UN Capital Development Fund

UNCDF: Absorbing Risk, Creating Possibility The UN General Assembly created the Capital Development Fund with a singular purpose: to unlock finance where risks are high and capital is scarce, first and...

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The UN General Assembly created the Capital Development Fund with a singular purpose: to unlock finance where risks are high and capital is scarce, first and foremost in LDCs.

The challenges are immense. But so is the opportunity.

https://pulse.ly/fgzaxyvxin

Coming up this Wednesday!

UNCDF is joining SINTEF, Norad, and NABA for the first in a five-part webinar series exploring how we move bold ideas into practical solutions.

📅 Date: 11 February 2026
⏰ Time: 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM EST
🔗 Register: events.teams.microsoft.com/event/0f112b...

UNCDF's Executive Secretary presented the Strategic Framework 2026–2029 to its Executive Board, setting a clear direction for how UNCDF will scale its catalytic role in an increasingly constrained development finance landscape. 📈

🌍 Japan has just released the JPO call for nominations for 2026!

If you’re national of Japan and interested in pursuing an international career with the UN system, explore the openings here ➡️ www.mofa-irc.go.jp/jpo/shokumu2...

$20 mobilized for every $1 deployed. Thousands of jobs created. The first green bond in East Africa. This is what catalytic finance delivers. And it's only the beginning. 🎥

Ahead of the UNCDF Executive Board meeting, we're sharing what catalytic capital looks like in action.

"Our role is not to be the market. Our role is to create those environments where the market can function and can function in an inclusive way."💡

Alexander De Croo highlights how UNCDF helps make 'C' grade markets investable, creating jobs, innovation, & local ownership. 📈

Next week, UNCDF is joining SINTEF, Norad, and NABA for the first in a five-part webinar series exploring how a Technology Impact Fund could bridge the gap between high-income countries and LDCs?

📅 Date: 11 February 2026
⏰ Time: 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM EST
🔗 Register: https://pulse.ly/36vm5s1emk

"Very few do what UNCDF is doing."

At the Executive Board of UNDP, UNFPA and UNOPS, a clear message from the newly appointed Alexander De Croo:

UNCDF is the UN entity dedicated to de-risking funds, capable of making "C-grade" markets investable.

youtube.com/shorts/_Y9e3...

UNCDF and Annycent Capital sign Statement of Intent to mobilize and de-risk investment in the secondary renewable energy market across Africa The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) and Annycent Capital (Annycent) have signed a Statement of Intent to mobilize public and...

🤝 Proud to announce that Annycent Capital and UNCDF have signed a Statement of Intent to address one of the most persistent bottlenecks in Africa’s renewable energy transition: the inability to recycle capital and scale investment.

🔗 Learn more ➡️ https://pulse.ly/rdvtdmpjmh

GLMC 2026 DAY2 - Activities English Livestream YouTube video by Global Labor Market Conference

At the Global Labor Market Conference in Riyadh today, UNCDF Executive Secretary Pradeep Kurukulasuriya made the case for a fundamental shift in how we think about employment in fragile and least developed economies.

🔗 Watch the keynote speech here ➡️ www.youtube.com/live/B3pMl3N...

Catalysing climate-resilient agriculture in Kenya with solar-powered cold storage

With support from the Mitigation Action Facility, UNCDF & UNDP are deploying solutions to scale solar-powered cold storage.

UNCDF is using catalytic blended finance to de-risk investment in this market.

🔗 Read more ➡️ https://pulse.ly/nmxy0wyaip

#WorldCleanEnergyDay

@mitactfacility.bsky.social

Zimbabwe’s First Renewable Energy Fund: Building a Distributed Energy Market from the Ground Up

Zimbabwe's electrification: 40% national, 16% rural.

Traditional finance won't reach last-mile energy markets.

☀️ REF Zimbabwe, with the Joint SDG Fund, UNDP, UNESCO, UN Women, and UNCDF, aims to change that.

