SOAS, University of London (The School of Oriental and African Studies)

Why are the main means by which urban dwellers avoid hunger ignored?

It has long been assumed that most hunger and other aspects of poverty in sub-Saharan Africa were among rural populations. This was reinforced by governments and international agencies setting and applying poverty lines that made little allowance for the (often high) cost of non-food needs for urban dwellers. Now the scale and depth of urban poverty in the region is better appreciated, so more attention is given to hunger among urban populations. But there is still a rural influence here in that most discussions of addressing hunger in cities focus on producing food (urban and peri-urban agriculture) or lowering food costs (for instance through farmers’ markets). While these are important components of any strategy to reduce hunger, other key components are forgotten.  For instance, the fact that it is income-levels that are the main determinant of hunger for most urban households. Or that the high non-food costs low-income urban dwellers face (which deplete food budgets) are due to the inadequacies in government provision for water, sanitation, schools and health care. Or that the high incidence of diarrhoea diseases and intestinal parasites among low-income populations are major contributors to malnutrition. Also forgotten or ignored are the measures that many low-income dwellers take to avoid hunger – and thus also support for such measures. There is a large and growing movement in sub-Saharan Africa of federations of slum/shack dwellers or homeless people – and what they do and influence also has great importance for reducing hunger in urban areas.

David Satterthwaite, BA, (University of Bristol), DipDevPlan (University College London), PhD (London School of Economics), is Senior Fellow at International Institute for Environment and Development, where he is team leader for the Human Settlements Group, Urban Poverty and Local Organisations. David is also a visiting professor at University College London. 

He is an expert in poverty reduction and environmental problems in urban areas; climate change adaptation (including contributions to the Third and the Fourth IPCC Assessments).

Current work:
Editor, Environment and Urbanization.
Research and documentation on the current and potential role of urban poor federations to address their needs and develop partnerships with government agencies.
Research on why the scale and depth of urban poverty is under-estimated and mis-represented by most governments and international agencies.
On the teaching staff of the Development Planning Unit (University College London) and Honorary Professor, University of Hull.
Previously Director, Human Settlements Group, IIED; awarded the Volvo Environment Prize in 2004.