Blended finance is becoming increasingly important for bridging the investment gap for the SDGs. However, little is known about the true development impact of blended finance. The report presents the findings on a blended finance studies and evaluations, visualized as an evidence gap map (ESM). The report presents a result on a matrix of eight blended finance instruments and four categories of effects: financial additionality, development additionality, market development and sector effects. 

The research in this paper identified 33 publications that met the inclusion criteria. Almost half of the blended finance instruments focused on results-based incentives, with grants and guarantees being the most instruments used. Most of the evidence was found in the programme evaluation report, while quasi-experimental evidence was scarce. Comparing with data from the Convergence database, the paper found that despite an increase in the size of the blended finance market from USD 16 billion in 2007 to USD 136 billion, there is still a mismatch between the frequency use of blended finance instruments with research on its impact. 


blended finance, DEval, German Institute for Development Evaluation, research, evidence, development impact

The State of Evidence on Blended Finance for Sustainable Development

German Institute for Development Evaluation (DEval)