🔗 Learn more ➡️ https://pulse.ly/yp8h9mxcof

#WorldCleanEnergyDay

Energy needs are increasing, yet the sector is already responsible for 3/4 of greenhouse gas emissions.

This #WorldCleanEnergyDay learn how increasing efficiency & transitioning to renewables can drastically cut emissions, while providing #EnergyForAll: www.unep.org/topics/energy

How UNCDF’s catalytic finance is driving digital finance solutions for smarter university enrolment in Niger In Niger, a simple digital innovation is transforming higher education. With support from the UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) and its pa...

In Niger, university enrollment was a challenge.

UNCDF's catalytic grant enabled I-Futur fintech to deploy a digital payment platform.

The results?

✅ 7,700 students enroll online
✅ Registration down from weeks to 48 hours.

https://pulse.ly/07tk7qikwc

#EducationDay

From Crisis to Opportunity: Investing for Peace 🕊 When capital reaches communities in crisis, peace dividends become real.In fragile and conflict-affected settings, local enterprises hold the potential to cr...

A milestone for Investing for Peace (I4P). 🎉

This week in Berlin, founding partners — German Federal Foreign Office, UN United Nations Peacebuilding and Peace Support Office, and UNCDF — convened with I4P's newly appointed Boards.

From vision to action.

https://pulse.ly/hgk7so79no

Mobilizing domestic capital to feed one million school children daily in Benin In Benin, over 36% of children under the age of five suffer from malnutrition. To address this, the Government of Benin launched in 2017 the...

In Benin, agriculture employs 70% of people, yet only 34% of school meals came from local producers.

🤝 With WFP and UNFPA, UNCDF deployed a $450K guarantee that unlocked $500K+ in loans to smallholder farmers.

🔗 Learn more ➡️ https://pulse.ly/ik55lokzlv

#EducationDay

Driving Capital to the Local Level Brings Vital Services to Remote Villages in Bangladesh A performance-based grant from the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) provided the funds, using an approach developed as part of their signature climate adaptation initiative, the Local Climate Adaptive Living (LoCAL) Facility.

Nayon Tara Chakma climbed 2 km daily to fetch water. 💧

☀️ Now a solar-powered system, financed through UNCDF performance-based grants to local government, brings water to her door.

2.2 million people in Bangladesh have benefited from this approach.

https://pulse.ly/kxrlai4gr4

Strengthening Resilience to Address Global Drought Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

At #WEF26, UNCDF shared how blended finance (risk reduction, transfer, and absorption) can unlock capital for the world's most climate-vulnerable communities.

📺 Watch the full session here ➡️ https://pulse.ly/giwmwh8rxm

Moving Uganda’s agribusiness micro-entrepreneurs from subsistence to agency Uganda’s micro-entrepreneurs form the backbone of the country’s economy, yet without evidence of their daily activities such as what they se...

In Uganda, 78% of workers are informal, invisible to banks.

Digital tools are changing that. 📱

🔗 See how we are helping Uganda’s agribusiness micro-entrepreneurs move from subsistence to agency ➡️

https://pulse.ly/pua6dtcag7

What We Do — Mobilizing and deploying impact capital for development in the LDCs Mobilizing and deploying capital for development in the least developed countries (LDCs) has never been more critical. The decade of action to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals began with an unprecedented health and socioeconomic crisis that may push up to 32 million more people living in LDCs back into extreme poverty.

Despite a $482 trillion global financial market, only 4-5% flows to the countries that need it most.

Why?

➡️ Risk perceptions
➡️ Weak pipelines
➡️ Thin markets.

Blended finance can unlock this by using catalytic capital to de-risk and crowd-in private investment.

🔗 https://pulse.ly/jbe5xd9rpe

The frequency of disasters has quadrupled in the past two decades, yet the healthy ecosystems that naturally help reduce these risks are vanishing.

Investing in nature offers a smart, cost-effective way to protect lives and strengthen economies.

