The African Development Bank (www.AfDB.org) and United Cities and Local Governments, a global umbrella organization for local and metropolitan governments, have announced the introduction of a new program to strengthen the capacity of municipal chief financial officers across Africa.
The Municipal CFO Initiative was announced at the 9th Africities Summit in Kisumu, Kenya, earlier this month.
The new program will allow towns to more effectively leverage financial markets to fund local infrastructure and development initiatives. To fulfill the demands of Africa’s rapidly urbanizing cities, city infrastructure must grow and expand urgently.
“Such capacity-building programs play a catalytic role in the long term development of cities and turning municipalities into robust discussion partners for a broad range of funders,” said Alice Nabalamba, Chief Urban Development Officer in the African Development Bank’s Infrastructure, Cities and Urban Development Department.
The initiative will begin in September 2022, with ten localities taking part. Financial officials who participate will study financial, accounting, debt, and risk management skills in order to improve their cities’ creditworthiness. Participants will also have the chance to visit African stock exchanges such as the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and the Abidjan Stock Exchange.
“A number of municipalities are almost ready to access financial markets, which will dramatically improve their capacity in financing projects. Unfortunately, they don’t have a deep comprehensive understanding of how to start,” said Dr. François Paul Yatta, Director of Programs at United Cities and Local Governments Africa. Yatta was speaking during a panel titled, Understanding the ecosystem of investors interested in African cities.
The low level of financial capacity in African municipalities was the subject of much discussion during the summit. “Municipalities have to inspire confidence, build a positive and engaging narrative to capture the attention of both public and private finance,” said Hastings Chikoko, Managing Director for Africa at C40, a global network of mayors that partners with the African Development Bank.
During the conference, the Bank gave a number of presentations. The first component of its Sustainable Urban Development action plan, a framework for its interventions to strengthen subnational credit and municipal financing (PDF (https://bit.ly/3zgIJLm), was unveiled as part of this.
The Municipal CFO Initiative was announced on 18 May.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Development Bank Group (AfDB).Contact:
Olufemi Terry
Communication and External Relations Department
African Development Bank
E-mail: [email protected]