Introduction

With the rising number of COVID 19 cases in Africa, It is becoming a source of concern considering the region’s increased level of urbanization and vulnerability in terms of ineffective urban planning systems and high rate of slums proliferation. According to the UN Habitat, the impacts of the new coronavirus disease could be considerably higher on the urban poor living in slums, where overcrowding makes it difficult to follow the recommended measures such as social distancing and self-isolation.

Low income settlements in slums are known to be lacking basic infrastructure and services which enables sustainable and healthy living. Unsafe water, inadequate sanitation, open drainage and refuse dumps are practical features of slum settlements which these attracts rodents and other parasites; consequently becoming prime reasons for the high prevalence of infectious diseases. Economically, the COVID 19 pandemic is also having a vast negative impact on Africa’s economy. According to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), Africa may lose half of its GDP with growth falling from 3.2% to about 2 % due to a number of reasons which include the disruption of global supply chains. This can be primarily related to the continent’s interconnectedness to the global value chain. According to Mc Kinsey, “Africa’s economies could experience a loss of between $90 billion and $200 billion in 2020.

For the oil producing economies, the collapse of the oil price, driven by geopolitics as well as reduced demand in light of the pandemic has resulted to increased liquidity issues, lost tax revenues, and currency pressure.

Rationale and Gap to fill

As Africa battles to contain the spread of the COVID 19 and its attendant effects on the socio-economic landscape in the region, it is imperative on governments and other related stakeholders involved in affordable housing delivery and urban development to adopt more pragmatic, innovative and sustainable solutions to the related affordable housing and urbanization challenges facing the region.

In this light, Shelter Afrique views housing construction as one of the answers to economic revival in Africa in the wake of the pandemic. Based on the premise of the Shelter Afrique Strategic Goal 2, delivering Superior Stakeholder Value and Development Impact, Shelter Afrique through its Centre of Excellence (CoE) has the mandate to organize advocacy initiatives to support affordable housing delivery and urban development in Africa.

In this context, the CoE which is a which is a one stop platform for research & development, capacity building, training and advisory to support affordable housing delivery and urban development in Africa is hosting a symposium as part of the 39th AGM titled: Affordable Housing Delivery as an Economic Revival Strategy in the COVID 19 Era in Africa. The symposium will feature experts covering key aspects as it pertains to positioning large scale affordable housing delivery as a key strategy to enable economic revival in Africa in the COVID 19 era.