The city of Los Angeles, with a population of roughly 4 million people, can issue a bond to fund infrastructure construction. Yet, the city of Nairobi—the capital city of Kenya with a population of roughly 3.5 million people—is effectively, if not actually, unable to do the same. Despite the global trend of urbanization, cities and local governments in developing countries experience tremendous difficulty accessing capital in international markets. If this persists, then sustainable development will ultimately skip over the cities, countries and markets where it is needed the most. On episode 3 of Capital Musings, we talk with Jaffer Machano, Global Programme Manager for UNCDF’s Municipal Investment Finance programme, about the challenges municipalities in developing countries face in accessing capital, and UNCDF’s vision for addressing this challenge.

Capital Musings is a production of the Partnerships, Policy and Communications unit of the United Nations Capital Development Fund and UN Web TV.

Producers: Victoria Guridi, Fernando Zarauz, Carlos Macias