New UMDF partnership to strengthen capacity of employees of African municipalities

A new partnership between the UMDF, the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) and the Danida Fellowship Centre (DFC) is poised to strengthen the capacity of professionals within African municipalities in the areas of climate resilience, sustainable urban development, urban planning, municipal governance and others.  

Under the partnership, the Danida Fellowship Centre (DFC), an independent non-profit organisation funded by MOFA as part of Denmark's Official Development Assistance, will develop, plan, and deliver tailor-made training courses online and in person. The UMDF will invite the municipalities in eligible cities to nominate potential participants. The UMDF will also manage the process of selecting participants.

The DFC will deliver the courses to ensure that as many regions as possible can participate. The UMDF and the DFC will collaborate in planning the courses, jointly defining training needs and themes, the target groups, overall modalities, and setting dates for the training. Fees related to the course will be fully covered under the tripartite agreement. 

Selection criteria

The participants will be selected from cities that are already supported by the UMDF through one of its existing windows. In selecting participants, the UMDF will aim to balance geographical regions. The program will target mid- to senior-level sustainability and urban planning professionals from municipalities in AFDB/DANIDA partner countries in Africa. The ideal candidates will work in various sectors, such as mobility and transportation, urban finance and governance, water management, waste, housing, infrastructure planning, and others. The UMDF will seek out candidates who can implement sustainable planning principles and organisational change in their respective institutions. 

Inaugural course   

The first training course under this partnership is entitled Sustainable Urban Development and Resilience: Supporting Local Climate Actions. It will be held between September and December 2025, during a combination of online sessions and a 3-week in-person session. Broadly, the course aims to encourage participants to adopt a systems approach to solving the problems they face in their respective municipalities and an inclusive approach to urban planning. Around 30 participants from some 10 African countries will take part in this course.

Through group and individual work, presentations, field trips, lectures, and peer-to-peer learning, the course will ensure that participants can learn by example, by seeing, and by doing. Participants will identify a real-life case study and use their learnings to formulate a proposed action plan for implementation. 

Lectures will be delivered by Danish and international experts, and will cover a range of topics such as smart cities, elements of circular urban development, cycling and slow mobility, social housing, and coastal protection, among others.

Photo credits: Danida Fellowship Centre website