Mediating Knowledge Co-Production for Inclusive Governance and Delivery of Food, Water and Energy Services in African Cities

• DOI: 10.1007/s12132-021-09440-w
• Publication Date: 2021-09-27T12:23:53Z
• Authors: Temilade Sesan; Safietou Sanfo; Keneiloe Sikhwivhilu; Francis Dakyaga; Fati Aziz; Dzidzo Yirenya-Ta...; Mercy Badu; Emmanuel Derbile; Mercy Ojoyi; Boubacar Ibrahim; Rabani Adamou
• Keywords: 350; Economics; 0211 other engineering and technologies; Social Sciences; 02 engineering and technology; 7. Clean energy; 12. Responsible consumption; FOS: Economics and business; Inclusive governance; Adaptive Governance; Context (archaeology); Sociology; Service (business); Analysis of Impact Investing in Finance and Social Policy; 11. Sustainability; Indoor Air Pollution in Developing Countries; Knowledge co-production; Business; Sustainability Transitions and Resilience in Social-Ecological Systems; Sustainable cities; Biology; Transdisciplinary research; Economic growth; Marketing; Global and Planetary Change; Corporate governance; Geography; Ecology; Food-water-energy systems; Urbanization; Service delivery framework; Intermediary; 1. No poverty; Social science; Service delivery; Pollution; 300; FOS: Sociology; Economics, Econometrics and Finance; Sustainability; Archaeology; FOS: Biological sciences; Environmental Science; Physical Sciences; Human geography; Finance

AbstractRising rates of urbanisation in Africa, without attendant improvements in critical infrastructure, have occasioned gaps in the provision of basic services in cities across the continent. Different systems and scales of service delivery — decentralised and centralised, public and private — coexist and often compete in urban spaces but rarely connect in ways that ensure the needs of the poorest are met. Our paper interrogates the value of transdisciplinary research for bringing actors in these systems together to co-produce knowledge for inclusive and sustainable outcomes. Drawing on empirical data from two complementary projects in four African cities, we demonstrate the possibilities for facilitating this kind of knowledge co-production among system actors in the food, water and energy domains. We show, through a comparative approach, elements of the co-production process that enable more responsive engagement by traditionally detached policy actors. From our findings, we generate a framework that local researchers serving as ‘knowledge intermediaries’ can use to stimulate research-policy-society interactions aimed at fostering sustainable and inclusive service delivery across Africa. By synthesising the findings from local case studies into a widely applicable framework, our analysis informs both the theory and practice of transdisciplinary sustainability research in the African context where the imperative to bridge gaps in methodological innovation and service delivery is high.