LocationsUN ASSIST Joint Programme Showcases Achievement of Innovative Financing for Indonesia’s SDGs
June 23, 2023
In Indonesia, the UN agencies, UNDP, UNEP, UNICEF, and UNIDO, through the UN RC coordination, mark the milestone of leveraging over 1 USD billion for Indonesia’s SDG through its activities.
Jakarta, June 21st, 2023 – The UN Joint Programme ‘Accelerating Sustainable Development Goals Investment in Indonesia (ASSIST)’ successfully conducted the Donor and Stakeholder Consultation Event, showcasing the programme’s achievements to government officials, diplomatic community, international organizations, and the private sector reaffirming United Nations’ commitment to supporting the country’s development goals in line with global and national timelines.
Since 2021, the ASSIST Joint Programme—coordinated by the United Nations Resident Coordinator brings together four UN agencies - UNEP, UNICEF, UNIDO, and UNDP as the lead technical agency to support the Government of Indonesia in meeting the country’s SDGs targets by leveraging finance through market uptake of SDG-aligned financial products
There are three main component activities of ASSIST covering a range of financial instruments, including the issuance of thematic bonds at the national and subnational level; SDG-linked loans; and operationalization of the Indonesia Impact Fund. As of today, ASSIST has been successful in leveraging over USD 1 billion for Indonesia’s SDGs through its activities in public debt and private capital.
Valerie Julliand, the UN Resident Coordinator for the Republic of Indonesia, highlighted the success of the programme and its important contribution to the achievement of SDGs, and its impact on the Indonesian population. She furthermore underlined that “with ASSIST, you get real return on your investment in terms of progress towards the SDGs. Over the last two years, for every 1 dollar spent, the Joint Program has leveraged a whooping 240 dollars."
The programme was supported by SDG Fund with the aim to create a new generation of financial products to combat climate change at scale, by transitioning the country towards low impact energy, protecting the environment, and empowering the creation of women led small businesses and a new generation of impact-driven enterprises.
In her remarks, Lisa Kurbiel, Head of the Secretariat, Joint SDG Fund, issued a call to action “I would like to take this opportunity to call for further support from Member States and development partners. More support to the Fund will enable the scaling and replication of successful programmes - like the one being presented in the meeting today - which are pivotal to accelerating the SDGs.”
“In 2021, through assistance of ASSIST JP in developing the Indonesia SDGs Government Securities Framework, Government of Indonesia launched the 1st SDG Bond which is now has successfully achieved the 3rd year of issuance and raised more than USD 1 billion to finance projects in social sectors such as health, education, and information technology”, said Deni Ridwan, the Director of Government Debt Securities, Ministry of Finance, summarizing the Government’s achievements.
Organic, an enterprise from Lombok Region, West Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia, one of the beneficiaries under the Blue Finance Accelerator Enterprises, showcasing their products during the stakeholder event.
As part of the showcase to donors and stakeholders of ASSIST, the Indonesia SDG Bond Allocation and Impact Report was jointly launched by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Ministry of Finance. To strengthen capacity of MSMEs, an eLearning Platform for MSMEs was launched by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) along with the Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs. Demonstrating the Programme’s ever-growing partnerships, an MoU signing between UNDP and Terregra on a planned green bond issuance was conducted, as well as the handover of a commitment letter on SDG-linked loan product from Bank Aladin to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) highlighted their activities with Baitul Mal Aceh.
In his remarks, Norimasa Shimomura, UNDP Resident Representative remarked “The road to Indonesia's sustainability targets may be long and winding, but I have confidence that together we can reach our goals. An inclusive, sustainable, and just future will soon become a reality, as long as we maintain the valuable momentum we have generated.”
Collaboration is paramount: UN agencies, the government, the private sector, and every stakeholder in Indonesia play unique but vital roles in the country's sustainable development. However, relying only on one of them will bring us no far from where we are now. We need to join forces to bring stronger and more impactful efforts. The ASSIST JP has already raised over US$1 billion for SDG financing, but the financing needed to meet the SDGs in Indonesia is estimated at US$4.7 trillion. This burden cannot rest solely on the government's shoulders. Mobilizing capital and SDG resources should be a collective effort, involving everyone.
Representatives from donor countries appreciated the efforts from UN agencies and looked forward to hearing more success stories from the Joint Program.
The donor intervention was followed by two roundtable discussions represented by panellists from the public, private, and social sector. The discussions focused on the current state of SDG investments in Indonesia, success stories, key challenges, and the way ahead for supporting financing for sustainable development to leave no one behind.
About the UN Joint Programme ‘Accelerating SDGs Investment in Indonesia (ASSIST)
The ASSIST JP brings together UNEP, UNICEF, UNIDO, and UNDP as the lead technical agency under the coordination of the UN Resident Coordinator to support the Government of Indonesia in meeting its SDG targets by: 1) taking proven and new financing instruments to scale through provisions of pre-and post- transactions technical assistance for innovative financing instruments; and 2) providing capacity building to relevant stakeholders to improve institutional capacities to access and utilize finance towards the achievement of the SDGs. The Joint Program will help create new partnerships to leave no one behind.
Implementation of ASSIST JP began in April 2021 with funding from the UN Joint SDG Fund. Indonesia is one of the four countries receiving a total funding of USD 9.7 million, out of 155 proposals from over 100 countries. The ASSIST JP has helped Indonesia in mobilizing over USD 1 billion to accelerate the achievement of its sustainable development targets. Additionally, the Joint SDG Fund receives support from the European Union and the governments of Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, Monaco, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the Republic of Korea.
Media Contact:
Nila Murti, ASSIST JP National Project Manager - UNDP Indonesia, nila.murti@undp.org
Enggi Dewanti, SDG Campaigner – UNDP Indonesia, enggi.dewanti@undp.org
