Paper short abstract:

Using data from 12 African cities, we explain how informal and hybrid actors deliver an array of basic services like WASH or energy. We analyse the associated variations in service quality, affordability, and legitimacy, alongside how state actors differ in their stances towards informal providers.

Paper long abstract:

Across many African cities, informal services routinely complement or substitute for shortfalls in state provision, especially in low-income neighbourhoods. While informal services may be hazardous, expensive, or illegitimate, they provide “last mile” connections to marginalized residents. In some contexts, there is a level of formal integration between formal and informal service providers. However, we lack a comparative understanding of such formal/informal relations and the associated variations in provision across cities or service sectors.

This paper will utilise findings from the African Cities Research Consortium, an action-research collaboration that has collected qualitative and numerical data. We develop a typology to explain how informal service providers relate to formal actors, using a comparative analysis of services including WASH, transport, energy, and rubbish collection. We discuss the complex array of relations between informal/formal actors, with consideration of the implications for quality, affordability, and responsiveness to low-income residents.

State actors may adopt hostile and violent stances towards informal providers, especially if the latter undercut the formal networks. In other instances, formal agencies may tolerate, partially include, and/or explicitly incorporate informal providers (e.g., waste-pickers who are included in official waste management services). We explore the potential of hybridity to support the equitable integration of informal systems (taking into account the interest of residents and informal providers) and consider how to manage hybridity, including how to foster more reliable, affordable services. We discuss how to conceptualise the relations between formal/informal providers and analyse the political drivers that explain varying official stances towards informal providers.