About - UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF)

The MAP diagnostic approach – a result of the programme’s unique analytical framework – looks to build a picture of market demand based on household and individual income, economic activity, and current usage of financial services within a diverse array of countries and local contexts. In this way, the MAP programme hopes to achieve the following objectives:

Encourage providers of financial services to deliver products and services to those segments of the population that are currently underserved; and

Enable policymakers and regulators to understand current policies and regulations that are inhibiting market growth and to develop a strategic vision on financial inclusion and the possible delivery modalities.

Our partners:

The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) is the UN’s capital investment agency for the world’s 48 Least Developed Countries (LDCs).

UNCDF uses its capital mandate to help LDCs pursue inclusive growth. This is done in three ways:

First, using ‘smart’ Official Development Assistance (ODA) to leverage and unlock public and private domestic resources for local development.

Second, promoting financial inclusion, which includes digital finance, as a key enabler of poverty reduction and inclusive growth.

Third, demonstrating how localizing finance outside the capital cities can accelerate growth in local economies, promote sustainable and climate resilient infrastructure development, and empower local communities.

FinMark Trust is an independent non-profit trust whose purpose is summed up as “making financial markets work for the poor by promoting financial inclusion and regional financial integration.” The trust was established in March 2002 with funding from the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID).

Cenfri is a non-profit think tank based in Cape Town, South Africa. Cenfri’s mission is to support financial sector development and financial inclusion through facilitating better regulation and market provision of financial services. Cenfri does this by conducting research, providing advice and developing capacity-building programmes for regulators, market players and other parties operating in the low-income market.

Our Funders

In April 2012, UNCDF and the Swedish Agency for International Development Cooperation (Sida) signed a four-year Partnership Framework for Inclusive Growth and Sustainable Development (PFIS) intended to channel Swedish investment to a range of innovative UNCDF programmes supporting financial service development and local development finance for the poor in the LDCs.

Since April 2012, a total of approximately 13 million dollars has been disbursed across a total of seven programmes in both of UNCDF’s Practice Areas. The Partnership Framework was conceived as a flexible funding approach allowing UNCDF’s development partners the option of investing in all – or selected – UNCDF global programmes through a single partnership agreement. In addition to providing flexible and predictable financing to UNCDF in line with its commitments under UNCDF’s multi-year strategic framework, the approach is intended to provide a more efficient means of support for our development partners allowing consolidated oversight and inputs into planning of the various programmes that are funded.

With a total commitment of SEK 110,000,000 (USD $16.3 million) for the period 2012-2015, Sida agreed to support UNCDF in its efforts to accelerate progress towards the Millennium Development Goals. A number of UNCDF global initiatives included in the PFIS, including Mobile Money for the Poor (MM4P), Making Access to Financial Services Possible (MAP), CleanStart, the Local Climate Adaptive Living Facility (LoCAL) and the Local Finance Initiative (LFI) began receiving funding in May 2012. In 2013, one additional global gender programme, the Inclusive and Equitable Local Development (IELD) Programme, a women’s economic empowerment programme was launched and also received support under the PFIS agreement.