Climate Mitigation in Intermediary Cities: Policies for Systemic Change in Kenya and Mozambique was jointly prepared by the OECD Development Centre and UN-Habitat, under the overall leadership of Director Ragnheiður Elín Árnadóttir and Director (a.i.) Edlam Yemeru (UN-Habitat). Jan Rielaender (OECD), Head of the Resilient and Sustainable Development Strategies Division and Annalisa Primi (OECD), Head of the Economic Transformation and Development Division, supervised the project.
Vicente Ruiz (OECD) and Hazel Kuria (UN-Habitat) co-ordinated the report. The report was drafted by Vicente Ruiz (OECD), Aimée Aguilar (former OECD, now Hot or Cool Institute), Hazel Kuria, Isabel Wetzel and Mark Ojal (UN-Habitat). Support from Camila Aguirre and Karen Trujillo (OECD), and Melissa Permezel (former UN-Habitat, now Commonwealth Parliament of Australia) has been invaluable for the preparatory activities and research for the report.
We are extremely grateful to colleagues from the OECD and UN-Habitat, as well to external experts, for their technical inputs, insights, and comments. They include Stephen Perkins (ITF), Birgit Kopainsky (University or Bergen), Ji-Yeun Rim (OECD), Classio Joao Mendiate (University of Rwanda), Stefanie Holzwarth (UN-Habitat), Cecilia Andersson (UN-Habitat), Aline Machado Da Matta (UN-Habitat), Rafael Tuts (UN-Habitat), Dr. Shipra Narang Suri (UN-Habitat), and Oumar Sylla (UN-Habitat).
We further acknowledge the invaluable support of additional UN-Habitat colleagues, whose active involvement in the preparatory process and strategic input were instrumental in shaping the research direction and methodological framework of this report. We particularly thank Remy Sietchiping, Grace Githiri, Bernhard Barth, Jeremiah Ougo, Yuki Takada (former UN-Habitat, now World Bank), Judith Owigar, Ludovica Sodomaco, and Melvin Cumbane for their dedicated support.
We would like to thank the Council of Governors Kenya for their support and interest. We are especially grateful to Brian Muthoka, Nicodemus Mbwika, Evans Kipruto Kipkemoi and Veronica Wanyora.
This work would have not been possible without the active participation and support of representatives from the County Government of Kiambu and the County Government of Nakuru. From the County Government of Kiambu, we would like to thank Esther Kaiguma, Hon. David Kimani Kuria, Jamleck Mwenda, Hon. Wilson Mburu Kang'ethe, Nancy Wambugu and Sylvia Macharia. From the County Government of Nakuru, we would like to thank Hon. John Kihagi, Justine Mayaka Nyaroo, David Kamau Kuria, Willy Keter, Grace Karanja and Symon Kariuki.
Similarly, the active participation and support from the governments of Beira and Quelimane was invaluable. We are extremely grateful to the Mayors Albano Carige (Beira) and Manuel Araujo (Quelimane), as well as their respective teams, for their support during the development of the case studies.
A critical part of this work relied on a series of semi-structured interviews and workshops. Throughout the development of the report, more than 40 representatives of local governments and stakeholders participated in our interviews. More than 120 participants representing local governments, the private sector, academia, local community stakeholders, and paratransit services joined the workshops in the four cities. Together with OECD and UN-Habitat, they validated preliminary results and worked to identify areas for transformative change in each city. Thanks to their active participation and insights, the results of this report are the outcome of a truly participatory process. We are very grateful to all of them. None of these activities would have been possible without the leadership of Hazel Kuria (Kenya) and Ludovica Sodomaco (Mozambique) who organised the interviews and managed logistics for the workshops.
The draft results of the study were presented and discussed with different stakeholders and experts across multiple international fora. Engagements with participants in the various online and in-person events organised throughout this project helped to develop and refine the policy insights presented in this report. These events included an expert meeting in the OECD COP28 Virtual Pavilion organised by the OECD Development Centre in 2023; a networking event during the World Urban Forum in Cairo, Egypt, in November 2024; and a session during the Africities Summit in Kisumu, Kenya, in May 2022. We wish to thank all who participated in these events.
Finally, the team is extremely grateful to Delphine Grandrieux and Elizabeth Nash, from the OECD Development Centre’s Communications and Publications Unit who edited, laid out and produced the report.
This document was financed by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), for which we are extremely grateful. Sida does not necessarily share the views expressed in this material.