Policy Brief: Urban Informality, Social Welfare and Gender in Ethiopian Cities (2021-2026)

This policy brief examines the critical intersection of urban informality, social welfare provision, and gendered vulnerability in rapidly urbanising Ethiopian cities. It identifies a significant policy gap: the failure of formal social protection frameworks to account for the realities of women in informal settlements, where tenure insecurity and infrastructural deficits exacerbate daily burdens. The analysis employs a rigorous mixed-methods methodology, synthesising quantitative data from national surveys (2021-2024) with qualitative insights from participatory community assessments conducted in Addis Ababa, Hawassa, and Dire Dawa. Findings demonstrate that women disproportionately bear the costs of informality. They spend excessive time on unpaid care work due to inadequate water and sanitation, while facing heightened economic precarity within informal sectors. Crucially, the lack of formal address or land title systematically excludes them from accessing nascent urban social welfare programmes. The brief argues that prevailing urban policy, focused on formalisation and physical upgrading, overlooks these gendered dimensions. Its significance lies in advocating for a paradigm shift towards gender-responsive urban governance. Key recommendations include the urgent integration of gender-sensitive criteria into social registry systems, support for community-based childcare solutions, and the formal recognition of women’s informal work and community leadership as foundational to inclusive urban resilience in the African context.