Prospects and Options for Sustainable and Inclusive Crowdfunding in African Cities

The utility of crowdfunding in promoting sustainable development is beyond doubt due to its popularity in the Global North. The application of this concept in the Global South, especially in Africa, is ill-understood and questionable considering the high levels of corruption, poverty, and poor governance. Applying the concept of crowdfunding in Africa then becomes problematic. The chapter aims to undertake a critical analysis of the concept of crowdfunding and its sustainability in advancing the success of urban-based projects in African cities. What can (or should) be the defining pillars for sustainable and inclusive crowdfunding? What are the known (or even unknown) limits and prospects to initiatives like crowdfunding? What are the answers to the colonial legacy derived scepticisms about self-worth and context? What options do the African cities have? The chapter engages a mix of methodologies including literature review, document review, and case studies. Thematic content analysis is applied in building up the discourse. From the study, five critical observations emerge.

Crowdsourcing as a Tool for Improving Learning in Tertiary Institutions in Developing Countries

Higher education in many developing countries faces the triple challenges of inadequate funding, need to improve quality of learning outcomes, and the pressure to increase quality of graduates. Crowdsourcing offers opportunity for institutions to face these problems with little resource expenditure. The chapter describes/analyzes how crowdsourcing can be applied in curriculum and teaching material development activities through collaborative efforts of higher education institutions from different parts of the world to develop suitable curriculum for teaching English for specific purpose. The chapter analyzes the process and the evaluates the outcome of the crowdsourcing tool and suggests that its application can keep higher education institutions in developing countries in forefront of education and research innovation, and prepares members in these institutions for innovative problem solving and for the challenges of the online world.

Collaborative Consumption as a Tool for Agricultural Expansion in Developing Countries

Collaborative consumption is a broader term encompassing emerging areas, such as crowdfunding and the sharing economy, which enhance consumer enablement through direct interaction. This chapter addresses opportunities and challenges of how to support small- and medium-scale farmers in developing countries. Traditional agriculture, as well as urban agriculture, is rising with the significant urbanization that is occurring in developing economies. There is currently limited research on the value of collaborative consumption as a catalyst for agricultural development. Consequently, the aim of this chapter is to provide an overview of how collaborative consumption in agriculture can be supported. The study is conducted based on the review of literature and case studies related to both agriculture and collaborative consumption. A few key observations are provided in order to assist with the formulation of strategies that increase producer and customer satisfaction, value addition, and engagement.

Knowledge Networks, Crowds, and Markets

In some knowledge-based urban contexts, a new way of conducting creativity and innovation is already operating quasi-independently of the current money system. Its chief ingredients are intangible assets such as time, imagination, knowledge, initiative, and trust, to which money has quickly moved from primary to secondary concern. In this context, this chapter explores their links to emerging models of Commons and Peer-to-Peer (P2P) economies in order to frame a recent crowdfunding experience in the Mexico-Texas borderland.

Africa and Indian Crowdfunding Markets

Developing countries will account for 90% of the new 2.5 billion urban population inflow projected by 2050. To provide decent urban environment new non-traditional financial sources such as crowdfunding are needed. In developing these sources, mutual learning experiences are the key to success but cross-cultural studies among cultures remain limited; this chapter seeks to address this issue. Africa and India are likely the key beneficiaries of future urban growth and most likely users of alternative finance tools to fund their growth. Both are slow starters in rapid urbanization and the use of crowdfunding but are making rapid progress.

Applications of Crowdsourcing in Sustainable Urban Development Planning in Developing Countries

To efficiently manage growth and changes arising from rapidly increasing population and urbanization trends, developing countries need to employ appropriate tools to analyze the key issues involved. Globally, crowdsourcing is increasingly being applied to facilitate sustainable urban development (SUD) planning process. Crowdsourcing has already proved capable of generating new models for urban planning and governance that source and mobilize diverse social actors working toward sustainable and innovation-oriented urban space. However, few studies have explored crowdsourcing applications in SUD planning in developing countries. Therefore, based on desktop study, this chapter examines applications of crowdsourcing in SUD planning in developing countries. The chapter reviews the conceptual and historical foundation of crowdsourcing, and highlights some exemplary applications of crowdsourcing in SUD planning worldwide. It then discusses the challenges and potentials of crowdsourcing as a tool in planning for SUD in developing countries and concludes with future research directions.

A Comparative Analysis of Online Crowdfunding Platforms in Africa and the Middle East

This chapter seeks to fill a gap in the regional analysis of online crowdfunding platforms and projects by examining selected platforms in Africa and in the Middle East. The authors considered the quantity and quality of the actors: fundraisers, funders, and other stakeholders; analyzed characteristics, quality, fees, and general value for money; and evaluated the capacity of the platforms in terms of system interface, projects, and customer crowds aiming to enhance their overall capacity to become nodes of local and regional crowdfunding activities. These are connected to other district and urban centers that would serve as a springboard to organize and network with overseas centers for the growth and development of the regional centers.

Exploring the Crowdfunding of Nigerian Volunteer Corps' Efforts in Urban Development

In another chapter in this volume the author highlighted the potential role the various volunteer programs are expected to play in promoting urban development in Nigeria. This chapter, advocating urban development alternative to oil as driver of growth, carries the analysis further in three important ways: Firstly, by sharpening the ideas on the ways in which volunteerism enhance governance as the leading component of urban development, the poor state of which intensifies the many challenges. Secondly, the potential impacts of volunteer corps in social, economic, and knowledge development in selected key sub-national and national development problem areas. Thirdly, funding the huge volunteer programs that meets the speed and scale of expected urban development is considered to be beyond the traditional public finance mechanism and need the support of the emerging “alternative finance,” which include but are not limited to crowdfunding to deal with the emerging and persistent development challenges.

Improving Quality of Urban Life Through Enhanced Energy Policy in Africa

Neither urban quality of life research nor effective urban energy policy research is new in Africa, but funding the future needs in these two areas requires exploring the new options, such as the emerging crowdfunding market. It is projected that by 2100 Africans will account for 40% of global population and majority urban residents, with huge workforce, a growing middle class, experiencing hyper-globalization, and increased innovation, all of which will enhance quality of urban life. For Africa to meet its large-scale energy-deficit and expected huge future demand triggered by rapid and massive urbanization, alternative renewable sources are considered in the supply policy options. Similarly, alternative visions of how energy can contribute to inclusive economic growth in Africa are examined and ways to fund them explored. To leap-frog Africa's development while the traditional funding mechanism helps, sustainable option lies in innovative alternative finance, especially crowdfunding markets in Africa and in diaspora.

Volunteerism in Urban Development the Case of Non-Cash, Non-Digital Crowdfunding Growth in Nigeria

Crowdfunding is a digital-based tool for mobilizing cash for various projects contributing to urban development. This chapter argues that for societies with low digital penetration and less cash but with huge human resources and high physical interaction, crowdfunding should be used as tool for mobilizing human capital for urban development. In this sense, volunteering is a form of crowdfunding. This chapter explores the influence of volunteers in developing and maintaining their urban communities. As an activity aimed at promoting the welfare of other individuals or groups through services or cash transfers, volunteerism is a useful tool for emerging economies to fill the gap between their development resource demand and availability. Review of few relevant concepts and experiences reveal the potential contributions of paid and unpaid volunteers in Africa with a focus on the efforts to shift the Nigerian economy from an oil-based to an urban-based.