Learn more: https://tinyurl.com/4zcbfbxk

The case of missing middles: Gaps in the development finance landscape, and UNCDF’s positioning in it This paper identifies these persistent “white spaces” in the development finance ecosystem and argues that bridging them requires a distinct...

Why does private capital keep missing LDCs? 📊

A paper by ISF Advisors, supported by UNCDF, shows it’s not a lack of capital, but a structural mismatch in how finance is deployed.

White spaces persist in early-stage & last-mile markets.

🔗 Learn more ➡️ https://pulse.ly/sm7f9hrfqv

GLMC – Future in Progress GLMC is a premier platform and independent think tank that fosters global labor market dialogue, innovation, collaboration, and insights.

As climate shocks, AI, and trade shifts reshape labour markets, finance must do more than stabilize.

At the Global Market Conference, UNCDF Executive Secretary Pradeep Kurukulasuriya will share how blended finance can create jobs in early-stage and last-mile markets.

https://pulse.ly/ogdlraeuqj

How Premium Support Strengthens Climate Resilience in Pacific Island States | Microinsurance Network With climate risk insurance growing across the Pacific, a new conversation is emerging around premium support using subsidies and concessional financing for low-income households and small businesses to improve affordability and access.  

How do you lower insurance premiums without distorting markets?

Through premium financing that absorbs early risk, crowds in capital, and strengthens insurance systems for the long term.

Our latest blog explores how this works in Pacific Island states.

https://pulse.ly/j87tq6y6pz

What We Do — Mobilizing and deploying impact capital for development in the LDCs Mobilizing and deploying capital for development in the least developed countries (LDCs) has never been more critical. The decade of action to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals began with an unprecedented health and socioeconomic crisis that may push up to 32 million more people living in LDCs back into extreme poverty.

UNCDF was created to de-risk investment in early-stage and last-mile markets.

🤝 Working alongside governments, MDBs, DFIs, and the UN system, we absorb early risk so capital can flow to LDCs, SIDS, and fragile settings.

🔗 Learn more ➡️ https://pulse.ly/5ydusjdyuq

From rising seas to disappearing forests, small island states are facing some of the most severe impacts of environmental deterioration.

But many of these countries are fighting back: https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/ridges-reefs-small-island-states-lead-big-environmental-moves

OECD DAC Blended Finance Guidance 2025 Since the first edition of the Blended Finance Guidance in 2020, the blended finance industry has experienced significant growth and evolution. Blending is no longer an innovative approach; it is a we...

The OECD DAC Blended Finance Guidance highlights that blended finance isn’t reaching the places that need it most.

🤝 Stronger collaboration between policymakers, development finance providers, and the private sector is needed.

🔗 Read the full report here ➡️ www.oecd.org/en/publicati...

An Investment in Children that Drives Economic Growth and Saves Lives in West Africa A targeted investment of $2.5 million by the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) is set to prompt a humanitarian supply chain overhaul and save the lives of thousands more children every year.

What if humanitarian supply chains worked with local markets? 🤝

By financing local processing of peanuts for therapeutic foods in Nigeria, UNCDF is strengthening an entire humanitarian supply chain while lowering costs and expanding reach.

🔗 Learn more ➡️ https://pulse.ly/qvxatcl1dv

In Focus: Unlocking Agricultural Finance for Youth and Women in Rwanda This growing pipeline underscores the replicability and cost-effectiveness of UNCDF’s approach: using concessional capital to derisk investments and crowd in private finance for market development.

➡️ A $500K guarantee.
➡️ 92 agribusinesses financed.
➡️ 3,200+ jobs created.

In Rwanda, UNCDF’s risk-sharing guarantee enabled local lenders to back women- and youth-led agribusinesses. 🌾

🔗 Learn more: https://pulse.ly/hiundcptwj

What does climate-resilient agriculture look like when finance meets farmers where they are?

In Kenya, UNCDF & UNDP are catalysing a solar cold-chain market.

✂️ Cutting post-harvest losses
📈 Strengthening livelihoods
🌱 Building climate-smart systems

https://pulse.ly/ihblp5xxek