As part of a five-day visit to Papua New Guinea (PNG), United Nations Capital Development’s (UNCDF) Local Development Finance (LDF) Director Mr. David Jackson met with key national stakeholders, development partners and private sector to discuss the promotion of sub-national economic development in PNG.

With funding support from the Australian High Commission in PNG, UNCDF will launch a diagnostic assessment of the potential for local economic development through effective use of the recently established District Development Authority (DDA) mechanism for public investments alongside an innovative approach to unlock domestic capital from local banks and pension funds for catalytic local infrastructure.

The LOOKING diagnostic will produce a roadmap that demonstrates how a combination of public and private domestic capital can be invested to promote local economic development. This includes the identification of catalytic infrastructure such as cold storage warehouses and markets that can be financed from domestic capital and the investment of public funds to maximize the impact of this investment.

Mr. David Jackson met with key line ministries, including Department of Finance, Department of Local Level Government & Provincial Affairs, and with the Australian High Commission and the European Union Delegation in PNG.