Municipal Finance

Download the publication “Financing Sustainable Urban Development in LDCs” HERE

“Implementing the Addis Ababa Action Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals: The Importance of Strengthening Municipal Finance” is a joint project by the Financing for Development Office (UN-DESA) and the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF). The project will link the Addis Ababa Action Agenda and the Financing for Development process with the HABITAT III process and its goal to reinvigorate the global commitment to sustainable urbanization. A strong emphasis is set in the Addis Agenda (paragraph 34) on promoting greater international cooperation “to strengthen capacities of municipalities and other local authorities”. This is in no small part the result of the impressive level of engagement of local authorities at the Addis Conference.

As part of the project, a series of regional consultations, focusing in particular on Least Developed Countries, is organised. At the consultations, a unique set of practitioners, local government representatives, academics, policy makers, the private sector, as well as UN entities and other development partners, discusses in an interactive format how to enhance financial resources and investments at the subnational level in support of the Sustainable Development Goals. The meetings promote knowledge sharing among stakeholders in local sustainable development and subnational finance, and the exchange of lessons on how municipal governments can overcome constraints to access long-term finance.

The project will result in a publication that summarizes major findings of the consultations and provides some general guidelines for more effective international cooperation on municipal finance taking different local contexts into consideration.