Officials from the United Nations, government, development, diplomatic, and private sectors gathered on 8-9 February 2023 with a call to accelerate financing to help meet the country’s development goals within globally- and nationally-set timelines.  

“We are seven years closer to the 2030 deadline to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). At the same time, we are racing against a fast-approaching 17-year deadline to achieve the aspirations spelled out in the country’s own Ambisyon Natin 2040,” said Mr. Gustavo Gonzalez, United Nations Philippines Resident Coordinator, during the Partners’ Event for the Joint Programme on Integrated National Financing Framework (INFF) held at the Marco Polo Hotel in Manila. “This means we should collectively ponder a complete and integrated approach to financing the Future We Want.” 

As the SDG’s deadline looms, United Nations Development Programme Deputy Resident Representative Edwine Carrie invited the sectors present to strategically use the power of numbers to collectively draw up strategies for finding development gaps and closing them. “We currently have little idea of how much we need to close lingering gaps in meeting the SDGs. Cost estimates are available, but very few are linked to SDG targets," Carrie said. “The antidote to this situation,” he added, “is a deep understanding of the development challenge at hand before dipping our hands straight into the numbers. This is exactly a significant part of what the Joint Programme did in the past year.” 

Data and insights produced by the Joint Programme on INFF, presented in the Partners’ Forum, include a new edition of the Development Finance Assessment (2022 DFA).  

Part of the 2022 DFA includes a snapshot of the Philippine financing landscape. The snapshot showed the unstable growth in private financing flows during COVID-19, and a narrowing government fiscal space to finance development priorities. 

While official development assistance grew in response to the pandemic, Gonzalez said, “There is still not enough capital that goes to addressing challenges in education, healthcare, and resilient infrastructure that have lingered before the pandemic. Financing sustainable development needs to scale.” 

Ms. Liza Kubriel, head of the Joint SDG Fund Secretariat, expressed hope that the catalytic investments the Fund provided to the Joint Programme could give rise to strategic partnerships that can bring in much-needed resources needed to meet national development priorities. “We hope the Philippines’ INFF continues to engage new partners in civil society, private sector, IFIs [International Financing Institutions], and even more government ministries—because only then can we rescue the SDGs,” Kubriel said. 

The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), the lead government counterpart in the JP INFF, acknowledged the latter’s efforts in starting conversations towards data sharing and financing strategies in light of a new iteration of development priorities. “With the additional value of the robust information from the various JP INFF outputs, we see a greater opportunity to develop a more informed and risk-based approach in the country’s new development plan and investment program,” said Undersecretary Joseph Capuno of the NEDA Investment Planning Group. 

The Parnters’ Event also showcased JP INFF studies that aim at influencing policies and financing strategies to help the country reap the demographic dividend, and the potential of economic growth that comes from maximizing the widening youth demographic.    

Halfway through the SDG implementation, and with the change in demographic profile, UN Population Fund Country Representative Dr. Leila Joudane called on the sectors present in the Partners’ Event to translate demographic data and analyses to impactful policies and sustainable financing, implement monitoring and risk mitigation strategies, and to keeping opportunities for multi-sectoral collaborations open towards equitable growth. “Together, let us build the Future that we want: The future where equal rights and opportunities. are accessible to all. The future we want is a future where no one is left behind,” Dr. Joudane said. (ENDS) 

Background on the Joint Programme on INFF Partners’ Event 

Supported by the Joint SDG Fund, the Joint Programme on Integrated National Financing Framework in the Philippines (JP INFF) has aimed at maximizing the concept and value of INFF in order to help unlock financing flows that can support the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as well as the national priorities that dovetail with these Goals, in an integrated manner. 

As the Project comes to completion, a Knowledge Café and Partners’ Event aims to showcase the Project’s major outputs and take stock of the key results and outcomes of the Project, reflect on lessons learned, generate interest and broaden support for the continued establishment of INFF in the country. 

The Programme is being co-implemented by three participating UN agencies, namely the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), UN Population Fund, and UN Development Programme (UNDP) as the lead; under the auspices of the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office, and with the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) as the lead government counterpart.  

For more information, please contact: 

Rupert Francis D. Mangilit 
Communications Officer 
Joint Programme on INFF, United Nations Development Programme Philippines 
Email address: rupert.francis.mangilit@undp.org 
Mobile Number: 09171156323