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UNDP

Our patners

UNDP and International Financial Institutions

International Financial Institutions (IFIs), including multilateral, regional and national development banks with international operations, are critical development partners to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). IFIs have deep institutional expertise in providing and catalyzing investments in sustainable development and have taken steps to align their activities with the 2030 Agenda, including by scaling-up climate finance, designing and deploying innovative SDG-related financial instruments, and helping to crowd-in public and private resources to advance global public goods in areas such as combatting climate change and forced displacement.

As underscored by the UNDP Strategic Plan, the Secretary-General’s Strategy for Financing the 2030 Agenda and related Financing  Roadmap, UNDP is scaling up its engagement with IFIs. By leveraging the respective missions, added value and complementarities, UNDP works with IFIs at all levels, from joint assessments, analysis and research, to project development and implementation.  

Forging partnerships

In every region, UNDP is working with Governments and IFIs to leverage development expertise and resources towards shared outcomes to enhance support for national governments and local communities, and improve the sustainability of development efforts. Since 2010, IFI partners have contributed more than $2.5 billion to UNDP programmes, both through direct grants to UNDP, and indirectly, through government financing. Through tripartite partnerships, UNDP provides capacity development or implementation support to national government projects financed by IFIs. 

How can UNDP add value to IFI operations?

UNDP offers IFIs and government partners access, impartiality, and expertise to help maximize the true development impact of every IFI dollar spent.

Current collaboration

UNDP has entered into formal agreements with the African Development BankAsian Development BankCaribbean Development Bank, Central American bank for Economic Integration, Council of Europe Development BankDevelopment Bank of Latin America (CAF), Eurasian Development BankEuropean Bank for Reconstruction and DevelopmentEuropean Investment BankInter-American Development BankInternational Fund for Agricultural DevelopmentIslamic Development BankGermany’s KfW, and the World Bank Group.

UNDP also works with the International Monetary Fund, the New Development Bank (NDB) and the Asian Infrastructure and Investment Bank (AIIB).

In addition to global and regional Banks, UNDP is increasing collaboration with national development banks, including, the China Development Bank, Italy’s Cassa Depositi e Prestiti and the Brazilian National Development Bank (BNDES),

Most of UNDP’s collaboration with IFIs takes place through several modalities.

Financial partnerships take shape primarily through project implementation whereby UNDP supports governments in the implementation of loans and provision of technical assistance, or receives direct grants from IFIs, especially for crisis response in fragile contexts. UNDP’s tailored support allows governments to realise the greatest possible impact from these resources – saving time and funds while simultaneously strengthening national institutions and capacities. Examples are found in the brochure, “Strong Partnerships, Stronger Impact: Governments, International Financial Institutions, and UNDP Working Together for Development” (March 2022) and Partnerships for Sustainable Finance: UNDP and International Financial Institutions Accelerating Finance for the Sustainable Development Goals (October 2022).   

Non-financial partnerships involve joint research, knowledge products, and publications such as the Pathways for Peace report with the World Bank; Guide for Integrated Planning in Africa with the African Development Bank; UNDP-ADB-ESCAP annual Asia-Pacific SDG Partnership report with the Asian Development Bank and UNESCAP;  Harmonizing Investments and Financing Standards Toward Sustainable Development Along the Belt and Road with the China Development Bank; and Africa’s Digital Solutions to Tackle COVID-19 with the European Investment Bank.

UNDP also partners with IFIs on joint analysis and assessments including joint Post Disaster Needs Assessment and Recovery and Peacebuilding Assessments; COVID-19 Recovery Needs Assessments; and Socio-economic Impact Assessments and Response Plans (of which an estimated 50% have been developed in partnership with the WB, and one-third with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

UNDP collaborates with IFIs on platforms; staff exchanges and secondments, joint capacity development trainings and technical assistance; development finance policy areas; joint events and advocacy; and parallel financing (through which each partner uses its own funding streams for a common programme such as joint applications to the Green Climate Fund with the European Investment Bank in Armenia.

The Financial Institutions Partnerships team in UNDP’s Bureau for External Relations and Advocacy (BERA) is working across UNDP to increase collaboration with IFIs. Please contact the team with any queries you may have related to IFI-UNDP collaboration.

 

UNDP and IFIs for the Global Goals