal urban settlements present a range of challenges to sanitation provision, including low incomes, insecure tenure, low education levels, difficult topography and transitory populations. A household stratified probability survey complemented with focus group discussions and interviews was undertaken in low-income informal settlements in Kigali, Rwanda; Kampala, Uganda; and Kisumu, Kenya, to assess the household sanitation […]