Enhancing Partnerships for Financing Peace

 

Session Description:

The proposed panel discussion co-hosted by the Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation (DHF) and Finance for Peace (Interpeace) aims to raise global awareness, understanding, and advocacy of new approaches and partnerships between development finance actors, the international community, and peacebuilding actors, and how they can work together to develop sustainable financing models for consolidating peace in fragile and conflict-affected countries. Facilitated by DHF, panelists from the African Development Bank (AfDB), Finance for Peace (Interpeace), the UN Peacebuilding Support Office (PBSO) and the UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), will discuss how private and public investments can support peacebuilding and reflect on the role that  development finance institutions, private sector actors, the UN, peacebuilding actors, and civil society can play in designing integrated solution that de-risk investments for investors and communities. Country-level examples, and the practical case of the partnership between the AfDB and Finance for Peace/Interpeace, will illustrate how better partnerships can catalyse peace-positive impacts in fragile and conflict-affected countries.

Background Information

• The Secretary-General’s policy brief on a New Agenda for Peace calls for international financial institutions to become agents of peace, underscoring the need for innovative financing instruments that ensure adequate, predictable and sustained financing for peacebuilding.
• The New Agenda for Peace and the COP28 Declaration on Climate, Relief, Recovery and Peace testify of the interlinkages between conflicts and climate change: it is estimated that development finance only provides and mobilises less than 6% of climate investments needed in developing countries, while conflict-affected countries bear the brunt of climate risks.
• The UN-PBSO is growing its projects portfolio in the area of climate security and peacebuilding and in partnership with the German Federal Foreign Office, has launched the Investing for Peace initiative, aimed at developing concrete options for innovative instruments for peacebuilding financing.
• In line with its ambition to better align the mobilisation of resources in fragile and conflict-affected settings towards more intentional peace outcomes, Finance for Peace is working closely with the AfDB to embed the peace dimension and tangible peace impact measurement indicators into the Bank’s operations.
• As a new category of sustainable investment, peace bonds bear strong potential to channel more private sector investments in fragile and conflict-affected settings by de-risking investments for investors and communities. The practical cases of the AfDB’s Security-Indexed Investment Bond (SIIB) initiative and the UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) Blue Peace Financing initiative will be explored.

Key Messages

• New partnerships with key actors involved in the peacebuilding, development and finance sectors, including governments, donors, civil society actors, peacebuilders, private sector and development finance institutions can systemically change how private and public investments support peace in developing and fragile contexts
• Peacebuilding approaches can be key in ensuring the bankability and success of many mitigation and adaptation projects. The proposed conversation aims at raising global awareness of the climate-peace nexus, and discuss how better partnerships between development finance institutions, the UN, peacebuilding actors, and communities can catalyse peace-positive climate action to build resilience in countries most impacted by climate shocks.
• The UN Peacebuilding Fund (PBF) plays a critical role when investing in the climate, peace and security space, as well as pulling climate financing and donors into otherwise neglected conflict-affected and fragile areas.

Guiding Questions:

1. What is the current state of funding for peacebuilding? What are the trends in terms of (traditional and non-traditional) donor behaviour and funding patterns?
2. How can development finance actors, multilateral development banks (MDBs) and development finance institutions (DFIs) mobilise peace-positive, climate-resilient investments in fragile and conflict-affected settings, most affected by climate shocks? What are the current challenges for peacebuilders to incorporate the livelihood dimension into peacebuilding work? Which role can peacebuilding approaches play in re-shaping food security and climate adaptation efforts? What could be the role of the private sector and financial investments in this regard?
3. What are some examples of innovative solutions that are bankable, climate-resilient, and peace-responsive?
4. How are these linked to the climate-peace nexus and the implementation of the COP28 Declaration on Climate, Relief, Recovery and Peace?