Working with UNCDF, Multilateral Development Banks and Financing Institutions
The Joint SDG Fund works across the UN system and with international financing partners to translate policy reform and coordination into scaled investment for the SDGs.
UNCDF is one of the Fund’s Participating United Nations Organizations (PUNOs) and a key delivery partner at country level. It is currently the Fund’s fifth-largest PUNO—after UNDP, UNICEF, FAO and ILO. UNCDF brings a distinctive value to the portfolio through its ability to deploy a range of financial instruments, including grants, loans and guarantees, within Joint SDG Fund–supported programmes.
Multilateral development banks (MDBs) and other financing institutions are not direct implementing partners of Joint Programmes. Instead, the Fund works with them to help crowd in larger volumes of financing into investment vehicles and pipelines developed through UN-led policy and coordination work.
In Uruguay, for example, a UN-supported Renewable Energy Innovation Fund is co-investing in a green hydrogen project through supporting pre-investment activities and a loan providing de-risking. This catalytic investment is complemented by parallel financing of USD 20–25 million from Santander and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) for the enabling infrastructure—demonstrating how Joint SDG Fund investments help unlock scaled private and IFI finance.
SDG Localization, Financing to Local Actors and Accountability
SDG localization is a core pillar of the Joint SDG Fund’s 2023–2026 strategy, reflecting the fact that at least 65% of SDG targets are directly linked to the mandates of local and regional governments. The Fund’s approach operates through three complementary channels.
First, the Fund manages a dedicated SDG Localization portfolio comprising 30 Joint Programmes launched in March 2024, with a total budget of USD 17.8 million (USD 10.5 million from the Joint SDG Fund and USD 7.3 million in co-funding). These programmes engage 177 local and regional governments as direct implementation partners and are expected to benefit 12.4 million people. Seventy percent of programmes support close coordination between line ministries and subnational authorities, strengthening vertical integration across governance levels.
Second, to systematically embed and track local impact across the entire portfolio, the Fund developed the SDG Localization Marker in collaboration with the Local2030 Coalition and the Government of Spain. Beyond the dedicated localization portfolio, the marker identified an additional USD 27 million in allocations to programmes where localization is a central pillar—bringing total localization-focused investments in 2024 to nearly USD 45 million.
Third, the Fund is advancing subnational financing solutions for food systems transformation and green economies in collaboration with the Local2030 Secretariat, the Government of Spain and the Basque Regional Authorities. The initiative developed eight catalytic Joint Programmes expected to mobilize over USD 160 million, based on an initial Joint SDG Fund allocation of approximately USD 24 million.
Allocation to LDCs, LLDCs and SIDS and the Fund’s Leverage Model
Since its inception, the Joint SDG Fund has consistently allocated approximately 50–55% of its resources to least developed countries (LDCs), landlocked developing countries (LLDCs) and small island developing states (SIDS). Of the Fund’s USD 404.3 million approved budget, 53.7% (USD 217.9 million) is currently allocated to these country categories. The Fund aims to further increase support to these countries while continuing to invest in innovative approaches across all country groups.
To date, the Joint SDG Fund has unlocked more than USD 6.6 billion in additional resources for the SDGs. Between 2021 and 2024, a significant share of this leverage came from support to sovereign SDG bond issuances, including in Indonesia, Uzbekistan, Fiji and Cabo Verde.
In Indonesia, Joint SDG Fund support helped establish the policy framework and SDG impact management systems required to issue the country’s first sovereign SDG bond. The USD 5 billion issuance financed vaccinations for 30 million children, scholarships for 20 million students, and reductions of 2.8 million tonnes of CO₂ emissions, among other results.
The Fund has also supported blended finance vehicles such as climate and energy facilities, performance-based funds and social impact funds. In countries including Fiji, North Macedonia, Uruguay and Kenya, these vehicles have mobilized additional financing from IFIs and private partners. A further USD 827 million has been generated through the scale-up of policy solutions piloted with Fund support.
New Financing Instruments for 2026
Building on its track record, the Joint SDG Fund will continue to apply proven financing instruments—such as thematic bonds, climate and environmental facilities, SME financing vehicles and guarantees—to new sectors and geographies.
In 2026, these approaches will be applied to accelerate key transitions in digital transformation, food systems, energy and jobs, aligned with national development priorities. The objective is twofold: to pilot innovative financing vehicles that mobilize diverse public and private resources, and to demonstrate models that can be replicated and scaled to close the SDG financing gap.
The private sector plays a central role in these efforts, both as a co-financier and as a beneficiary—particularly SMEs gaining access to de-risked capital. The Fund will also deepen collaboration with IFIs such as the EIB, AfDB and EBRD, and align with global climate finance vehicles to translate early-stage country innovations into bankable investment pipelines that scale locally grounded SDG transitions.
SDG Ambition Roadshows
The SDG Ambition Roadshows are planned high-level field and policy engagements intended to showcase how catalytic Joint SDG Fund investments can accelerate SDG transitions at country level. Conceived as SDG investment tours rather than visibility missions, the Roadshows are designed to create space for Member States—together with investors and development finance partners, where relevant—to engage with governments, UN country teams and partners, and to explore how modest catalytic grants can help unlock larger domestic, private and IFI financing.
If confirmed, Roadshows would highlight financing facilities, digital public goods, regulatory reforms and emerging investment pipelines developed through Joint SDG Fund programmes, illustrating the pathway from policy coordination to investable solutions.
The ambition is to roll out Roadshows over the course of 2026, starting in countries with strong delivery performance and where governments have expressed interest in hosting high-level engagement. The format is expected to combine selected field visits, policy discussions with national counterparts, and dialogue on scalability, replication and alignment with broader UN financing reforms.
Overall, the Roadshows are intended to strengthen understanding of the Fund’s catalytic model, improve visibility of scalable financing pathways, and foster closer alignment among governments, Member States and UN teams around integrated SDG transitions.
Note:
All joint programmes of the Joint SDG Fund are led by UN Resident Coordinators and implemented by the agencies, funds, and programmes of the United Nations development system. With sincere appreciation for the contributions from the European Union and Governments of Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Monaco, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, the Republic of Korea, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland for a transformative movement towards achieving the SDGs by 2030.
