Corporate Policy Papers

Sectoral Report for the Five-Year Mid-term
Review of the Brussels Programme of Action
for the Least Developed Countries

Full text available as a pdf file.

Introduction

The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) makes investments in the Least Developed Countries (LDCs). These investments are designed to help the LDCs reduce poverty and achieve the objectives of the Brussels Programme of Action for the LDCs and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The organization currently invests in 28 of the 50 LDCs and focuses its investments on Local Development and Microfinance. Its Local Development Programmes (LDPs) build the capacity of local governments and make investments in local communities to improve their access to social services and economic infrastructure. Its Microfinance investments provide enhanced access for households and enterprises to financial services and direct support for start-up and emerging microfinance institutions. UNCDF’s investment capital is flexible, high-risk, and innovative, and its development approach seeks the long-term development of human, institutional, and financial capacity in the poorest countries.

This report begins with a short analysis of the close alignment of UNCDF’s Practice Areas with the Brussels Programme of Action for the LDCs. In the next section, it provides an overview of UNCDF contributions to the Brussels Programme of Action for the 2001-2005 period covered by the Mid-term Review (MTR). The information for this section is based on UNCDF’s Results-oriented Annual Reports for 2001-2005, supported by data from the UNCDF’s Management Information System. Finally, the report provides a forward looking perspective of the investments that UNCDF plans to make during the 2006-2010 period to support LDCs in achieving the objectives of the Brussels Programme of Action, as well as the challenges that UNCDF currently faces in mobilizing the resources necessary to realize these investment plans.