Development Finance

Development finance is a field undergoing dramatic change, with private capital flows to the global South and domestic resources now dwarfing traditional sources of development finance. Many countries are transitioning out of development assistance altogether while the fragility of others calls for new and different financing approaches. A number of funds and other innovative financing instruments aim to supplement and increase funding for global priority areas in development. We are helping to structure these so that they are as effective and efficient as possible.

We help our clients thrive in this changing environment by developing new and sustainable financing models and instruments, from concept to launch. We conduct required analytics and develop investment cases to estimate the impact of financing across sectors, such as global health and education. Working closely with academia, we advance evidence-based policy development and innovation in development finance. Our aim is to both improve the system of global development finance and to make our clients succeed by optimizing their financing modalities.

Clients have included the World Bank, Global Education Commission, NORAD, Chatham House, the Global UCSF Health Group/Lancet Commission on Investing in Health, Duke University, and the Partnership for Maternal Newborn and Child Health.

CASE STUDY

Global Financing Facility

The Global Financing Facility (GFF) is a unique new partnership that brings together resources from implementing countries, international donors and the private sector to support the health of women, children and adolescents, in 62 high-burden and lower-middle-income countries. Launched at the Financing for Development Conference by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and World Bank President Jim Yong Kim in July 2015, it brings a ‘breakthrough’ financing model to what has been a fragmented development-financing picture.

Over the course of a year, SEEK played a crucial role in the creation of the GFF. Starting in the summer of 2014, SEEK worked closely with the GFF team throughout the entire design and business planning process all the way to its launch. Following the development of the initial Concept Note laying out the GFF’s objectives, value-added and financing approach, we then supported a multi-stakeholder business planning process to operationalize the business model for the GFF. This included the facilitation of high-level workshops and meetings, advancing the technical design of the GFF’s in-country approach and financing model (including eligibility criteria, application process and resource allocation), support in writing the business plan document and in the development of the GFF’s governance and secretariat structures.

Our work with the GFF built on our previous work with the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (PMNCH) and others on strengthening the financing architecture for Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health, as well as our research and policy work on global health financing, including for the Lancet Commission for Investing in Health.

Subsequently, SEEK has also supported the GFF on strategy development and analytics for its resource mobilization in priority donor countries.

Services

FOCUS AREAS