Four African Cities Awarded CRA’s African Urban Heat Resilience Grants

L-R: Eugenia Kargbo, Chief Heat Officer of Freetown and CRA Senior Strategist for Africa; Kathy Baughman McLeod, Chief Executive Officer, Climate Resilience for All (CRA); H.E Seyoum Mekonnen Hailu, Ethiopia State Minister of Planning and Development for Environment, Climate Change and Demography; and Joshua Amponsem, CRA Co-Chair and Co-Director of the Youth Climate Justice Fund, and Founder of the Green Africa Youth Organization, during the briefing to announce the four African cities awarded CRA’s African Urban Heat Resilience Grants and the Africa Urban Heat Summit at the 2nd Africa Climate Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

 

• CRA and City of Freetown to host the African Urban Heat Summit 2026, in Freetown, Sierra Leone; launches shade infrastructure projects in three of Freetown’s largest outdoor markets

 

As part of the Africa Climate Summit 2.0 Flagship Initiative, African Cities Resilience, Climate Resilience for All (CRA), alongside the Ethiopia State Minister of Planning and Development for Environment, Climate Change and Demography, H.E Seyoum Mekonnen Hailu, announced the cities of Accra, Paynesville, Monrovia, and Kassa as recipients of its African Urban Heat Resilience Grant Program.

As climate change accelerates and urbanization expands, African cities are increasingly exposed to dangerous heat, disproportionately impacting women and vulnerable communities. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Sixth Assessment Report revealed that the number of people in African cities exposed to heat waves of at least 15 consecutive days over 42 °C rose from roughly 27 million in 2010 to a projected 360 million by 2100 under 1.8°C of warming, and could reach 440 million if warming exceeds 4°C.

Each city selected for the Heat Resilience Grant Program will receive $40,000 to support the science and data analysis essential for heat quantification, planning, policy development, and a community-driven heat awareness campaign.

Launched at the African Urban Heat Summit in Freetown in February 2025, culminating in Freetown’s first-ever Heat Action Plan, the grant program will provide cities, local governments, and community groups with technical assistance and funding to carry out urban heat island (UHI) and vulnerability mapping, while designing and delivering community-driven actionable heat awareness campaigns.

These combined efforts will deepen understanding of heat risks and impacts, identify heat hotspots, and generate context-specific adaptation measures to strengthen local resilience and support long-term urban planning.

Kathy Baughman McLeod, CRA CEO, said, “Today is a signal of a new era of African extreme heat leadership for cities grappling with life and work in brutally hot conditions across the continent. This new era will also be shaped by women’s voices and solutions, as they bear the brunt of heat.”

Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, the Mayor of Freetown, Sierra Leone, added, “I celebrate Accra, Paynesville, Monrovia, and Kassa as the first cities to receive CRA’s Urban Heat Resilience Grants. This is proof that Africa is not waiting; we are leading and building a cooler, healthier future.”

The recipient cities said that the grant program will support and accelerate their urgent needs to protect vulnerable communities from the impacts of extreme heat.

“With CRA’s support, Monrovia will strengthen its capacity to identify heat hotspots, raise public awareness, and integrate heat resilience into city planning and service delivery. This partnership underscores our firm commitment to building a climate-resilient city — one that safeguards the health, livelihoods, and well-being of all residents,” said the Mayor of Monrovia, John-Charuk Saifa.

“We look forward to working with CRA and our technical partners to deliver the Urban Heat Island and Vulnerability Assessment Program, advancing a sustainable future for our people,” said the Mayor of Paynesville, Robert Bestman.

“This grant will empower us to tackle urban heat challenges head-on, safeguarding our communities and contributing to a sustainable future. The Accra Metropolitan Assembly is committed to partnering with CRA to promote heat vulnerability awareness through community-led heat planning and adaptation,” said the Mayor of Accra, Hon. Michael Kpakpo Allotey.

H.E Seyoum Mekonnen Hailu, Ethiopia State Minister of Planning and Development for Environment, Climate Change and Demography, said “Let us commit today to turning these visions into action. Let us ensure our cities not only survive but thrive in a changing climate. And let us commit here, in the heart of Africa, to this transformative journey. Together, we will forge resilient urban futures that honor our heritage, empower our people, and lead the world towards sustainability.”

The grant program builds on lessons learned from CRA’s Freetown and global work, and the City of Freetown — a leader in heat resilience across Africa — and is part of CRA’s broader mission to build heat resilience by prioritizing data-driven solutions that reach, empower, and protect women and other vulnerable populations impacted by extreme heat.

2nd Africa Urban Heat Summit

In partnership with the Freetown City Council and Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, Co-Chair of C40 Cities and Board Member of Climate Resilience for All, Climate Resilience for All will convene the Africa Urban Heat Summit 2026 in April. The summit will highlight ongoing efforts to address the growing challenge of urban heat across the continent and catalyse new, innovative action.

Building on the inaugural summit held in early 2025 in Freetown — which brought together Sierra Leone’s Vice President, mayors from six West African Cities, policymakers, community leaders, and global climate experts — the 2026 summit will expand efforts beyond West Africa, targeting African cities more broadly and building the knowledge and capacity for tangible action on extreme heat.

“The urgent need for heat action in Africa’s cities is skyrocketing. Building on the first summit, the Africa Urban Heat Summit 2026 will energize more action to put women and vulnerable communities at the heart of projects, policies, and financing that address extreme heat,” said Baughman McLeod, Climate Resilience for All CEO.

Market Shade Infrastructure Projects

Today, CRA also announced the launch of co-designed shade infrastructure projects in three of Freetown’s largest informal markets: Bombay Street, Congo, and Dove Cot.

With 35% of Freetown’s population residing in overheated informal settlements, women working in open-air markets are particularly impacted by extreme heat – at home and at work. Freetown’s women traders report losing up to 60% of their income to extreme heat.

In partnership with Mayor Aki Sawyerr, the Freetown City Council, market women, a local engineering and construction firm, and community partners, CRA is building and testing shade infrastructure to shield women (and their children) from the scorching heat that arrives early next year.

The projects include solar-powered lighting systems, ensuring adequate illumination and improved safety in the markets during evening hours and cloudy days. Clean, cold storage and solar-powered fans are also planned for testing. This new cooling infrastructure will deliver a sustainable, scalable, and community-validated urban heat solution for better health, safety, and income for women and families in Freetown’s public trading spaces.

Freetown Mayor Aki-Sawyerr said Freetown is honoured to have CRA as a strong partner, working with our Chief Heat Officer and Senior Strategist for Africa, to advance heat resilience in our city and across the continent.

“But to scale this work, we urgently need adaptation finance. The time is now to invest in the solutions that will protect lives, livelihoods, and the future of African cities,” she added.

Since 2021, the team at CRA has worked closely with Freetown Mayor Aki-Sawyerr to understand the risks of extreme heat and co-design solutions with communities, especially market women, who are among the most vulnerable to extreme heat.

In 2026, CRA will inspire more cities to deliver African-led solutions on heat, share lessons from implementation, and build capacity for shielding lives and livelihoods for health, wealth, and dignity.