To achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), we need to renew our focus on the countries that are most in need, and on investment areas that are critical to ensuring that no one is left behind. Least Developed Countries (LDCs) face significant financing gaps as they seek to graduate with inclusion. Many are very reliant on Official Development Assistance to complement scarce domestic public resources. As important as these are, they are not enough to bridge financing gaps to achieve the SDGs.

This reinforces the importance of using development finance to accelerate economic growth, build local capacities, and mobilize additional public and private resources for sustainable development. This is why UNCDF works to innovate financing approaches where few others are present; to create demonstration effects that, replicated and taken to scale, help transform markets, build inclusive financial markets and local development finance systems; and leverage funding from domestic and international actors into catalytic investments in local economies.