Welcome on board! The UMDF team is expanding

The Urban and Municipal Development Fund is glad to announce that a new coordinator has been appointed and that a specialist has joined to consolidate its team and better foster the development of sub-national finance in Africa.

New UMDF Coordinator Darline Tognia has been appointed since April 2024.

As a Paris-trained lawyer, Darline previously served as Legal Counsel for the African Development Bank Group‘s Private and Public Sectors Operations since 2019. During her tenure at the Bank, she played a crucial role in (re)structuring complex infrastructure projects across various sectors, including climate investment projects financed by the Green Climate Fund. Darline‘s strong negotiation skills enabled her to facilitate loan, grant, and guarantee agreements while fostering synergies between stakeholders to accelerate the implementation of investment projects.

Prior to joining the African Development Bank, Darline worked as a Business and Tax Lawyer in the private sector for more than twelve years, honing her skills in project management. In her new role, Darline will leverage her expertise to support municipalities and local governments in accessing the African Development Bank‘s ecosystem for urban project preparation and financing. By creating synergies among local, national, and international actors,

Darline aims to accelerate the UMDF‘s efforts in promoting sustainable urban development and increasing municipal finance.

Since June, the Fund has also benefited from the arrival of Fadimatou Myriam Amadou, a Municipal Finance Specialist.

As a product of the School of Environment and Development of the University of Manchester, Myriam has been working in the field of International Development since 2013, providing Technical Assistance in the public sector on Governance, Implementation of Digital solutions for the management of Natural Resources and associated revenues, Mobilization of municipal revenues through tax and non-tax resources to finance local development. She previously served as technical advisor on local finance with GIZ, building capacities of councils on municipal governance.

Recently Joining the UMDF team in June 2024 with an experience in coordinating the implementation of donor-funded programs in collaboration with various governments and development partners in Malawi, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Mali and Cameroon she hopes to contribute to tackling challenges linked to rampant urbanization of African cities on a larger scale and to help formulate further research approaches and initiatives in Municipal Finance.

Welcome on board!