African Cities Program

By joining the African Cities Program, a city benefits from comprehensive and long-term support by the AfDB Urban and Municipal Development Fund in the areas of planning, governance and capacity development, all with a view to prepare concrete investments for resilient infrastructure and essential services.


The process starts with the elaboration of a City Action Plan in order to assess the city’s current development status, analyse the key challenges including climate risk vulnerabilities, identify and prioritise of 3 to 5 key projects, together with an actionable plan for their implementation. Next, at least one of those projects is supported towards investment readiness on to the African Development Bank or to other prospective financing partners. 

The Cities Program started in 2020, and grew to 19 cities presently (2024). We support cities of all sizes, capitals to intermediary cities.​ We aim to work with at least 40 cities by 2027.

Latest news

African Development Bank Group supports study tour to Brazil to inspire African cities The Study Tour, organised as part of the African Development Bank (AfDB)'s African Cities Program (ACP), launched in 2020, is financed by the South-to-South Cooperation Trust Fund (SSCTF) in collaboration with the Bank Group’s Urban and Municipal Development Fund (UMDF), with technical support from …
From the 5th till the 7th of February, the municipal and county's teams gathered in Kisumu for a 3-days workshop dedicated to urban project prioritization
Kisumu started identifying high potential urban infrastructure projects Representatives from the local and national governments gathered to discuss an action plan to identify transformative urban projects. This workshop marks the third phase of the African Cities Program (ACP) of the African Development Bank (AfDB). From the 5th till the 7th of February, …
Kigali started its City Diagnostic as a new member of the AfDB’s African Cities Program During a “city profiling” workshop, representatives of the national and local governments gathered with development partners to build a precise diagnostic of Kigali. A first step in the support process for this municipality, as a member of the African Cities Program (ACP) of the African Development …
Launch of the UMDF Annual Report 2022 In a year marked by a deepening climate crisis, in the face of which African cities are particularly vulnerable, the African Development Bank’s member countries on the continent have shown an increased concern to adopt measures to strengthen the resilience of urban areas, and make them the drivers …
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Participating in the African Cities Program

(in Oct 2024)

Start the journey

There are different avenues for cities to become part of the African Cities Program and benefit from its support services.

National Government Initiative​

National government ministry expresses its request for support for a city or a group of cities to the AfDB (with the confirmation from the relevant city government(s)).​

City initiative

A city government expresses its interest to our Secretariat (with endorsement of a relevant national government ministry).

Project-linked Initiative​

The support to a city is agreed and made part of an AfDB lending project (ongoing or planned) in the corresponding country. ​

Criteria

1
Situation

Confirmation of the actual challenges and support needs of the city.

2
Commitment

Clear commitment by relevant government entity/entities to own and contribute to the requested support activities.

3
Relevance

Ability of the support activities of the AfDB’s Cities Program to address the city’s challenges and needs.

4
Alignment

Alignment of the city’s requested support with AfDB strategy and operations within the country (AfDB Country Strategy Papers, Regional Integration Strategy Papers, and SUDAP).​

5
Financial capacity

Fiscal ability and financial stability of the government to make use of future lending and investment into city-related actions.​

6
Distribution

Allocation of AfDB Cities Program support resources towards a variety of different city types and sizes across all AfDB sub-regions.​

Access more information here