Where are we going to get the money for the biggest humanitarian and sustainability challenges of our time?
In September last year the IDC reported concerns that UK development finance had been directed at some “questionable investments”, without a clear poverty focus, and called for reforms to the UK’s main development finance institution, British International Investment (BII).
The UN reports stalled or reversed progress on many of the globally agreed 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
After deep and ongoing cuts to the UK aid budget, and with a large and increasing fraction of UK ODA being spent in the UK - much of it on accommodation for asylum seekers – where do we get the money to address the great humanitarian and sustainability challenges of our time?
On Tuesday 26 March the IDC will hold a one-off session on “alternative financing” for international development’s biggest challenges, from food insecurity and famine to climate change.
It will seek to increase understanding of the role of British Investment Partnerships in reducing the finance gap and supporting the UK to help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
Meeting details
The IDC will first question representatives of three financial instrument institutions - the Private Infrastructure Development Group, MOBILIST and FSD Africa - that the FCDO identifiedin its International Development White Paper last year as options or models of alternative financing for international development.
It will then question three non-governmental experts in development finance and delivery, and ask how well the models put forward can actually address the global challenges we face - including the challenge of funding.
The IDC report on BII raised major concerns around transparency and the use of financial intermediaries, where the outcomes and impact of investment have been found to be harmful in some instances or at least of dubious value in poverty alleviation.
How important are private investors in effectively delivering the SDGs?Can private investment really tackle climate change and biodiversity loss, and are women, with their recognised, central role in delivering effective development interventions, equally able to access private development finance?
The Committee will also explore the implications of the FCDO’s increasing use of loan guarantees to unlock financing in place of providing funding.