Malawi accelerates the SDGs

Malawi is among four countries selected to benefit from a $41 million (about K30.8 billion) United Nations (UN) Joint SDG Fund aimed at accelerating the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

In a statement issued on Tuesday, the UN said the allocation expands the Joint SDG Fund’s investments to date to $223 million, encompassing programming in 112 countries for Integrated Social Protection and SDG Investments.

Malawi was, alongside Fiji, Indonesia, and Uruguay, selected from 155 proposals from over 100 country applicants across the globe.

“Uruguay will combat climate change by helping transition the country’s transportation and industry sectors to green energy while reducing poverty and providing affordable access to innovative clean technologies. These four programmes alone are anticipated to leverage an estimated $4.7 billion in additional finance.”

According to the statement, Fiji will conserve and protect coastal reefs and marine life ecosystems while empowering local communities who rely on reefs for their survival. Indonesia, on the other hand, will create a new generation of financial products to combat climate change by transitioning towards low impact energy and empowering the creation of women-led small businesses.

Reads the statement in part: “UN country teams, in partnership with governments, engaged senior finance experts to create in-depth approaches and solutions to SDG acceleration. Convergence Blended Finance provided the due diligence process with participation from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development [OECD], the Rockefeller Foundation and Bamboo Capital, among others.”

UN Deputy Secretary General Amina Mohammed was quoted in the statement as having said the fund provides catalytic grants to unlock private capital towards blended financing of SDG investments

“Our dream is to bring together Wall Street and the rapidly increasing focus on ESG, impact investing, and investor excitement on the SDGs. The Joint SDG Fund is the vehicle to make this dream a reality,” she said.

Each of the four programmes combine public and private money to invest in achieving the SDGs.

The Joint SDG Fund is also developing an impact-first portfolio of 12 additional countries that will receive support to further develop their proposals, including access to global SDG financing leaders in commercial banks, impact investing firms, development finance institutions and access to tailored coaching programmes.

The portfolio will focus on diverse country typographies and impact areas: four Small Island Developing States, five Least Developed Countries and one Fragile State.

Various governments and organisations have contributed to the Joint SDG Fund, including the European Union and governments of Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, Monaco, Kingdom of Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and our private sector funding partners.