International financial institutions

We are working with International Financial Institutions (IFIs) to help meet the requirements of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, which aims to create a stronger funding base for international development.

UNDP’s IFI Partnership Strategy 2016-2020 highlights the increasing importance of strengthening relationships to meet the SDGs. To that end, we work closely with the European Investment Bank (EIB), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB), the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) and the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID).

European Investment Bank (EIB)

The European Investment Bank helps finance sustainable development initiatives in Europe. EIB and UNDP’s long history of cooperation has led to numerous initiatives in the region, including the Ukraine Early Recovery Programme with its focus on infrastructure investments in conflict-affected areas. In  2021, EIB and UNDP  extended by five years a Memorandum of Understanding that focuses on key thematic areas including addressing climate change, the ongoing migration and forced displacement crisis, and job generation for youth.

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)

Founded in 1991, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development strengthens developing economies across three continents by making them competitive, well-governed, green, inclusive, resilient and integrated. EBRD and UNDP have a longstanding relationship, reinvigorated with a Memorandum of Understanding that was newly signed in 2021. This agreement focuses on sustainable growth in Central and Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Mongolia, and the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean in areas such as COVID-19 response, green recovery, digital transformation and promoting equality of opportunity for vulnerable groups. 

Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB)

The Council of Europe Development Bank provides financing and technical expertise for projects that promote social integration and cohesion in Europe. In 2007, CEB and UNDP signed a Memorandum of Understanding that led to projects such as the rehabilitation of public infrastructure in Georgia’s Shida Kartli region and the delivery of emergency food aid in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. With the success of this initial MoU, in 2017 CEB and UNDP renewed their bilateral agreement for an additional five years to scale up the support for achieving the SDGs in Turkey, Moldova and Georgia

Islamic Development Bank (IsDB)

The Islamic Development Bank represents one of the fastest growing development financing partners, with operating assets reaching more than US$16 billion in 2021. . The IsDB-UNDP partnership began in 1986. Since then, IsDB and UNDP have focused on poverty reduction, peacebuilding, youth employment, and crisis recovery – all through a Global Islamic Finance and Impact Investing Platform launched in 2016. In our region, we work with IsDB on a wide range of topics, including water management infrastructure in Kazakhstan and Tajikistan as well as green rural housing in Uzbekistan.

OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID)

The OPEC Fund for International Development works with country partners and international donors to alleviate poverty in developing nations by stimulating economic growth in areas such as infrastructure, trade and social services. In 2015, UNDP and OPEC launched a Cross-Regional Grants Competition for Albania, Tunisia and Kosovo¹, funding small-scale interventions with high potential for scale-up in the areas of water management and youth employment and entrepreneurship. UNDP and OPEC have recently started a regional initiative in Central Asia that aims to grow a vibrant, grassroots small- and medium-enterprise community in the sustainable energy industry, to improve people’s access to energy while protecting the quality of the air and overall environment.

[1] all references to Kosovo on this website are made in the context of UN Security Council Resolution 1244 (1999)