UN Capital Development Fund
A young woman in Asmara, Eritrea has a business idea and the drive to match it. Capital walks past her.
A farmer in Siem Reap, Cambodia knows exactly what she would do with a loan, if only somebod...
Two organisations. One combination. One outcome.
At the June 2026 @UNDP Executive Board, UNDP Administrator and UNCDF Managing Director Alexander De Croo was direct about what it takes to unlock t...
This SINTEF - UNCDF webinar brought together Amalie Østhassel from the Norwegian-African Business Association, Kristina Norne from SINTEF, and Charles Wetherill from UNCDF to examine what resilient...
What if cities across Africa could finance resilient infrastructure themselves?
The city of Tanga, Tanzania just answered that question.
Through its Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Authority, Ta...
The challenge in climate adaptation is alignment.
That was the thread running through the latest session in the Bridging the Gaps webinar series, co-hosted by UNCDF and SINTEF, bringing together A...
Shamim Nampijja’s background in information technology took her to fields and practices she hadn't anticipated.
And now she's using that path to open doors for others, making digital tools and fin...
In 2016, Jane Sadia fled South Sudan with nothing but her determination to rebuild.
Today, she runs a small agribusiness in Kiryandongo refugee settlement in Uganda. She leads a youth group that g...
In this second webinar of the Bridging the Gaps series — a five-part collaboration between the UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) and SINTEF, one of Europe's largest independent research and techn...
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Every year, climate disasters cost the world hundreds of billions of dollars.
But what does not make the news is how long people sometimes have to wait to get the money they need to recover.
Coun...
Women have long powered Uganda's economy. Yet millions remain locked out of the financial system. 🌱
In the shea value chain alone, 40,000 women gained access to phones, markets, and finance throu..
Only 9.5% of Ethiopians used mobile money. Millions, especially women and youth in rural areas, were locked out of the digital economy.
With catalytic funding from the European Union and OACPS, UN...
From failing crops to resilient farming.
Mary, a smallholder farmer in Ghana, used to watch her crops fail as climate-related pests and unpredictable rains increased. Today, she's using regenerati...
Technology exists. Needs are urgent. Capital is available. But the connection between them is not.
In the first webinar in the UNCDF-SINTEF "Bridging the Gaps" series, panelists explore new models...
"Development finance institutions can't always operate effectively in fragile markets. Their risk frameworks don't easily align with local realities."
That's the gap Investing for Peace fills. By ...
"Climate resilience is won or lost at the local level."
Denmark has committed $23.47M to UNCDF's LoCAL+ programme in Uganda, enabling local governments to finance climate-resilient infrastructure...
"Peacebuilding isn't just about ending conflict. It's about creating enabling conditions where peace can be sustained."
Elizabeth Spehar, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Peacebuilding and Peace...
The UN General Assembly created the Capital Development Fund with a singular purpose: to unlock finance where risks are high and capital is scarce, first and foremost in Least Developed Countries.
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"The global financial system is designed to avoid risk. But early-stage risk is precisely where development impact is the highest."
UNCDF Executive Secretary Pradeep Kurukulasuriya presents the St...
"Our role is not to be the market. Our role is to create those environments where the market can function"
UNDP Administrator and UNCDF Managing Director, Alexander De Croo, explains how UNCDF mak...