Six new cities join growing network of UMDF-supported urban centers

Six new African cities will join the UMDF portfolio in 2026, following the Oversight Committee's approval granted at the close of 2025. Through its African Cities Program (ACP), the UMDF will channel grant funding into feasibility and diagnostic studies to determine the cities’ most urgent sustainable urban development needs and guide the prioritization of interventions. The cities are:

- Freetown, Sierra Leone

- Las Anod, Somalia

- N’Djamena, Chad

- Pointe-Noire, Congo-Brazzaville

- Wakiso District, Uganda and

- Malabo, Guinea-Bissau.

Earlier in 2025, the ACP received the green light to bring similar support to three cities in the Sahel, Bamako (Mali), Niamey (Niger), and Bobo Dioulasso (Burkina Faso). Read the article here.

This latest round of approvals brings the footprint of the Fund’s ACP program from 19 to 25 cities across the continent.

As with all UMDF-supported projects, these initiatives will, in their design and execution, promote reduced carbon emissions, nature-based solutions, and gender-responsive elements and budgeting.

(Cover image: Aerial view of Freetown, Sierra Leone.

Bottom image: Aerial view of Pointe-Noire, Republic of Congo)