In sub-Saharan Africa, rural-urban linkages and interactions play an increasingly significant role in local economies and livelihood transformation (Tacoli, 2002), and there is an increased need for understanding the impact of rural-urban linkages on changing livelihoods both in rural and urban areas (Bah et al., 2003; Agergaard et al., 2010). Contemporary mobility processes in sub-Saharan Africa are increasingly complex due to domestic post-independence transformations in demography, urbanisation and policies – as well as processes of economic and cultural globalisation which increasingly connect Africa to different parts of the world. While rural-urban migration is still a crucial component of the mobility...

Although migration in sub-Saharan Africa is an age-old phenomenon, it shows increasing complexity in terms of spatial and time dimensions. Rural-urban linkages and interactions especially tend to play a significant role in local economies and livelihood transformations (Tacoli, 2002). As such, there is an increased need to understand this rural-urban interface and its impact on changing development processes. Toward this end, this theoretical framework examines the major changes in the development landscape of sub-Saharan Africa by focusing on the role of mobility – and more specifically domestic mobility – in transforming local development processes. This section begins with a contextual...

Cameroon, Ghana and Tanzania are far from identical countries in terms of socioeconomic characteristics and developments. And also within each of those countries huge differences exist between and within the different regions, households and the places where they are situated. Variations in agroecological potentials, land scarcity, access to water for irrigation, or physical connections to markets are just a few of the many geographical conditions that lead to the uniqueness of each of the areas selected for this research. Box 1 illustrates how in the Mount Bamboutos region, for instance, households strongly depend upon agroecological potentials related to the altitude...

The transformation processes in agriculture described in the previous section have greatly contributed to changes in the livelihood strategies of rural households. This section elaborates on those livelihood strategies and the way pluri-activity and multi-locality have become important assets for livelihood diversification. It then looks at how these strategies have changed over the last 10 years through an overview of the different efforts of rural households to diversify their livelihoods.

In the rural areas under study, agriculture is the predominant income-generating activity. While farmers produce food crops for subsistence purposes in order to enhance food security, the sale of cash...

As households spread their economic activities across rural and urban spheres, the transformation processes in agriculture and regional production structures described in the previous sections have in turn greatly influenced the livelihood strategies of rural households. This section explains how these dynamics are related to the inflow and outflow of resources. The focus is respectively on the flows of goods and services, capital, remittances and people.

The main flows of goods and services to and from the villages in the research areas include banking facilities (as a result of the increased role of mobile money services), health services, inputs for...

This final section summarises some key findings from the research in rural areas of Cameroon, Ghana and Tanzania and focuses in particular on the interrelationships between livelihood transformation of households in dynamic rural areas and rural development. Linked to each of these key findings, some specific recommendations are presented for local governments that seek to foster local development in rural regions.

It is clear from the findings of this study that migration cannot be considered as a unidirectional movement from rural areas to cities; it has instead been shaped by a chain of connections in which rural and urban livelihoods...