A New Alliance Blooms in Nairobi: Planting Seeds of Innovation for Africa's Thriving Cities.

Abi Taylor, Innovation Lead at the Judith Neilson Foundation, addressing participants at the Summit

 Nairobi, Kenya:  December 3, 2025. 

The hum of a city constantly reinventing itself provided the perfect backdrop for a significant announcement. At the International Development Innovation Alliance’s Global Summit, a new partnership was unveiled, one born from a shared conviction: the future of Africa will be written in its cities, and that future must be smart, healthy, equitable, and resilient.       

The Million Lives Collective (MLC) and the Judith Neilson Foundation are joining forces to launch the African Cities Innovation Fund (ACIF). More than just a grant program, ACIF is an invitation to reimagine urban life. Opening for applications in Spring 2026, it will offer pairs of African innovators flexible grants of up to $75,000. This isn’t just funding for a single brilliant mind; it’s an investment in partnership, in the belief that the most enduring solutions are co-created.

Taking the stage in the summit’s closing plenary, Abi Taylor, Innovation Lead at the Judith Neilson Foundation, framed the challenge not just as logistical, but as deeply human. “African cities are growing at a dramatic pace,” she said, her voice reflecting both urgency and hope. “That growth creates huge opportunity, but also profound challenge and change. Ensuring these cities become places where people can truly thrive calls for more than just infrastructure. It demands imagination, ambition, and most of all, collaboration.”

She continued, “We’re delighted to partner with the MLC. This fund will enable their community of change-makers to rapidly test new partnerships, experiment with scaling pathways, and most importantly, generate new ways of creating impact for those who need it most.” For Taylor, the fund is a catalyst for connection, turning individual sparks of innovation into a sustained blaze of progress.

ACIF recognizes that money alone doesn’t scale ideas; people and support do. Awardees will receive tailored technical assistance, think of it as a mentorship and coaching journey, to strengthen their budding partnerships. They will also gain exclusive access to the International Development Innovation Alliance’s ‘Collaborative Scaling for Exponential Impact’ Collaboration Lab, a global network where they can connect with and learn from leading stakeholders. It’s about opening doors to a world stage.

"This fund taps into a vibrant, existing energy". Jite Phido, Senior Program Manager at the MLC and Results for Development, speaks with palpable excitement about the innovators already at work. “Across the continent, you have community organizers, artists, entrepreneurs, and public servants who are already transforming their urban spaces,” she says. “They’re improving mobility for a market trader, creating a safe park for children to play, finding circular ways to manage waste, or building local economies that can weather shocks. Our job is to find these efforts, amplify them, and help them find powerful collaborators to multiply their impact.”

In January, ahead of ACIF’s launch, the MLC will issue a call for new members, actively seeking proven, scale-ready urban innovations. They are building a fellowship of urban pioneers.

The fund is built on a foundation of tested belief. Edwin Muroki, of 4Life Solutions Kenya, brings the hard-won wisdom of experience. His organization participated in an earlier MLC collaboration grant program focused on women’s economic empowerment.

“The ACIF is significant,” Muroki explains, “because it promotes the kind of collaboration urban impact in Africa demands. It’s not about a lone innovator with a perfect idea. It’s about that innovator partnering with a trusted local institution, a women’s cooperative, a city council department, a grassroots NGO, to co-design a delivery model that communities will embrace and sustain.”

He draws from his own journey in Kenya: “Proven solutions scale faster when partnerships do the real work: building community trust, enabling localised logistics, and supporting continuous learning. A fund that prioritizes these collaborative enablers gives innovators the runway to de-risk expansion. It lets us combine strengths, so as we grow into new cities, we don’t lose the quality and context that made us work in the first place.” For Muroki, collaboration is the safety net and the springboard.

Inspired by the IDIA network, the MLC has been building an evidence base since 2019, showing that collaboration is not just nice-to-have, but essential. In an era of complex global challenges and constrained aid budgets, funding partnerships is a powerful lever to multiply impact. ACIF is the next step in proving that when innovators unite, they can build cities that aren’t just sprawling, but soaring.

The invitation is now open. African innovators, architects, community leaders, digital rights advocates, youth mobility champions, and climate resilience builders, if you are working to shape a better urban future through partnership, ACIF is looking for you. They encourage you to step forward, express your interest, and join a growing community that believes the most vibrant cityscapes are built, hand in hand, from the ground up.