For funders and investors
Better-prepared projects with clearer investment cases, strong city ownership and realistic funding pathways.
Our Approach
Cities across Africa do not lack support. What is often missing is support that stays with the city, and support that reaches beyond the project to the institutions and people it depends on.
What makes us different
Our distinctiveness lies in the combination of four elements.
Our distinctiveness lies in the combination of four elements, all working towards city teams equipped to lead future projects themselves.
Starting from the city’s priority
We do not arrive with a ready-made programme or financing product. The final decisions remain with the city.
Seeing the full picture
We bring financial planning, institutional support and community involvement into one coordinated process.
Aligning institutions and communities
We treat institutional alignment as core work, not an afterthought.
Building long-term capability
Our advisers work within city teams, building practical tools and routines into the city’s own systems.
Others offer training to prepare projects. Cities Africa builds lasting capacity by preparing projects together with city teams.
Our principles
African cities set the direction
African cities define their own priorities, retain decision-making ownership, and lead the choices that shape their future and create meaningful public value.
External support builds lasting city capability
Every engagement leaves behind stronger staff, routines, data systems and institutional responsibilities.
Tools serve public purpose
Financing structures and technical tools are shaped around city priorities and resident outcomes, rather than becoming ends in themselves.
African cities learn together
We draw on African and global expertise, and share lessons from implementation so that each engagement contributes to a stronger African urban ecosystem.
Holistic approach
We work across the full project journey, bringing together the technical, institutional, stakeholder and financing dimensions needed for progress.
Built for complexity
We recognize that urban projects sit within complex systems of institutions, mandates and decisions, and we are designed to work across those interdependencies.
The value we bring to partners
Closing the gap between city priorities and the partners who can deliver them.
Too few priority projects reach funders and investors with the evidence, financial planning and institutional support they require.
For technical and delivery partners
Clearly defined needs, solid evidence and a committed city counterpart, so specialist support can make a lasting difference.
What we heard
From cities, funders and partners across the continent.
Our approach is informed by consultations with more than 15 stakeholders, including funders, peer organisations, and national, state and city-level government officials.
“Even technically sound projects can stall because approvals depend on ministries, utilities, regulators, councils, and communities moving together.”
Funder “Housing projects are built but remain empty, and markets remain unused because traders and communities were not meaningfully involved.”
City government official “Cities show up to DFIs with pitch decks, not term sheets; concessions and revenue structures aren’t stress-tested before approaching financiers.”
Funder “We still do things manually. If we have dashboards, they do not talk to each other.”
Mayor
What success looks like
We will measure our success by three questions.
Each engagement begins with a clear baseline and a few key milestones agreed with the city.
- 1
Did the priority project move forward?
- 2
Is the city better placed to lead the next one, with less outside support?
- 3
Are we getting better at doing this across more cities?
Projects move forward
Important city priorities become better-defined projects, with stronger evidence and clearer funding options.
Cities become stronger
City teams gain the skills, tools and relationships to develop future projects.
What works can be used elsewhere
Approaches and tools are adapted across cities facing similar challenges.
More partners can contribute
Funders, investors and technical partners get clearer entry points for their expertise and financing.
Five-year roadmap
- Year 1
Building the foundation: putting our model into practice with 2 to 3 cities, establishing our core team and governance, and securing initial philanthropic funding.
- Year 3
Expanding what works: working with 8 to 12 cities, refining our approach, developing reusable tools and expanding into secondary and intermediary cities.
- Year 5
Establishing a lasting model: supporting more than 15 projects across at least 5 countries, with a growing portfolio prepared for investment.