Financing Inclusive Resilience: Beyond the Economics of Infrastructure in Accra, Ghana

Abstract

Global infrastructure losses from disasters now exceed an estimated US$700–845 billion annually, disproportionality affecting cities in the Global South (CDRI, 2023). Accra, as a rapidly urbanizing coastal city, faces recurring floods, coastal erosion, and rising vulnerabilities that erode development gains and entrench existing socio-economic inequalities. Climate-related disasters alone cost the city US$118 million in annual losses (CDRI, 2023), disproportionately affecting informal settlements. Infrastructure financing remains underfunded: the city needs US$37.9 billion annually to meet infrastructure needs by 2047 (GNIP, 2018), while a US$900 million gap undermines its Climate Action Plan (AMA, 2025).

Despite increased national investment and brewing/blooming/?? global climate finance mechanisms, Accra struggles to attract and equitably deploy resources for inclusive resilience (CPI, 2023). Projects like the Greater Accra Resilient and Integrated Development (GARID) project expose systemic issues – prioritizing asset protection over community-centered design, with inadequate participation and social co-ownership (GARID PAD, 2019).

This thesis critically examines how infrastructure financing mechanisms in Accra shape the potential to build inclusive resilience. Mapping the city’s financing landscape, it analyzes how institutional, financial, and governance arrangements influence the selection, distribution, and implementation of investments. Using GARID as a case study, the thesis applies a critical justice framework – drawing on distributive justice (who benefits and who bears the costs), procedural justice (who has voice and decision-making power), and epistemic justice (whose knowledge systems are valued in infrastructure planning) (Carolini, 2022) – to evaluate current infrastructure financing practices and explore opportunities to embed these justices in efforts to build resilience. Findings reveal that infrastructure financing decisions are dominated by centralized donor-driven and ministerial priorities, constrained by fiscal austerity, and evaluated through technocratic frameworks that marginalize community participation and local knowledge.

Ultimately, the thesis argues that building inclusive resilience in climate-vulnerable cities like Accra requires transforming infrastructure financing systems to prioritize social inclusion, participatory governance, and knowledge pluralism – alongside, not subordinate to, economic efficiency.