The Urban Design Lab (UDL) and the Millennium Cities Initiative (MCI) are proud to announce the release of Urban Development in Accra, Ghana: An Implementation Toolkit, a strategic analysis of Accra’s future development. The report was prepared by the Urban Design Lab as an outcome of a joint collaboration with MCI and the Urban Design Program… read more

MCI – UDL Collaboration Expands to Kumasi MCI’s collaboration with the Urban Design Lab has now entered its second year with 30 UDL architects/designers from all over the world visiting Kumasi, Ghana’s second largest city, in early February, to explore how best to upgrade and revive a severely deteriorated and impoverished neighborhood and to design… read more

Our latest report, “Gender Needs Assessment for Segou, Mali,” finds that women and girls in this regional capital face significant challenges preventing them from enjoying full equality and empowerment. Female illiteracy rates are high, and school enrollment and retention rates for girls remain low. Maternal mortality, gender-based violence and unemployment levels remain high and representation… read more

Millions of people across sub-Saharan Africa suffer from preventable and curable forms of blindness. Too often those patients lack access to qualified eye care specialists. MCI’s partner, the Himalayan Cataract Project (HCP), has set out to change that, with the aim of helping unserved blind people and making eye care more accessible. HCP’s contributions to… read more

MCI convened two stakeholder workshops in late January, in the Millennium Cities of Ségou and Bamako, Mali. City stakeholders – representatives from municipal governments, the private sector and community organizations – reviewed findings from MCI’s and the cities’ own needs assessments in public health, education, gender, transport, energy, agriculture and water/sanitation, as well as research… read more

MCI’s senior investment advisors, Joerg Simon and Karin Millett, traveled to Tabora, Tanzania, from January 17-21 to engage in a strategy discussion on private sector investment with key officials, including the Lord Mayor.  The outcome of the meeting was a clear endorsement of the MCI proposal to concentrate on supporting Tabora and the surrounding area in… read more