AfDB municipal upgrade project beneficiaries end tour to Brazil.

The AfDB introduced the UMDF to enable mayors and other municipal officials from Africa to copy best practices and exchange notes on delivery of services in cities with their counterparts in other parts of the world.

The AfDB Group´s Urban and Municipal Development Fund is working with over 40 African cities, to improve urban planning so that city dwellers enjoy better quality of life and higher standards of living.

To this end, the second batch of selected cities went on a tour of some cities in Brazil from 5 to 13 August.

According to the AfDB Group President, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, the study tour was co-financed by the South-to-South Cooperation Trust Fund, SSCTF, in collaboration with the UMDF, with the participation of the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group.

He added that the trip was inspired by 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".

Which is against the backdrop that Africa's rapid urban transition has many similarities with that experienced by Latin America in the 1950s and 60s.

UMDF Coordinator and leader of the delegation, Darline Tognia, asserted that by visiting Brazil, “we can see firsthand, and with hindsight, how cities have absorbed this growth; which solutions have worked, and which have not”.

This time, the delegation consisted 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.

These are; Nairobi, capital of Kenya; Beira, in Mozambique; Tshwane, in South Africa; Lome, capital of Togo; Dakar, capital of Senegal; Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia; and Freetown, capital of Sierra Leone.

The leader of the delegation and Coordinator of UMDF disclosed that the visit started in Sao Paulo, the largest city in South America, where innovation and sustainability coexist with complex urban and environmental challenges. 

At Parque Bristol, a popular neighbourhood, participants visited a publicly run multipurpose facility for children, which benefits from a “School Feeding Programme”, a large-scale municipal effort to promote healthy eating, while also supporting urban agriculture.

As part of the tour, the group also met with waste recycling cooperatives, visited an electric bus maintenance center, learnt about public transport by river-boats, and how informal settlements are being upgraded by the municipality through the provision of basic infrastructure, improved transport integration, social housing programmes and environmental protection measures.

In Fortaleza, a coastal city in north-east Brazil, and the second leg of the tour, the delegation saw various 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 learned about the Bus Rapid Transit, BRT system implemented by the city, as well as its slum upgrading, urban planning and solid waste management programmes.

The Urban and Municipal Development Fund 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 follows previous ones organized in 2022 to Copenhagen, capital of Denmark; and Malmo, a city in Sweden, to discover the renowned sustainable urban planning strategies of Nordic countries.

This story was first published in The Guardian Post issue No:3207 of Friday August 23, 2025