Africa Cities

completed

The Africa Cities Platform (ACP, Platform or program) seeks to support the development and implementation of sustainable urban infrastructure in cities in Sub-Saharan Africa to make cities more competitive, sustainable and better places to live. This will have direct and indirect benefits for the urban poor, for example, through better access to critical services, and mobility. Under the program IFC will forge long-term partnerships with municipalities, development partners and commercial institutions to support the implementation of municipalities' capital investment programs, including through advisory services and capacity building. Specifically, the Africa Cities Platform aims to apply the Cascade/Maximizing Finance for Development approach to urban infrastructure, thereby increase the total investment in sustainable urban infrastructure projects. The Platform will support municipalities in their planning and implementation of sustainable infrastructure projects, make them bankable and finance them by leveraging commercial capital, thereby complementing scarce public-sector resources. The Africa Cities Platform will focus on supporting municipalities across the full range of urban infrastructure sectors, including transport, municipal solid waste, water and waste water, green buildings, municipal finance, as well as smart city technologies. Entities eligible to receive support are municipalities and other relevant government organizations, municipally-owned companies, and private sector companies providing urban infrastructure services. In terms of sectors, the program will support cities in their priority areas, including urban mobility, water, waste, and energy. The Africa Cities Platform will be structured along three mutually supportive components, namely (1) Strategic Partnerships (2) Project Development Support and (3) Upstream Engagements & Knowledge Management. Under Component 1, IFC will develop long-term strategic partnerships with cities and their leadership teams and provide a variety of strategic advisory services in order to build city resilience through long-term planning, capacity building and realization of sustainable urban infrastructure strategies. Through Component 2, the Platform will provide targeted advisory support to individual sustainable urban infrastructure projects, focusing on supporting the implementation of specific projects by helping to make them bankable, e.g. by addressing project risks and by enhancing their developmental impacts. By offering cities this comprehensive suite of advisory solutions and engaging as an independent advisor, IFC ensures that projects are developed according to international best practice and are therefore bankable for commercial financing. IFC can also help address any hurdles for implementation, for example, those related to environmental and social risks, and can support projects to enhance their developmental impact and enhance the operational performance and management of related and already existing infrastructure assets. Under Component 3, IFC will engage in selected upstream activities to improve the enabling environment for sustainable municipal infrastructure projects and increase the awareness and knowledge sharing among stakeholders, including municipalities and private sector solution providers.