How Africa's young urbanites are changing political culture

Two trends will shape Africa's future: the rapid growth of cities and its youth boom. More than two-thirds people on the continent are under the age of 30. And its projected that from 2035, most of these young people will live in cities.

This could also change the political situation, says Titus Kaloki, coordinator for Just Cities project at the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES) in Kenya.

DW talks to Kaloki in the German capital, Berlin, where he is attending a workshop run by FES, a German political foundation, on political participation in African cities and the role of young people.

At the workshop, Kaloki presents photos of massive protests held in Kenya earlier this year that were attended mainly by Gen Z, the generation born between 1995 and 2010.

The protests forced President William Ruto to stop tax increases on bread, oil and petrol and to reshuffle the cabinet.

"So what these Gen Zers have been able to achieve is to start demystifying complex things like tax laws and legal documents — making them readable, understandable, translating them to different languages," Kaloki says.

The demonstrators didn't have a central organization or leading figure. Rather, they were motivated by an issue and mobilized through social media.

These young urbanites are also increasingly aware of the need to share political context with their peers in rural areas, adding that the movement continues to develop from reactive to proactive, he says.

More susceptibility to populism?

"We can certainly look forward to seeing more protests in the coming decades," says Lena Gutheil, a researcher at Megatrends Africa within the German Institute of Development and Sustainability.

Her observation is that young, urban Africans avoid formal forms of democratic participation in that they rarely vote or join political parties. Instead, young Africans prefer to protest.

This is an expression of their frustration, Gutheil says. Only one in six young people in Africa have a stable job, while a third are unemployed.

"The feeling of not being part of society” is spreading, because even if the state provides support, the difference between their circumstances and those of wealthy city neighborhoods is huge, Gutheil says.

Gutheil sees this as dangerous and expects an increase in "populist appeals" to young people living in the continent's informal settlements.            

Addressing 'democracy on an empty stomach'

Kaloki is familiar with life in these settlements. A 2022 FES study found that such neighborhoods are the result of the colonial division of urban space. Almost 70% of informal settlements fulfil an important economic function and are the real drivers of growth, he says.

Unfortunately, many are not recognized, which is why they don't participate in the official political process, he adds, explaining that residents don't attend town hall meetings and hold back from interacting with local politicians.

As for Gutheil, she believes "democracy needs to deliver so that people are once again more convinced that the system works, emphasizing that that African governments have a duty to provide infrastructure and public goods, for example.

Many poor neighborhoods like Kuwadzana in Zimbabwe's capital Harare lack inadequate infrastructure. In this photo from January 2024, residents fill containers with safe drinking water after a cholera outbreakImage: JEKESAI NJIKIZANA/AFP/Getty Images

Kaloki focuses on new platforms for civic education that explain the importance of participation and how to get involved. But in a comment addressed to European partners, he emphasizes that fair use of resources is needed as well.

"We are practicing democracy on an empty stomach," Kaloki says, adding that an honest dialogue on decolonized relations must be resumed.

Strategic funding needed

The European Union needs to rethink its approach to promoting democracy, Kaloki says, as it isn't enough to push for democratic values.

"But there is a lot of potential for strategic funding, design of public goods and services which can come out with win-win-situations," he says.

Those who want to get from A to B in Nairobi at a reasonable price "surf" on private minibus taxis called matutu, and sometimes have to put up with long traffic jamsImage: Andrew Wasike/DW

For example, Kaloki says, a European company like Siemens could use EU funds to build fast public transportation in Kenya's capital, Nairobi. "They would not only gain in profit, but they would also help the city of Nairobi to achieve a major milestone that would unlock a lot more economic opportunities and reduce losses in the economy," he says.

Better public transport would benefit a great many people, as almost 40% of the city's residents currently have to walk, he adds.

There is much at stake for the future. "I see hope, but I'm also anxious," Kaloki says. On the one hand, there is networking and appreciation between people in Nigeria and Uganda, who have been inspired by young Kenyans and launchedtheir own protest movements, which he calls "a good thing to share in a democratic way."

However, Kaloki is concerned about the authoritarianism that has taken hold in the Sahel region following military coups, for example. Democracy in Africa is also under pressure due to rampant disinformation both on- and offline. It will be important to pay close attention to how the Gen Z movements mobilize, communicate and protect themselves from disinformation and echo chambers, he says.

This article was originally published in German.