The members of the Leading Group on Innovative Financing for Development warmly welcome yesterday’s presentation, in Paris, of the UNITLIFE initiative.
Previously introduced during a side event organized by the Leading Group during the 71st United Nations General Assembly in New York City, on September 21, 2017, the UNITLIFE initiative was unveiled yesterday, in the margins of the One Planet Summit, in Paris, thanks to the support of Dr. Philippe Douste-Blazy, former Minister for Foreign Affairs of France. UNITLIFE is in line with the ongoing global effort to mobilize additional resources for development and contributes to the achievement of the United Nation’s sustainable development goals for 2030 and the Paris Agreement.
Mobilizing support from non-state sectors, UNITLIFE will use digital innovation to collect voluntary micro-donations from customers at the time of a purchase. During the initiative’s implementation phase, the micro-donations will go into a central fund, hosted by the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS). The funds will then be disbursed to support a set of important and complementary measures, currently overlooked and underfunded, in order to address both climate change and malnutrition (affecting approximately one in five children worldwide and constituting a major hindrance for the development of the poorest countries). Measures will include among other things: designing energy-efficient buildings and adapting key infrastructures; enhancing ecosystems’ resilience; promoting ecological agriculture, focused on high quality and nutritional value; and risk reduction management.
An early program, supported by UN Women, will encourage training for women on climate-resilient agriculture in the Sahel region.
Members of the Leading Group are pleased to witness the renewed commitment towards and interest in innovative financing mechanisms as part of a comprehensive approach to financing development. The members call policymakers worldwide to maintain innovative financing mechanisms as a development financing agenda priority.
We hope that the UNITLIFE initiative will galvanize new global, regional and national level public-private partnerships for generating more innovative financing for 2030 Sustainable Development Goals as recommended in the report of 2015 Tbilisi International Solidarity and Innovative Financing Forum (TISIFF 2015) and re-affirmed at the United National General Assembly High Level side event in New York City in September 2017.
13 December 2017