Urban Expansion Planning for Rapidly Growing Secondary Cities in the Horn of Africa

Cities Alliance 

The mission of the Cities Alliance is to improve the lives of urban populations by delivering integrated, citywide and innovative solutions to urban poverty in cities where it matters the most.

Cities Alliance’s vision is to provide technical support and grants to local and national actors to deliver policies and programmes that directly address urban poverty and gender inequality in cities. Cities Alliance is an agent for urban change with a clear focus on secondary cities, which are increasingly instrumental to economic and social progress in rapidly urbanising economies. 

Cities Alliance is the global partnership supporting cities to deliver sustainable development. For over 20 years, the Secretariat has convened partners from civil society, local and national authorities, and development actors with an urban focus to combine complementary strengths and expertise. With its programmatic approach and diverse membership, Cities Alliance has the capacity to coordinate the efforts and core competencies among partners to leverage this collective expertise to advance urban thinking and solutions.

The Cities Alliance initiated a Global Programme on Cities and Migration as part of its 2018–21 Strategic Plan, with support of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and extends this strategic priority for the new 2022-2025 Strategic Plan. At its core, the Programme seeks to advance global thinking on the role and potential of cities in managing and seizing the opportunities and contributions arising from migration to and from secondary cities.

Background and objectives of the grant/funding

Rural-urban migration is leading to rapid increases in the populations of secondary cities in developing countries, causing massive urban expansion. Cities have been growing through a mix of natural increase and migration, and migration on average contributes more to population growth in smaller cities than in larger ones. Rapid population growth during this period has translated into an almost four-fold increase in the built-up area of cities in less-developed countries. Much of this urban expansion was disorderly, lacking adequate infrastructure, and with serious environmental concerns. In Sub-Saharan Africa, 80% of the residential areas developed over the past 25 years are informal and unplanned.

When cities grow in population, they both densify their existing urban extents and expand outwards. New evidence assembled by the Marron Institute of Urban Management at New York University shows that, on average, approximately one quarter (23%) of the population added to cities during the 1990-2014 period densified areas built before 1990, while three quarters (77%) were settled in expansion areas built during the 1990-2014 period. To integrate new rural migrants into the urban economy and society, governments must plan for urban expansion and physically connect the places new residents are likely to settle in (the urban periphery) with the existing city. One way to contribute to the integration of migrants is by providing them access to the city through proactive approaches, such as urban expansion planning, that connect the urban periphery to the existing city by preparing a basic grid of arterial roads on the urban periphery before it is developed. These physical connections will create economic connections by shortening travel times for goods and people, driving the integration of informal areas and new residents.

In Phase I (2018-2022) of its Cities and Migration Programme, Cities Alliance supported nine secondary cities across the Horn of Africa to prepare for rapid urban expansion. In Phase II (2022-2026), Cities Alliance will consolidate the cooperation with these partner cities to support the implementation of plans, work on a supportive regulatory framework, and enable a scale up of the approach to other interested cities by building national knowledge hubs and practitioner networks. To achieve this, Cities Alliance will build new partnerships and dialogues among urban migration  stakeholders at the local, national, regional and global levels.

Deadline CFP extended to Thursday 6 April 2023 15:00 Central European Time 

Proposals shall be submitted using the following method:
Submit via e-mail only to the Cities Alliance Secretariat at ca-proposal@citiesalliance.org with the subject line including Urban Expansion in the Horn of Africa- Ethiopia or Uganda.

Duration: 3 years

Language: submissions are to be submitted in English

Questions can be submitted to [ca-proposal@citiesalliance.org] between 14 February to 20 March 2023 .

Answers will be replied in 3 batches as follows:
1. Questions received from 14 to 28 February, answers will be posted on 2 March 2023.
2. Questions received from 1 to 10 March, answers will be posted on 13 March 2023.
3. Questions received from 11 to 20 March, answers will be posted on 22 March 2023.

Cities Alliance will organise an information session on the Call for Proposals on
Friday, February 17, 2023 at 13:00. (Eastern African Time (EAT) UTC +3 = 11 AM
CET)

The names and contact information for the applicant’s representative who will attend the information session shall be submitted in writing by the applicant to the [ca-proposal@citiesalliance.org]. This information should include the full name and position of each identified representative and should be sent at least one (1) working day before 17 February 2023.

Here is the link to access the information session:
https://zoom.us/j/96613569690?pwd=MktvalNmU1ZHQTYvQmh1Z01LM
EZHdz09 (please click the link under the tab Links)

Meeting ID: 966 1356 9690
Passcode: 210448