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Urban Livelihoods in Freetown’s Informal Settlements

Publications
1. Research report
2.
Policy brief

About this project
In Sierra Leone, there is a dearth of information on urban livelihoods, and in particular on livelihoods in informal settlements. The Sierra Leone Urban Research Centre (SLURC) has studied urban livelihoods in four informal settlements in Freetown - Cockle Bay, Dwarzarck, Moyiba and Portee/Rokupa - to address this critical knowledge gap. The research focuses on a number of typical livelihood sectors in which informal settlement residents participate to enhance the understanding of livelihood strategies that women and men in informal settlements employ. It aims to inform policy interventions that build the capabilities, and respond to the needs and priorities, of informal settlement dwellers, and to assist them and other urban actors to develop appropriate, effective and practical interventions to strengthen the livelihoods of the informal settlements residents and the performance of the city economy.
The specific objectives of the study are to:
  • Provide an overview of the political economy and trends of urban livelihoods in informal settlements.
  • Gain an increased understanding of livelihood systems in informal settlements, their outcomes, and residents’ aspirations. This will involve exploring, understanding, interpreting and constructing a description of people’s lived experiences within the local context of the selected study locations.
  • Gain an increased understanding of the relationship between place and the livelihoods of women and men living in informal settlements.
  • Understand how household livelihood strategies allocate labour and resources between women and men
  • Examine individuals and household adaptive strategies in response to risk, shocks (e.g demolitions, relocations, flooding) that affects household livelihoods and the implications on different members of the households)
  • Recommend strategies aimed at sustaining urban livelihood systems in informal settlements. (Target for recommendations: PSPP members and their livelihoods programs, Local and national government (to highlight spatial dimension of economy activities of residents of informal settlements)
This study also focuses on the links between places and livelihoods, investigating systems and interconnections with other economic activities in the settlements and the rest of the cities (tracking value chains; exploring economic exchanges, including actors and places). It also analyses livelihoods evolution overtime, including previous experience of adapting to shocks and risks.

For further information on this project, please contact Braima Koroma, Director of Research & Training at SLURC. 

Partners
The Bartlett Development Planning Unit, University College London (DPU, UCL)

Funded by
Comic Relief

Email: 

info@slurc.org


Telephone:

+232 80 110183
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