Friday
October 16
2020

Press Release: DFC Announces New Global Development Strategy To Catalyze $75 Billion by 2025

U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) is announcing today its first global development strategy, The Roadmap for Impact: DFC’s Inaugural Development Strategy, which outlines investments of over $25 billion and aims to mobilize an additional $50 billion in private sector capital—catalyzing a total of $75 billion—to reach more than 30 million people in developing countries by the end of 2025. DFC aims to maximize global development impact and deploy new technologies, while continuing to support the response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Our new development strategy creates a roadmap to pursue the most impactful projects in the most underserved communities worldwide,” said DFC Chief Executive Officer Adam Boehler. “This strategy builds on our current work and establishes goals to address the challenges that developing countries face, particularly related to responding to COVID-19. I’d like to thank our stakeholders for their input and advice in formulating our inaugural strategy.”

The Roadmap for Impact establishes specific investment goals and development metrics to achieve and measure impact on people and communities around the world. The strategy commits DFC to undertaking 60 percent of its projects in low income and lower-middle income countries, and fragile states by 2025. DFC will take an inclusive, technology-driven approach, ramping up its investments in innovation in order to reach a broad client and beneficiary base worldwide. This strategy also advances DFC’s foreign policy mandate by prioritizing strategic investments that will position countries to be self-sustaining and reliable U.S. trading partners.

“This strategy is the culmination of a robust, consultative process with various stakeholders and it will guide DFC as the agency continues to learn and grow,” said DFC Chief Development Officer Andrew Herscowitz. “Importantly, the sectors outlined in the strategy are not the only areas where we will invest, but these are the areas where we can have the most significant development impact.”

The new strategy focuses on six sectors:

  • Financial inclusion and strengthening financial systems:Increase access to finance for underserved populations including women, small businesses, and rural communities to spur entrepreneurship and prosperity to reach 12 million women and six million marginalized individuals. In August, DFC announced its intent to catalyze $6 billion to support the 2X Women’s Initiative.
  • Healthcare: Strengthen healthcare supply chains, access to healthcare services, and the response to COVID-19. The strategy aims to increase access to healthcare by supporting 10 new healthcare facilities in low and lower-middle income countries, and underserved communities in upper-middle income countries.
  • Technology and infrastructure: Elevate innovation and technology across 50% of DFC’s projects to improve information and communications technology, spur trade and economic growth, and enhance access to basic services. The strategy aims to bring internet access to at least 3 million people.
  • Energy: Expand access to competitive, sustainable, and reliable electricity and promote energy security by diversifying power generation and increasing electricity access for at least 10 million people.
  • Agriculture and food security: Promote nutrition, food security and robust agriculture value chains, especially through innovations in agro-processing, storage, and industrialization to support at least one million smallholder farmers.
  • Water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH): Invest in projects that expand access to clean drinking water and improve sanitation services to increase access to potable water for at least one million people.

DFC will proactively identify, source, and structure projects that align with its development strategy, and DFC will collaborate with other U.S. government agencies, the private sector and other partners to achieve shared development goals. The strategy does not reflect an exhaustive list of investments or sectors that DFC will pursue, but focuses on goals where DFC financing can have the greatest, measurable development impact over the next five years.

DFC was created by The Better Utilization of Investments Leading to Development Act of 2018 (BUILD Act), which launched a new era for development finance by establishing America’s new development finance bank. Since its launch in January, DFC projects have increased opportunity for people in developing countries, supported global development goals and strengthened U.S. foreign policy.

Read the full development strategy on DFC’s website.

Photo courtesy of Bill Oxford.

Source: U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (link opens in a new window)

Categories
Energy, Finance, Investing, Technology, WASH
Tags
financial inclusion, global development, impact investing