Apply for Students Reinventing Cities Direct Implementation Fund

Deadline: 24-Sep-2026

C40 Cities is seeking an implementing partner to manage the direct implementation of winning student proposals from the Students Reinventing Cities programme in Bogotá, Jakarta, Lisbon, and Nairobi. The selected partner will manage a total fund of up to USD 100,000 across the four pilot cities and oversee procurement, stakeholder coordination, technical delivery, and legal and operational responsibilities. The Students Reinventing Cities programme, supported by the Holcim Foundation, is moving from the proposal stage toward direct implementation of selected student-led urban ideas. The initiative will turn winning student proposals into tangible, small-scale interventions addressing local climate and community priorities in four participating cities: The programme is designed to give student teams practical experience in urban climate action while allowing participating cities to test innovative approaches in real-world settings. The selected implementing partner will be responsible for managing and delivering the implementation of the winning student proposals.

Activities will be jointly scoped by:

The exact activities will depend on the needs and feasibility of each selected proposal.

Potential interventions include:

Implementation will take place across four cities representing different urban contexts. The implementing partner will work with local stakeholders to translate the winning student proposal into a feasible urban intervention addressing relevant climate and community needs. Implementation activities will focus on delivering the selected student proposal while coordinating local procurement, stakeholders, technical requirements, and other operational needs. The partner will support the implementation of the winning student concept and help connect the intervention with local community and urban priorities. The implementing partner will coordinate local delivery and ensure that the selected intervention is implemented in accordance with the agreed technical and operational requirements. The initiative has several interconnected objectives.

It aims to:

The programme therefore combines implementation, youth engagement, community participation, and knowledge sharing. The selected implementing partner will manage a total fund of USD 100,000 for implementation across the four pilot cities. The financial proposal must not exceed USD 100,000. The proposed amount must include all relevant costs, including: Applicants should therefore prepare a comprehensive financial proposal that accounts for the full cost of managing the four-city implementation. The implementing partner will assume full operational and legal responsibility for implementation activities.

This includes responsibility for:

The selected partner must have the capacity to manage activities across multiple countries and coordinate different local stakeholders. The implementing partner’s team must include key coordination and implementation roles. A Global Project Coordinator is required to oversee the programme across all four cities. This role is expected to provide overall coordination and help maintain consistency between the different city-level implementation processes. The team must also include City-level Implementation Leads for each participating city. These leads will support local implementation and coordination in:

The programme recommends including:

These roles can strengthen the environmental and community dimensions of the implementation process. Community participation is an important element of the programme. Depending on the selected proposals, implementing partners may organize community workshops, public activities, or other engagement opportunities. The partner should help ensure that local stakeholders are appropriately involved in planning and delivering interventions. Community engagement can also contribute to public awareness and help cities understand how small-scale interventions can respond to local needs. Some winning student proposals may require further technical assessment before implementation.

The programme can therefore include:

The implementing partner will work with C40, the host city, and the winning student team to determine the appropriate technical requirements for each project. The programme is intended to generate knowledge that can inform future urban initiatives. The implementing partner will contribute to documenting: The resulting knowledge can help demonstrate how student-led urban ideas can be translated into practical interventions and potentially adapted in other contexts. The opportunity is intended for organizations or teams capable of managing multi-city urban implementation projects. Applicants should demonstrate the ability to: Experience in urban development, climate action, public space, community engagement, or related implementation work can be relevant to the assignment. Applicants should demonstrate both technical capacity and strong project-management systems.

A proposal should clearly explain:

The financial proposal should remain within the USD 100,000 maximum and include all taxes, overheads, management fees, and subcontractor costs. Students Reinventing Cities is a C40 Cities programme supported by the Holcim Foundation that connects student-led urban ideas with practical city-level climate and community action. The four pilot cities are Bogotá, Jakarta, Lisbon, and Nairobi. The selected partner will manage a total implementation fund of USD 100,000 across the four cities. Potential activities include public space interventions, tactical urbanism activations, temporary installations, community workshops, technical studies, and feasibility studies. The scope will be jointly developed by C40, the host city, the winning student team, and the implementing partner. The partner will assume operational and legal responsibility for implementation, including local procurement, stakeholder coordination, technical oversight, and management of r