Visit the UMDF website for UMDF proposals
Africa’s future is cities
Urbanization is one of the most profound changes the African continent is experiencing. According to a recent report, Africa’s Urbanization Dynamics 2022, there is compelling evidence that this urban transformation is already contributing to economic growth and improved living standards. African cities already account for half of the continent’s GDP and offer immense opportunities to accelerate progress towards the Global 2030 and Africa 2063 development agendas. For African cities to realize their full potential as engines of green growth and prosperity for the continent, they must overcome infrastructure and service gaps, build resilience, and improve livability for all their citizens.
Building transformative cities – African Development Bank’s Cities Action Plan
The African Development Bank aims to become a center of excellence in sustainable urban development by supporting well-planned and governed cities that invest in Africa’s green and equitable growth. For Africa to build.
Toward innovative cities, the Bank supports countries and cities’ ability to improve governance and fiscal management, improve urban planning, and invest more in resilient infrastructure and essential services.
“We need livable cities. We need healthy cities. We need decent jobs. We need well-fed cities. We need safe cities.
And we need cities with a high quality of life. ”
Dr. Akinwumi A. Adesina, President of the African Development Bank, January 23, 2023
Access the speech here
AfDB Cities and Urban Development Fund
The Bank launched the Urban and Rural Development Fund (UMDF) in 2019 to support the Bank’s urban initiatives and engagement with cities. The Fund meets the ever-increasing demand from countries and cities for banks to support urban development. UMDF provides financial and technical support to national and local governments to improve governance and planning, prepare investments in sustainable urban development to achieve more climate-resilient, resilient, livable and productive cities, and support national socio-economic development and poverty reduction.
UMDF priority areas:
Improving urban governance: UMDF supports inclusive decision-making processes in partner cities and helps partner local and national governments improve financial governance to invest in sustainable urban development. Improving urban planning: UMDF supports investment-oriented action plans to develop or update integrated urban and sectoral plans. The goal is to develop a medium- to long-term approach for more inclusive, climate-resilient, liveable and productive African cities. Improving urban infrastructure and essential services: UMDF supports investments in infrastructure and service provision required by governments (national and local) that directly and visibly lead to inclusive and sustainable urban development, and provides financial and technical assistance for the identification, preparation, financial structure and implementation of urban projects. Climate resilience and low-carbon urban development: UMDF helps cities meet the challenges of climate change by identifying adaptation and resilience-building opportunities and supporting the Bank’s efforts to make adaptation investments bankable. Invest in Africa’s women to accelerate inclusive growth and promote the participation of women and marginalized groups in urban planning, governance, and gender-equal access to resilient infrastructure, basic services, and training opportunities.
As sustainable outcomes depend on national and local capacity and leadership, UMDF supports capacity building, training and knowledge work to improve the knowledge and capacity of local and national counterparts to plan, govern, manage and drive solutions and investments for climate-resilient, livable and productive African cities.
UMDF equipment
UMDF supports the above focus areas through three specific windows. Through the African Cities Program, UMDF supports cities in action planning, capacity building, project identification and preparation in an intensive two-year process towards investment implementation. As a complement to the ACP, the UMDF Project Preparation Window provides financial or technical assistance to accelerate the maturation of high-impact urban infrastructure projects. Third, the Local Finance Access Window, which helps cities improve their financial health, supports transaction-focused technical assistance to improve cities’ creditworthiness and ability to invest in sustainable urban development.
How to cooperate with us
Support from the African Development Bank and the Urban and Municipal Development Fund is available to all regional member states. We encourage you to contact AfDB for inquiries regarding potential support and partners. Requests for technical or financial assistance shall be submitted to the Bank through the submission of a request letter and project outline. Project proposals require the support of both relevant local and national authorities and must be aligned with the African Development Bank’s global and national strategies. The template is available here.
Email: (email protected)
