Work on development financing issues.

What success looks like

Increased international investment, reduced poverty and improved economic development in developing countries.

Government's narrative on progress

The Development Finance Institute Canada opened for business in early 2018 under the brand name “FinDev Canada.” FinDev Canada supports women's economic empowerment and gender equality, poverty reduction, and climate change mitigation and adaptation in developing countries. FinDev’s first transaction, a $10 million (USD) investment with M-KOPA, a Kenya-based solar energy provider, was announced in March 2018. A second one was announced in December 2018, a $20 million (USD) commitment made to Climate Investor One’s (CIO) Construction Equity Fund to support the transition to renewable energy in emerging markets. At the G7 meeting in June 2018, FinDev Canada joined with other G7 development finance institutions to support the 2X Challenge, a commitment to collectively mobilize $3 billion dollars by 2020 for investment in business activities that will benefit women in developing countries. Budget 2018 provided $1.5 billion to establish an International Assistance Innovation Program and a pilot Sovereign Loans Program. In May 2018, the Minister of International Development launched a Call to Action for the Partnership for Gender Equality. The department conducted a series of targeted engagements seeking expert advice on the creation of a new partnership between the Government of Canada, the philanthropic community and the private sector to catalyze new investments to advance gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls in developing countries. The Minister of International Development and the Minister of Finance co-hosted the first ever G7 meeting of Development and Finance Ministers, to draw on the individual expertise of both ministries to seek out innovative approaches to financing international development. This meeting laid the groundwork for the Charlevoix Commitment on Innovative Financing for Development, which promotes economic growth in developing economies and fosters greater equality of opportunity within and between countries. Canada is also fostering intellectual leadership and broadening the growth in development financing literacy and collaboration by co-leading (with Jamaica) the Group of Friends of SDG Financing at the UN. The Group is a platform to promote solution-oriented ideas for unlocking capital for development. On September 24, 2018, at the Secretary-General’s High Level Meeting on Financing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Prime Minister of Canada announced that Canada will contribute $20 million to the Global Infrastructure Hub (GI Hub) to establish Toronto as the centre of its North American operations. The GI Hub will use $5 million of the funding to establish the Global Centre for Infrastructure Excellence, underscoring Canada’s commitment to foster new partnerships for development. Canada’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York, has been named one of the co-facilitators of the 7th High Level Dialogue on Financing for Development. The event will take place on Thursday, September 26th, during UNGA high-level week in New York.

Note: this is the government's own description, not an independent assessment.