The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) target a range of development challenges, from combating climate change to ending poverty and hunger. To achieve the SDGs in developing countries, a significant scale-up of investment is required. Blended finance is the use of catalytic funding (e.g., grants and capital) from public and philanthropic sources to mobilize additional private sector investment to realize the SDGs. Blended finance is one of several approaches to financing the SDGs, with the United Nations (UN) member countries reaching consensus on its importance at the Third International Conference on Financing for Development in 2015. Since then, blended finance has become a familiar concept for a diverse set of organizations across the public, private, and philanthropic sectors.
The State of Blended Finance 2020 report uses blended finance data and insights compiled by Convergence to provide an updated analysis of the blended finance market, including blending approaches, sectors, regions and investor trends. We are also excited to include the following additions for the first time to this year’s report:
- Interviews with leading experts in the blended finance market, including representatives from development agencies, multilateral development banks (MDBs), development finance institutions (DFIs), impact investors, and institutional investors (‘Voices from the Field’)
- A forecast of emerging trends in the blended finance market, leveraging Convergence’s collection of data on transactions seeking blended capital, including from our proprietary matchmaking platform
The State of Blended Finance 2020 concludes with reflections on the journey to advancing blended finance at scale, exploring key challenges and progress made to date. Lastly, the report considers the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the blended finance market and the attainment of the SDGs in developing countries.
Full report here.
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