Kampala Capital City Authority becomes MCR Resilience Hub
Kampala, Uganda’s capital and economic hub, faces disaster risks due to rapid urbanization, unplanned expansion, and climate-related hazards. In an effort to reduce the effects of these hazards, Uganda has been making strides in the past few years to improve its urban resilience, specifically in its capital city. Kampala City Authority has worked with the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) under the Making Cities Resilience 2030 initiative (MCR2030) to improve its national capacity for DRR. The city joined MCR2030 in 2021. Since then, Kampala has demonstrated strong institutional commitment through reforms, metropolitan-scale coordination, and sustained investment in risk-informed development. Notably, it has successfully financed initiatives from its resilience roadmap. As a result of these commitments, UNDRR has recognised Kampala as an MCR Resilience Hub. The city was officially acknowledged during the National-Level event on MCR2030, held on 19–20 February 2026, which convened national stakeholders to strengthen strategic leadership, policy coherence, and coordination mechanisms supporting local governments.
The national level event was organised with support from UNDRR and funded by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) under the Resilience Initiative Africa project. The project is strengthening the resilience of African communities against disaster risks and the impacts of climate change. Through this project, UNDRR has previously given Kampala City Council continuous technical support and guidance to enhance its institutional capacity for urban resilience.
Kampala’s designation as an MCR Resilience Hub reflects its commitment to enhancing urban resilience and supporting other municipalities in building disaster risk reduction capacity. Kampala City has a demonstrated track record of peer-to-peer learning and city-to-city cooperation, both nationally and internationally. It has given technical support to several Ugandan municipalities, including Entebbe, Kasese, Mbarara, Jinja. It has also taken a leadership role in establishing and promoting the UGCities4Resilience Network. These activities align closely with the mandate of MCR2030 Resilience Hubs as catalysts for learning, mentoring, and collaboration.
As an immediate follow up, and valuing the strengthened capacity, Kampala City Authority has already outlined a set of practical activities to guide its future work as an MCR Resilience Hub, fostering South-South cooperation. These include supporting other cities at different stages of resilience-building to develop and implement Sustainable Energy Access and Climate Action Plans (SEACAPs), offering guidance on climate change and disaster risk adaptation, and helping municipalities strengthen institutions and integrate risk-informed planning ino their strategies. The city has also planned certain activities specifically to help cities at Stage A and B advance to Stage C, such as facilitating Disaster Resilience Scorecard assessments and DRR action planning, while promoting awareness campaigns, education, and capacity-building to engage communities directly. By focusing on inclusive preparedness and peer-to-peer learning, Kampala is positioning itself not only as a hub of technical expertise but also as a champion of people-centered resilience across Uganda and beyond.
These services are well aligned with the MCR2030 Resilience Hub objectives and demonstrate Kampala City’s readiness to act as a national and regional resource centre for urban resilience. As Uganda continues to face the growing impacts of climate change and rapid urbanization, Kampala’s leadership offers a model of how cities can build resilience through collaboration, innovation, and community engagement. By sharing knowledge, strengthening institutions, and empowering citizens, Kampala is helping to ensure that urban resilience is not just a policy goal but a lived reality for communities across the country.
Strengthening financial capacity for resilience remains a priority. Over the past three years, we have learned important lessons as KCCA, and we are committed to sharing our experience with other cities to help them move from one stage of resilience to the next.
- Bugaba Agnes, Risk Management Manager, Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA)