This blog series takes a look at the new landscape of financing for development, the focus of our upcoming Istanbul Development Dialogues , an annual a global development forum where policy-makers, business leaders, and experts discuss issues of our time. Islamic finance, a method of financial system which complies with sharia law and forbids charging interest, has become a growing source of funding for development. Because inclusion, women's empowerment, fairness, accountability and sustainability are embedded in its principles, if offers a natural connection with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). UNDP has been exploring ways to increase Islamic finance's impact by linking Indonesia and Turkey together, through UNDP Alternat...

  Many people around the world say they don't contribute to social causes for fear that their contributions will be wasted. So how is it that a board game on Kickstarter mangadom managed to collect over $12 million in funding , with almost 20,000 pledges? That's the beauty of crowdfunding: people from all walks of life supporting a cause they believe in. We at UNDP's AltFinLab campaigns understand that crowdfunding is about more than collecting money — that we achieve the best results when we apply the platform approach to crowdfunding . It helps us diversify funding, involve the right people, and mobilize experts from all walks of life. In Turkey, the situation is different. People do not engage with charity or donations as frequently...

Every few months, I go to pay condolences to families who lost their loved ones in traffic accidents or visit an acquaintance in hospital due to an injury they suffered in a car crash. I am pretty sure I am not alone in that. Montenegro is one of the countries with the highest number of persons killed in traffic accidents in Europe. In 2016 alone, there were more than 5,200 traffic accidents, with 65 persons killed and another 2,500 lightly or seriously injured. Although we all hate putting a price tag on a human life, the economic case for preventing accidents is just as important as the moral one. Studies show that every human life lost in a traffic accident costs our country about half a million EUR . This includes legal and medical expe...

To tackle the challenges and negative impacts of long-term youth unemployment, UNDP together with Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra and the Government of Serbia is designing a Youth Employment Bond pilot with the Social Impact Bond (SIB) mechanism. Social Impact Bond is a result-based financial instrument for impact investing, where private investments are intended to create a positive social or environmental impact as well as a financial return. The first SIB was launched in 2010 in UK and by now over 60 SIBs have been commissioned across Europe, Australia, Canada and the United States. SIBS have raised over $200m of capital and touched over 90,000 lives in the areas such as employment, homelessness, health, child welfare, education and crimin...

Alternative Finance Lab (AltFin Lab) is helping UNDP Bosnia and Herzegovina and their national and regional partners in the Vrbas region in designing an Forecast Based Financing mechanism that seeks to attract insurance investment into addressing the risk on the basis of the forecast based triggers. Based on the Red Cross/Crescent Climate Center Forecast Based Financing model UNDP Bosnia and Herzegovina is piloting implementation of using weather forecasting models for raising financial support of regions that might be hit by extreme weatherUltimately our intention is not only to minimize the risk and secure funds before a disaster has received sufficient media support but also to test the feasibility of attracting new sources of funding (t...

"How can we finance the next 15 years of development work? In what ways should true innovators be engaged in the development process? How viable is impact investment for business and governments alike?" - these were only a few of the many questions discussed at the very first global summit on impact investment for development, held in Yerevan on March 21-22. The summit, has been hosted by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Armenia and INSEAD's Social Impact Initiative as a knowledge partner. Together they have brought together some of the world's leading social entrepreneurs, impact investors and development practitioners. During the two-day event UNDP officials, social entrepreneurs, impact business leaders, representatives...

​ UNDP Serbia is experimenting impact investing through Youth Employment Bond together with Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra. The high cost of youth unemployment The youth unemployment rate is very high in Serbia, which requires more attention and also innovative ways to tackle the challenges. The youth unemployment rate in 2015 was 43.2 %, which is significantly above the general unemployment rate in the country (18.2 % for the population of working age 15-64). Having 4 out of 10 young people (ages 15-30) neither in employment, education or training (NEET youth) costs the Government over EUR 1.6 billion a year. You read it right- EUR 1.6 billion. This figure includes costs of various unemployment related social benefits and foregone income ta...