From April 23-25, 2024, the 9th Sustainable Development Goals Investment Fair was held in New York. In the run up to the hybrid event, SIF collaborated with United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) to promote the Fair as an outlet for engaging with investors and development finance institutions for countries in the SOURCE Community.
Ecuador, was a test case in the collaboration, with different projects under preparation using the SOURCE platform showcased to participating investors and the opportunity to present a clear road map toward investment closure and the alignment of the projects to the 2030 Agenda.
H.E. Mr. Pablo Cevallos, Secretary of Public-Private Investments, featured prominently in the Fair’s Transport and Logistics Sector Investor Roundtable. The country shared opportunities to partner in high-impact projects like the Manta Quevedo and Pifo – Y de Baeza road networks.These projects also highlighted the potential of leveraging Ecuador’s new legal and institutional frameworks to enhance the bankability of PPPs.
SOURCE Featured at a Workshop immediately following the Fair, demonstrating how the Digital Platform could enhance the readiness of Sustainable Infrastructure projects.
On April 26th, following the main event, SOURCE was also featured at a Workshop on “Delivering Finance to the SDGs”, designed to strengthen the capacities of countries to mobilise private investment for their SDG aligned projects. A series of informative sessions covered topics such as (i) good project preparation, (ii) traditional and alternative sources of funding, (iii) risk mitigation for project finance and credit enhancement, and (iv) execution, fundraising, and storytelling for impact. Over twenty countries took part in the workshop, including several SOURCE member countries.
In highlighting the role of SOURCE in the project development and investment readiness process, Mahlatsi Molokomme, SIF’s Head of Strategic Initiatives and Integration Manager, focused on the key benefits. In particular, the platform’s SDG alignment dashboard and frameworks that can promote a common language and understanding between the public sector and private investors throughout a project’s lifecycle. The Project Preparation Facility Finder, which enables matchmaking based on the characteristics of the project assessed against the eligibility criteria of preparation facilities, was also of keen interest to participants.
The next steps of the collaboration between UNDESA and SIF will be to work toward the integration of a new diagnostic tool over the course of 2024 into the SOURCE platform. The so-called “STAIRS” tool will help countries increase the investment readiness of sustainable infra projects step by step, and in self-assessing their progress, better understand the requisites and key gaps to bridge in order to meet the expectations of investors and development finance institutions. This additional tool aligns to SOURCE’s vision to curate and simplify access to practical knowledge products and support the adoption of international best practice and/or standards at the country level.