In 2017, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Development Assistance Committee (DAC) adopted a set of blended finance principles to draw more private capital to the 2030 Agenda. To support the move from principles to practice, in January of this year Convergence organized a blended finance capacity building session for OECD-DAC members and partner countries at the OECD headquarters in Paris. The objective of this session was to (1) Demonstrate the potential of blended finance as a complementary tool to grants (2) Stimulate the OECD-DAC member countries to increase their financial commitments to blended finance projects/facilities.

The two-day session brought together approximately 23 OECD-DAC countries, partner & participant countries, such as Indonesia and the UAE, and over 30 experts from a wide range of development aid agencies, philanthropies, and private sector finance organizations including - The World Bank Group, European Commission, Citigroup, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) amongst others.

The capacity building session was delivered over seven core modules that ranged from understanding the investment criteria of commercial/fiduciary investors to unpacking the developmental impact of the underlying financial flows catalysed through blended finance. A deep-dive analysis on five blended finance transactions was also conducted to provide participants with hands-on practical exposure to the practices and mechanics of blended finance.

Participants discussed and deliberated on a range of issues and themes including:

• The importance of blended finance in filling the SDG funding gap.
• Key components and mechanics of a blended finance transaction.
• The critical role of Multilateral Development Banks and Development Finance Institutions in mobilizing higher amounts of financing to developing countries through blended finance.
• Best practice, strategic, organizational, and operational models deployed by OECD-DAC members to implement blended finance solutions and transactions.
• The increasing role of the philanthropic sector in blended finance.

At the end of the two-day session, participants came away with knowledge and insights on how to:

• Champion blended finance within their organizations and identify activities that can be undertaken to optimize their participation in blended finance.
• Identify key elements of a good blended finance proposal/solution.
• Design, develop, and implement blended finance solutions in cooperation with the private & philanthropic sector.

This capacity building session with OECD-DAC member countries is part of a series of highly-tailored sessions that Convergence has been offering to influential organizations who want to play a larger role in the ever-changing blended finance landscape. Through these sessions, Convergence aims to bring in sector experts from its own team and from its vast network to support participants in their efforts to arrange and execute higher levels of blended finance transactions.

OECD-DAC session agenda and summary, here.

Read about the session we hosted at AfDB last year, here.