Partnering with IFC
IFC works with governments, businesses, and foundations to foster innovative donor partnerships to reduce poverty and improve people’s lives through private-sector development.
Our approach to donor relations emphasizes the power of long-term partnerships, maintains a focus on results measurement and efficiency, and provides appropriate visibility for donor partners.
Our donor partners are vital in helping us deliver greater development impact. The financial sup-port they provide not only leverages IFC’s own contributions to Advisory Services but also enhances the impact of IFC’s investment operations through strengthened collaboration and shared mutual priorities.
IFC’s partnership with donors often extends beyond a funding relationship to one that is based on mutual understanding and knowledge sharing. We foster this by convening donors around thematic issues such as climate change and food security. In so doing, we strive to be thought leaders and stimulate coordinated action.
During FY10, IFC and our donor partners worked together to address the highest-priority challenges on the development agenda — including employment, food security, climate change, infrastructure, and fragile and conflict-affected countries. In a time of limited resources and global financial strains, such partnerships are essential for maximizing development impact. IFC makes it a priority to convey to donors how their funds are used and what results are achieved through their contributions.
Working with the Donor Community
In FY10, a year of severe financial constraints, 19 donor governments and several institutional and private partners helped finance the expansion of IFC’s Advisory Services operations through $181.19 million in new commitments.
In response to the global crisis, we expanded the Advisory Services Crisis Response Initiative, which has already raised $18.3 mil¬lion with the financial support of Austria, Japan, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Switzerland.
The Global Trade Liquidity Program is a compelling example of inno¬vating partnership building to ensure an effective response to global financial crisis. The program has benefited from the support of a num¬ber of partners, including the African Development Bank, Canada, China, Japan, the Netherlands, the OPEC Fund for International Development, the Saudi Fund for Development, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.
In FY10, IFC partnered with many donors to address climate change, reduce biodiversity loss, and leverage social capital.
For instance, through the Netherlands-IFC Renewable Energy part¬nership, which is expected to provide $20.3 million of funding over four years, the Netherlands has provided new financing for projects in India, Indonesia, Kenya, and Pakistan, ranging from clean-energy finance to wind and hydro power projects.
IFC promotes the use of geothermal resources around the world through a partnership with Japan and Iceland, and supports the development of a carbon-efficient index in a partnership with the United Kingdom.
To scale up investments addressing climate change and biodiversity loss, IFC managed over $320 million from the Global Environment Facility and the Climate Investment Funds, used in the form of concessional investments and grants for Advisory Services. IFC also held its first high-level consultation with the European Commission and the European Investment Bank to explore better ways to work together to tackle issues such as energy efficiency.
IFC and our donor partners also work through public-private partnerships to expand access to basic services: water, electricity, transport, food, health, and education. Over 29 donor partners contribute to IFC’s advisory work in public-private partnerships in 86 countries. The Infrastructure Development Collaboration Partnership Fund is supported by Austria, the Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
With donor support, IFC also promotes job creation and business opportunities in conflict-affected countries. Our Conflict-Affected States in Africa Initiative is supported by Ireland, the Netherlands, and Norway. In addition, our Conflict-Affected Countries partner¬ship with the Netherlands has provided $5.4 million in funding for Advisory Services globally.
Since this year’s earthquake, our work in Haiti has received criti¬cal support from Austria, the Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Principles of Partnerships
Through partnerships with donor and host country governments, other development institutions, philanthropies, and clients, IFC seeks to achieve maximum development impact. These partnerships are especially important in a resource constrained environment as the world grapples with the fallout from an unprecedented financial and economic crisis. IFC formulated Key Principles of Partnerships to spell out how we engage with our donor partners and how we ensure that the partnerships are mutually complemen¬tary and strengthening:
• IFC and our donor partners pool their respective resources to achieve a common goal of promoting sustainable private sector development in emerging markets.
• IFC and our donor partners create opportunities to share knowl¬edge and views about the strategies and approaches to be adopted in Advisory Services managed by IFC. The opportunities for strategic consultations are multiple, sometimes formalized in agreement, sometimes ad hoc based on ongoing interactions.
• IFC provides our donor partners with regular operational and financial updates that allow the donors to understand how IFC is spending their funding, assess project progress, and provide timely feedback.
• Beneficiaries, as well as other stakeholders in both donor partner and client countries, are interested in the impacts and efficiencies of Advisory Services programs managed by IFC. IFC is therefore enhancing results measurement, knowledge sharing and dissemi-nation, and donor partner visibility.
