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Do slum upgrading programmes improve living standards? Evidence from Djibouti

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  • Sandrine Mesplé-Somps

    (DIAL - Développement, institutions et analyses de long terme, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), LEDa - Laboratoire d'Economie de Dauphine - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - Université Paris Dauphine-PSL - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • Laure Pasquier-Doumer

    (LEDa - Laboratoire d'Economie de Dauphine - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - Université Paris Dauphine-PSL - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • Charlotte Guénard

    (DEVSOC - UMR Développement et Sociétés - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, CRI - Centre de Recherches de l'Iedes - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne)

Abstract

Slum upgrading programmes are high on the international community's agenda. Yet their impact evaluations remain few and far between, especially when the programmes include different components such as roads, water supply, electricity, and community facilities. In addition, employment is rarely considered as an outcome in the evaluation of slum upgrading programmes, although it is often one of the main priorities of slum upgrading policies. This article analyses the effects on employment of such a programme in a Djibouti slum. It uses a difference-in-difference approach to evaluate the average impact and heterogeneous effects of the programme. We find that the project is unlikely to have improved access to employment in general and to formal wage jobs in particular, as was expected at the start of the project. It has also failed to increase earned income. Nonetheless, we show that self-employed activities have developed, more particularly in places adjacent to the project roads.

Suggested Citation

  • Sandrine Mesplé-Somps & Laure Pasquier-Doumer & Charlotte Guénard, 2020. "Do slum upgrading programmes improve living standards? Evidence from Djibouti," Post-Print hal-03105551, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03105551
    DOI: 10.1057/s41287-020-00305-9
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-03105551
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    1. Pauline C Cherunya & Bernhard Truffer & Edinah Moraa Samuel & Christoph Lüthi, 2021. "The challenges of livelihoods reconstruction in the context of informal settlement upgrading," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 53(1), pages 168-190, February.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    slums; urban project; impact analysis; employment; housing; Djibouti;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R23 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population
    • J68 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Public Policy

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