How fast-growing African cities are developing economic plans to build more climate resilient futures

This session highlights the UK Government’s financing of municipal-led urban economic plans and investment attraction into prioritised value chain and climate resilient infrastructure projects

SUED is a £70 million, six-year programme supported by the UK Government. The programme supports 12 fast growing municipalities to develop sustainable urban economic plans and attract investment for critical infrastructure and value chain projects. The UK-Government support towards the municipalities is geared at moving away from a development approach oriented around urban to rural development but one that is based on having development efforts span a continuum that interconnects the rural and urban areas.

SUED’s technical assistance is focused on improving local investment opportunities to scale up viable urban development approaches that support municipal resilience. The programme is working with local actors to ensure that its support is inclusive and sustainable. The programme is demonstrating that it’s possible to leverage scarce resources through collaborations and partnerships with the private sector, local governments, and other like-minded organisations. This session will explore how SUED has collaborated with municipalities to develop responsive urban economic plans that identify viable economic sectors and is partnering with them to attract investors to support identified value chain and climate-resilient infrastructure projects.

Comment les villes africaines à croissance rapide élaborent des plans économiques pour construire un avenir plus résilient au changement climatique.

Cette session mettra en évidence le financement par le gouvernement britannique des plans économiques urbains menés par les municipalités et l’attraction des investissements dans les projets prioritaires de la chaîne de valeur et des projets d’infrastructures résilientes au changement climatique.

Le programme SUED, financé par le gouvernement britannique, aide 12 municipalités à croissance rapide à élaborer des plans économiques urbains durables et à attirer des investissements pour des projets d’infrastructure et de chaîne de valeur essentiels. Le programme démontre qu’il est possible de tirer parti de ressources limitées par le biais de collaborations et de partenariats avec le secteur privé, les gouvernements locaux et d’autres organisations partageant les mêmes idées. Cette session explorera comment SUED a collaboré avec les municipalités pour développer des plans économiques urbains réactifs qui identifient les secteurs économiques viables et s’associe avec elles pour attirer les investisseurs afin de soutenir les projets de chaîne de valeur et d’infrastructure résiliente au climat identifiés.

Host: Tetra Tech International Development & The UK-Government funded Sustainable Urban Economic Development Programme (SUED)

Simon Elliott

Urban Economic Planning Specialist, SUED – Atkins Global

Milton Lore

Senior Transaction Adviser, SUED

Liz Muange

Investment and Value Chain Lead, SUED

Session Summary

Hosted by Tetra Tech International Development and the Sustainable Urban Economic Development (SUED) Programme, this session provided an overview of the SUED Programme. SUED aims to support 12 intermediary cities across Kenya to develop urban economic plans and attract investment, strengthen municipal capacity, support policy and legislative changes while creating climate-resilient jobs.

Simon Elliot from Atkins outlined how the Programme supports the development of Urban Economic Plans across the 12 cities involved. Climate change considerations as well as economic inclusivity were key focus areas of the Plans. The investment attraction process for SUED is a key component of the Programme. Milton Lore from Open Capital highlighted the need to build relationships with stakeholders across the value chains, as well as partnerships between municipalities/counties and the development partners.

The impact of the SUED programme was highlighted through the case study of the MAWASCO Sanitation Journey, presented by Priscillah Oluoch from Malindi Water. The project aims to accelerate access to sanitation services in Malindi, Kenya, through the creation of a city-wide inclusive sanitation and investment plan in partnership with the county government. Priscillah highlighted some of the achievements of the project thus far, but also stressed the need of further funding to scale up the provision of sanitation services in Malindi.