Africa is experiencing the fastest transition from rural to urban ever experienced globally, both in terms of pace and magnitude. The vast majority of children and young people on the continent will be living in cities by 2050. Their futures will turn on the ambition, clarity of vision, and foresight of today’s city leaders.
AMALI is a dedicated investment in strengthening the transformative leadership capabilities of African Mayors and Governors. The initiative, hosted by the African Centre for Cities at the University of Cape Town, offers a year-long program of tailored leadership training, dedicated coaching, technical support, and problem-driven research to hone leaders’ visions for their cities, sharpen their ability to focus on what needs to be done, and put them in a position to deliver.
Each city leader is supported to leave the annual AMALI forum with a bespoke legacy goal for his or her city – an ambitious, transformative program that will change the city’s trajectory – and an action plan for achieving that goal.
Since AMALI’s launch in 2022, nearly 50 city leaders have participated in the initiative, including from the continent’s leading metropolises such as Addis Ababa, Nairobi, Dakar, Johannesburg, Harare, and Lusaka. Several countries send groups of city leaders every year, building a domestic community of practice that ties into the continental network.
AMALI alumni have gone on to green their cities, launch transformative early childhood initiatives, create jobs, and finance long-stalled water and infrastructure projects that threatened to curtail their municipalities’ prospects. At the heart of AMALI is a mindset shift: the realization that Africa’s future is urban, that Mayors and Governors stand at the fulcrum of that future, and that big, bold action to respond to Africa’s projected urban growth will be a must for the continent to reap its demographic and economic dividend.
