Measuring Municipal Capacity to Respond to Mobility

Abstract

Mobility and urbanization are shaping cities in Southern Africa. Peri-urban areas in particular are transforming at such a pace that municipalities are struggling to keep up with the changes. Local government is trying to build appropriate capacity to respond to a mobile population, but it is not always clear where to focus capacity development efforts. Applying a diagnostic tool on local government capacity to respond to mobility, researchers both tested the tool and drew conclusions about the capacity of local government. This provides lessons for both how we measure the readiness of municipalities to respond to a mobile population and how we may focus capacity-building efforts.