Prosperity Co-Lab (PROCOL) Africa is an innovative collaborative research programme seeking to broaden the discussion of what constitutes prosperity in Africa.
We conduct research for a prosperous, autonomous and resilient Africa through local partners, by harnessing cutting edge science, community knowledge, astute policy development and participatory research methods to develop smarter, localised understandings of prosperity that can be tailored to communities across Africa.
What we do
Delivering inclusive, sustainable and resilient prosperity remains a major challenge across sub-Saharan Africa. Despite some successes, decades of national, international and NGO-led development practices have failed to confront the key drivers of poverty. Top-heavy governance and rigid conventional economic models championed by major financial institutions continue to perpetuate inequality, injustice and environmental degradation.
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New models of development are needed. We propose that community oriented development, based on an understanding of natural prosperity in the local context can deliver lasting, inclusive prosperity for Africa’s citizens and communities.
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Projects
Maisha Bora (The Good Life) Study
This study Study led by Dr Saffron Woodcraft has been co-designed and co-produced by community members and leaders from the three settlements in Dar es Salaam, and aims to develop new ways of understanding and measuring prosperity that truly reflect peoples’ lived experiences and what supports and what prevents people from living good lives.
Sustainable Prosperity in African cities
Our team based in Kenya aims to improve understandings of the sustainable development for African cities. Informed by our approach developed in London, we will be seeking to use qualitative methods of citizen science to develop a prosperity index for Nairobi and Dar es Salaam. Developing this framework for two of Africa’s most prominent cities will help us better understand what constitutes sustainable prosperity for Africa’s growing urban population.