Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya & Zimbabwe at forefront of Africa’s urban transformation: ECA

Addis Ababa, March 24, 2025 (FMC)– This year, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) is set to mobilize stakeholders in Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, and Zimbabwe to improve urban living conditions through UN-Habitat’s Quality of Life Initiative.

As African cities grow rapidly, ensuring that urbanization leads to better living standards remains a pressing challenge, according to ECA’s statement.

The Quality of Life Initiative equips local authorities with the data and insights they need to ensure that urban expansion benefits every resident.

Central to the Initiative is the Quality of Life Index, which gives local authorities a pulse-check of urban life across nine critical domains, including access to basic services, housing and economic opportunities.

The Index combines global benchmarks from the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with local priorities identified by city stakeholders, enabling each municipality to develop a bespoke index that reflects its unique context, values and priorities.

This evidence-based approach enables local authorities to make targeted decisions and measure their precise impact, ECA further elaborated.

At the request of participating countries, ECA will bring together diverse stakeholders, including policymakers, urban planners, national statistical office representatives and community leaders, in the coming months to discuss the core elements of a good quality of life and identify areas for improvement.

“Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, and Zimbabwe are at the forefront of Africa’s urban transformation,” said Atkeyelsh Persson, Chief of ECA’s Urbanization and Development Section.

Implemented by UN-Habitat and sponsored by the Quality of Life Program, the Quality of Life Initiative is a global project transforming how cities understand and improve urban well-being by harnessing human-centered data to capture what people truly value.

The Initiative invites cities to undertake an assessment of their residents’ quality of life to identify key areas for monitoring and improvement, as per ENA.