In the year ahead, UNCDF is prioritizing three issues:

1st: UNCDF will focus on scaling up programmes that unlock public and private finance and that enhance inclusive financial markets and local development finance systems

In local development finance, this means prioritizing work with municipalities, especially in urban areas, to mobilize funding so they can better serve local populations and meet their infrastructure needs; expanding work on local resilience finance, which brings together work on climate adaptation, food security and land restoration; attracting finance for projects that empower women; and mobilizing financing for pipelines of investable projects with clear development impact.

In financial inclusion, this means prioritizing the expansion of financial services to reach underserved populations, especially women, girls and youth; using data-driven diagnostics to help governments develop financial inclusion strategies; helping to formalize remittance channels; and expanding work in crisis contexts, including in support of refugees and forcibly displaced populations. Digital innovations will remain a core feature of this work and are also integral to efforts to expand access to clean energy and to support the integration of smallholder farmers into agriculture value chains.

2nd: UNCDF will continue to use its capital mandate to expand the frontiers of finance in LDCs

Through its LDC investment platform, UNCDF is playing an increasingly active role in making investments in local economies more attractive to private finance. UNCDF is also investing in a thought leadership role on the application of blended finance in LDCs, the findings of which it intends to use to build a community of practice and to inform better the actions of development actors and investors.

3rd: UNCDF will continue to deepen its collaboration with international development organizations to maximize its development impact and help mobilize additional financing for developing countries

In addition, UNCDF is building new and exciting partnerships with UN agencies, where the combination of UNCDF financial innovations and their sector expertise can tackle last-mile exclusions; with businesses, as innovators, implementing partners and funders; and with existing and new contributors to regular and other UNCDF resources.