About
Why AMALI?
A unique offering for city leaders
Africa’s future depends on achieving structural transformation of economies in line with Agenda 2063. This vision depends on Africa’s cities fulfilling their potential as the powerhouses of economic structural transformation and cultural vitality, which demands empowered and capable political leadership of cities. Thus, AMALI support participating leaders with an exclusive, tailored initiative to hone the visions for their cities through 3 key platforms:
The AMALI City Leadership Programme offers a year-long programme that supports mayors in honing the visions for their cities. The participating mayors gain clarity how to translate their legacy goals into action, establish delivery teams, deploy tools to successfully implement their plans and secure support from their constituents and key stakeholders. The programme begins with an immersive, four-day leadership forum at the University of Cape Town, followed by online workshop series and a reunion convening at the end of the programme.
The AMALI Urban Governance Research Lab provides mayors participating in the AMALI City Leadership Programme with synthesised data on their cities to support their transformation action plans.
The AMALI data programme provide participating mayors with technical assistance, access to experts, and other materials to help them enhance their use of data to deliver results that matter to residents.
Advisors & Mentors
Jamie Cooper
Co-chair of the AMALI advisory board
Founder and President of Big Win Philanthropy
Edgar Pieterse
Founding Director of the African Centre for Cities, University of Cape Town
Arkebe Oqubay
Advisory board member
Senior Minister, Ethiopia; Professor of Practice, SOAS University of London and University of Johannesburg; and Former Mayor of Addis Ababa
Awa Marie Coll Seck
Advisory board member
Chair of Galien Africa, Former Senior Minister to the President of the Republic of Senegal, Former Minister of Health, Senegal.
Hastings Chikoko
Advisory board member
Senior Director for Cities at Big Win Philanthropy
Former Managing Director of Regions & Mayoral Engagement and Regional Director for Africa, C40 Cities
Idris Jala
Advisory board member
Chairman PEMANDU Associates. Co-Chairman Sunway, ProChancellor Sunway University, Chairman Heineken Msia, Former Minister Malaysia Government, Former CEO Msia Airlines.
James Anderson
Advisory board member
Head of Government Innovation programs at Bloomberg Philanthropies; Former Communications Director to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, United States of America
Kivutha Kibwana
Former Governor of Makueni County, Kenya; Former Minister for Environment and Natural Resources, Kenya
Luísa Dias Diogo
Former Prime Minister of Mozambique; Former Deputy Minister of Planning and Finance, and Former Minister of Planning and Finance, Mozambique
Mamphela Ramphele
Co-president of the Club of Rome; Chair of Desmond Tutu IP Trust; Former Vice Chancellor of University of Cape Town; Former Managing Director at the World Bank
Enrique Penalosa
Former Mayor of Bogota from 1998 – 2001 and 2016–2019. Fellow of the Institute for Urban Research of the University of Pennsylvania.
Vera Songwe
Chair of the Liquidity and Sustainability Facility; Co-chair of the High-Level Panel on Climate Finance; Former Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa
Kesete Admasu
Advisory board member
CEO of Big Win Philanthropy; Former CEO of the RBM Partnership to End Malaria; Former Minister of Health of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
Wanjira Mathai
Advisory board member
Managing Director, Africa and Global Partnerships, World Resource Institute; Chair of the Wangari Maathai Foundation; Former Chair of the Green Belt Movement
Monica Geingos
Advisory board member
3rd First lady of the Republic of Namibia; Lawyer; Chairperson of the Africa REACH Leadership Council; Board member of the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Presidential Centre
Wilson Prichard
Advisory board member
Associate Professor of Global Affairs and Political Science: University of Toronto; Chair of the Local Government Revenue Initiative (LoGRI)
Ashveena Gajeelee
Facilitator
Leadership Educator; Board member of AU Capacity Building Foundation; Harvard Alumni Board and the Whittier Street Health Centre
Deriba Kuma
Coach
Former Minister of Transport and Telecommunication of Ethiopia; Former Mayor of Addis Ababa
Ebrahim Rasool
Advisory board member (former)
South Africa’s Ambassador to the USA; Former Provincial Minister of Health and Social Services; Western Cape Premier
AMALI Staff
Makélé Saïdi
AMALI Programme Director
Amy Weimann
Research Officer
Research lead – AMALI Urban Governance Research Lab, African Centre for Cities
Ulpha Ismail
AMALI project coordinator
African Centre for Cities
Babette Safougne
Post-doctoral Fellow
Researcher – AMALI Urban Governance Research Lab, African Centre for Cities
Warren Smit
Research Manager
AMALI Urban Governance Research Lab, African Centre for Cities
Lesego Tshuwa
City Data Advisor
AMALI Data Programme, African Centre for Cities
Chukwuma Okolie
City Data Advisor
AMALI Data Programme, African Centre for Cities
Zukisa Sogoni
City Data Advisor
AMALI Data Programme, African Centre for Cities
Melissa Meyer
Data Team Project Co-ordinator
AMALI Data Programme, African Centre for Cities
Aaliyah McQuire
Administrative Assistant
African Centre for Cities
Tselane Moiloa
Communications Officer
African Centre for Cities
Partners
AMALI is a partnership between the African Centre for Cities (ACC), Big Win Philanthropy and Bloomberg Philanthropies.
Bloomberg Philanthropies encompasses all of Michael R. Bloomberg’s giving, including his foundation, corporate, and personal philanthropy as well as Bloomberg Associates, a philanthropic consultancy that advises cities around the world. In 2023, Bloomberg Philanthropies distributed $3 billion.