January 20, 2018
SDG Fund starts winding down

After the decision of the SDG Fund's Steering Committee, in its last meeting on 5 December 2017, the winding down of the SDG Fund has already started. The Fund has been the first United Nations’ mechanism specifically created for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, and with this decision, per initiative of Spain and endorsed by the members of the committee, will close in December 2018. In this regard, the SDG Fund experience, coming from the MDG Achievement Fund, will serve as a bridge between the MDGs and the SDGs.

In a letter shared with partners, the SDG Fund Steering Committee Co-Chairs, explained this decision was taken to “ensure coherence and alignment of inter-agency pooled funding mechanisms supporting SDGs”. And in particular “to initiate the transition phase of the new Joint Fund for the 2030 Agenda”.

The closing process will not affect ongoing joint programmes, which are to continue and be finalized as planned. However, the SDG Fund will not be considering new programme proposals for funding and all partnerships will be terminated by the end of the year 2018.

Activities with private sector

As part of this decision all activities with private sector will be cancelled. This is the case of the SDG Fund Private Sector Advisory Group, formed by business leaders of major companies from various industries worldwide, whose role was to provide the SDG Fund with guidance and strategic support to achieve better development results in coordination with the private sector. The Group has released three reports on businesses and the SDGs, with the aim of generating knowledge and facilitating public partnerships with these key actors in the new era of sustainable development.

In addition, the resources initially allocated for joint programmes with the private sector have been transferred to the Joint SDG Fund for the 2030 Agenda. The SDG Fund and its SC thanks all partners (UN country offices, governments and private sector) who engaged in designing these innovative projects, and also those partners who have contributed with matching funds.

The only exception is the pilot Food Africa project in Nigeria, for which the Steering Committee decided “in principle to allocate up to a maximum of $1 M to the Food Africa project, on the basis of an accelerated, high-impact 2018 implementation plan of the first phase”.

All other agreements, partnerships and appointments will be terminated by December 2018.

Sharing lessons learned

Created in 2014 thanks to the commitment and funding provided by Spain, the SDG Fund has worked to tackle the challenges of poverty, promote the 2030 Agenda and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals gathering all the development actors: UN agencies, governments, academia, civil society and the business sector.

Over the past three years, the SDG Fund has launched sustainable development programmes in 23 countries in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and Asia, which have contributed to improving the lives of more than 5 million people. 16 UN Agencies have collaborated in initatives to address different SDGs and 25% percent of the programme resources have been provided by non OECD-DAC members, signalling a new approach to national ownership.

An important element of the closing process this year will be the compilation and dissemination of the experiences, results and lessons learned through the implementation of the SDG Fund. In particularly the SDG Fund will work closely with the new Joint Fund officially launched last 23 April 2018 as part of the ECOSOC Forum on Financing for Development at the UN Headquarters in New York to transfer best practices and learnings.

(Information updated 24 April 2018)