Suva, Fiji – The Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) and the UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) signed an amendment to their existing Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to expand areas of cooperation on 29th June. The document was signed virtually by Gerard O’Donoghue, on behalf of GGGI Director General and Mr Bram Peters, Regional Manager-Pacific of UNCDF.
The partnership aims to strengthen small businesses’ investment-readiness and boost the existing support available for digital and green entrepreneurship in the Pacific.
“We are excited that under this expanded agreement, UNCDF, GGGI and our existing partners can strengthen the entrepreneurial ecosystem across the region, to support innovative digital and green entrepreneurs to thrive and adapt,” said Ms Esther Bates, GGGI Senior Program Management Officer.
UNCDF’s Pacific Digital Economy Programme aims to stimulate inclusive innovation. The programme’s approach is to equip start-ups, SMEs and other actors with the capacity and network to build new businesses and develop innovative digital services for an inclusive digital economy.
Accelerating innovation in digital financial services with new and improved solutions has the potential to impact the lives of low- and moderate-income Pacific Islanders, especially those affected the most by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Pacific Green Entrepreneurs Network (PGEN) programme is funded by the Qatar Fund for Development and implemented by GGGI. PGEN aims to support green and inclusive job growth by supporting entrepreneurs (particularly women and youth) and small green businesses – contributing to their country’s climate and sustainable development goals in Fiji, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, and Samoa, Tonga, and Vanuatu.
The amendment to the MoU expands areas of cooperation between GGGI and UNCDF with a specific focus on improving south-south cooperation and evidence-based knowledge sharing on green and digital entrepreneurship, green growth and sustainable development. The MoU amendment is effective from the date of signing until 1st September 2024. GGGI and UNCDF will continue to communicate effectively through regular consultations to revise ongoing activities and identify opportunities for new collaborations.
About Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI):
Based in Seoul, GGGI is an intergovernmental organization that supports governments of developing countries to transition to a model of economic growth that is environmentally sustainable and socially inclusive. GGGI delivers programs in over 40 partner countries with technical support, capacity building, policy planning & implementation, and by helping to build a pipeline of bankable green investment projects. More on GGGI’s events, projects, and publications can be found on www.gggi.org and follow GGGI on Twitter and join us on Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn.
About United Nations Capital Development Fund (“UNCDF”)
The UN Capital Development Fund makes public and private finance work for the poor in the world’s 46 least developed countries (LDCs). UNCDF offers “last mile” finance models that unlock public and private resources, especially at the domestic level, to reduce poverty and support local economic development. UNCDF’s financing models work through three channels: (1) inclusive digital economies, which connect individuals, households, and small businesses with financial eco-systems that catalyse participation in the local economy and provide tools to climb out of poverty and manage financial lives; (2) local transformative finance, which capacitates localities through fiscal decentralisation, innovative municipal finance, and structured project finance to drive local economic expansion and sustainable development; and (3) investment finance, which provides catalytic financial structuring, de-risking, and capital deployment to drive SDG impact and domestic resource mobilisation.
The Pacific Digital Economy Programme (PDEP) supports the development of inclusive digital economies in Fiji, Solomon Islands, Samoa, Vanuatu and Tonga. The programme is built on the success of Pacific Financial Inclusion Programme (PFIP’s) long-term work on developing digital finance ecosystems in the region. PDEP is implemented by UNCDF, UNDP and UNCTAD, with support from the Government of Australia.
This unique partnership builds on UNCDF’s long-term work on digital finance in the Pacific region and UNCTAD’s extensive work in e-commerce and the digital economy and is implemented with the administrative support from UNDP. The PDEP includes both country-specific activities, initially focusing on Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands, and region-wide research and capacity building activities.
More on UNCDF’s events and publications can be found on https://www.uncdf.org/ and follow UNCDF on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram