Cities Investment Advisory Platform
Bridging the gap between sustainable urban development projects and investors
We are an innovative financing initiative focusing on improving the quality of life and access to services for urban communities in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Our goal is to increase the pace and quality of sustainable urban development in cities.
4.2 billion people live in cities currently
By 2050, 68% of the world’s
population, or 6.7 billion
people will live in cities
Population increasing by 1.5 million weekly
Rapid urbanization
in the world’s poorest cities
3.2 trillion dollar gap due to
limited pipeline of investable
projects despite available
financing
Why it matters:
Low and middle income cities in Asia, Africa, Latin America and Middle East are currently experiencing rapid urbanization which is leading to an infrastructure financing gap. The gap is triggered by limited investable infrastructure projects rather than a lack of funds as investors are not included in the initial urban planning phases which are government led.
CIAP seeks to reduce this gap by providing investors a chance to offer feedback to early stage projects to help align them with the suitable financial and economic requirements.
In the process, we aim to catalyse up to US$ 500 billion in private capital towards sustainable urban infrastructure development.
How CIAP works
CIAP acts as a neutral broker between city governments and investors.
CIAP offers the following services:
To Cities:
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Building capacity of local, regional, national and international government agencies towards understanding investment requirements and blended structures
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De-risking projects and getting them over the hurdle from concept to investable stage
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Matching project opportunities with aligned investors;
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Providing SDG alignment and non-financing impact verification for projects
To Investors:
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Surfacing project opportunities that are well defined with clearly articulated financial and impact metrics
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Being a reliable source of potential upstream projects in emerging towns and cities across the globe
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Providing an avenue for engagement and information exchange with peers also investing in sustainable urban development projects
Why CIAP?
The Cities Investment Advisory Platform is unique in its focus on upstream project identification and portfolio mapping. CIAP complements existing investment facilities and market making services by looking at enhancing early stage design and origination.
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Our work to date:
In September 2019, Global Development Incubator in partnership with UN-Habitat issued an open call for sustainable urban development projects. Middle and low income cities from across the globe were invited to submit their urban infrastructure projects for consideration to pitch in February 2020 at the 10th Session of the World Urban Forum (WUF10).
Learn more about the first Cities Investment Platform
pitch event here.
View our current portfolio here.
Our Partners
Our Judges
We are grateful to the following individuals who participated as judges at the first Cities Investment Platform event in Abu Dhabi in February 2020.
Get Involved
To learn more about CIAP and to join the effort fill in the form below: