Poverty reduction and inclusive growth: in search of a policy framework to support individuals operating in the informal economy in Lagos, Nigeria

What perspectives exist amongst stakeholders in Lagos’s informal economy on the criminalisation of visible economic activities and the control of urban spaces, and how can these perspectives be incorporated into a framework promoting dialogue on policies targeting poverty reduction and economic and social inclusion? This project seeks answers to these questions. Lagos’s urban space has become highly contested, between policymakers as they criminalise visible informal activities in pursuit of modernisation, and citizens seeking survival and day-to-day opportunities to buy and sell. To address these challenges, the research team combines institutional and modernisation theories, unifying interdisciplinary qualitative and quantitative methods to analyse interview and questionnaire data. Findings will be disseminated to academic and stakeholder audiences. Crucial will be stakeholder workshops, designed not just for dissemination but to facilitate dialogue on substantive pro-poor policy change. These findings will have relevance for urban areas across the Global South.

Funding

The project was funded by the British Academy (TGC/200070), as part of the Humanities and Social Sciences Tackling Global Challenges Programme 2020

The project is underpinned by a critical realist epistemology. It adopts mixed methods research. The methods of data collection involved a series of elite interviews, a large-N survey (1736 usable responses), buying airtime on radio phone-in programmes, and two stakeholder workshops to co-create possible responses to the current policies. The ongoing analyses draw on both qualitative and quantitative methods, as appropriate to the research questions of each output.

Project Lead