Towards integrated national financing framework

Five years after the adoption of the 2030 and Addis Agendas, mobilization of sufficient finance remains a critical challenge in most countries. The COVID-19 pandemic has further undermined fiscal and external balances, threatening countries’ prospects for timely achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Integrated national financing frameworks (INFFs), a planning and delivery framework to help countries finance sustainable development and the SDGs, can be a valuable tool in helping to formulate a comprehensive strategy for recovery – one that is aligned with the SDGs, the Paris Agreement, and that is sustainably financed. The Inter-agency Task Force on Financing for Development (IATF) set out key features and steps to operationalize the INFFs for the SDGs in the 2019 Financing for Sustainable Development Report (FSDR). INFFs are a tool for governments to (i) align financing policies with national sustainable development priorities, and (ii) strengthen the links between planning processes (such as National Sustainable Development Strategies or national development plans) and financing policies. INFFs can also help Governments bring together and better utilize the wide range of support measures on SDG financing provided by the international community. Ultimately, they can help them raise resources to implement national development plans and finance the SDGs. The project brings together existing capacity and policy support for SDG financing by implementing entities in an integrated offer to target countries. The project addresses capacity gaps identified by target countries in one or more of the four building blocks spelled out in the 2019 FSDR, namely,  to provide support in the assessment and diagnostics phase, e.g. on costing of priorities in national strategies, in the formulation of a financing strategy, in monitoring and review mechanisms, and/ or governance arrangements. The project puts a substantive focus on two elements of a financing strategy in particular, in line with country priorities, and with a view to building back better: mobilizing financing for productive investments in recovery and the SDGs (such as SME or infrastructure financing, sustainable financial sector development, and the role of national and regional development banks); and aligning public financing policies and mechanisms with the SDGs and climate action (such as SDG budgeting, taxation and environmental finance). It will also create spaces for peer learning, making use of existing platforms at the regional level. Success would be demonstrated by identification and implementation of financing policy initiatives and mechanisms to finance the SDGs in selected countries.