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 the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group
The trip is based on the idea that peer exchanges between cities in the Global South can enrich the urban planning approaches and strategies of decision-makers in African municipalities. "Africa's rapid urban transition has many similarities with that experienced by Latin America in the 1950s and 60s. By visiting Brazil today, we can see firsthand, and with hindsight, how cities have absorbed this growth; which solutions have worked, and which have not," says Darline Tognia, UMDF Coordinator and leader of the delegation.
The delegation consists of 19 high-level municipal staff drawn from planning departments, finance departments, transportation services, and others, working in eight African cities which are already benefiting from the Urban and Municipal Development Fund and C40: Nairobi (Kenya), Beira (Mozambique), Tshwane (South Africa), Lomé (Togo), Dakar (Senegal), Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) and Freetown (Sierra Leone).
The visit started in Sao Paulo, the largest city in South America, where innovation and sustainability coexist with complex urban and environmental challenges. At a popular neighbourhood, participants visited a publicly run multipurpose facility for children, which benefits from a “School Feeding Program”, a large-scale municipal effort to promote healthy eating, while also supporting urban agriculture.
As part of the tour, the group met with waste recycling cooperatives, visited an electric bus maintenance center, learnt about public transport by river-boats and discovered how informal settlements are getting upgraded by the municipality trough basic infrastructure provision, improved transport integration, social housing programs and environmental protection measures.
In Fortaleza, a coastal city in north-east Brazil, and the second leg of the tour, the delegation has been introduced to several initiatives that have significantly improved the cityscape; in sustainable mobility, youth engagement and climate resilience.
The tour came to an end in Curitiba, a city of 2 million inhabitants, renowned for its innovative approach to sustainable development and urban mobility. The delegation learnt about the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system implemented by the city, as well as its urban planning and solid waste management programs.
The Urban and Municipal Development Fund (UMDF) envisioned the trip as a means of consolidating a network of African cities interested in adopting urban solutions with an inclusive and human-centered approach.
The Brazil tour followed previous ones organized in 2022 to Copenhagen (Denmark) and Malmo (Sweden), to discover the renowned sustainable urban planning strategies of Nordic countries.
