African policy institutes gathered on October 9th as part of the Amplifying Africa’s Voice (AAV) initiative to discuss the upcoming Finance for Development (FfD4) conference, which will take place in Sevilla, Spain, in 2025.
A primary goal of the meeting was to explore ways to amplify the voices of African nations in this process. Officials from the United Nations Department for Social and Economic Affairs (UNDESA), which oversees the FfD4 process, and a representative from the FfD Commission of Experts were also present.
BACKGROUND
The FfD conferences are held approximately every ten years and aim to create a global framework for sustainable development financing and to mobilise and effectively use these funds. FfD4 holds particular significance amidst ongoing global financial architecture reforms, covering aspects from debt management to concessional financing and representation in international organizations. The first FfD was the Monterrey Conference in 2002, followed by the Doha Conference in 2008 and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda in 2015.
A comprehensive range of engagement opportunities allows stakeholders to contribute to an “elements paper”, that will shape the focus areas for the FfD outcomes. At the same time, there are strong synergies between FfD4 and other global development processes such as COP29, the G20 and G7, and the Bridgetown Agenda. There are also strong linkages with other advocacy and mobilisation efforts such as Finance in Common, a group of more than 500 public development banks; and the “Paris Pact for People and the Planet”, which supports projects at the intersection of climate and financing.
The 4th International Conference on Financing for Development (FFD4) will be held in Sevilla, Spain from 30 June – 3 July, 2025.
The agenda for FfD4 is indeed daunting, requiring strong coordination and focused efforts. For example, some key areas of emphasis include: advancing the UN Framework Convention on Tax; debt: a reformed and improved debt architecture; scaling up investment in the SDGs; revitalizing the development cooperation agenda focused on impact; enhancing global economic governance and financial safety nets; and further narrowing the gap between climate and development finance.
The growing list of global priorities, along with difficult financial conditions, has highlighted the need for a concerted effort around financing for development. Industrial development, climate transition, trade, etc., all require the mobilisation of large amounts of capital. Another shift from the Addis agenda is likely to be the emphasis not only on quantity but also on the quality of financing terms.
Pact for the Future
The FfD4 is closely linked to the Pact for the Future, which is the outcome document of the Summit of the Future that took place in September 2024. Both were informed by the UN Financing for Sustainable Development Report 2024, which emphasizes seven key areas of focus:
The Pact of the Future focuses emphasises the need for renewed international cooperation, asserting that global challenges can only be tackled collectively. The Pact recognizes that the multilateral system needs to be strengthened and calls for a new era of multilateralism. Recent meetings in New York have clearly illustrated growing distrust toward the multilateral system. Regarding reforming the global financial architecture, the Pact highlights the need to close the development financing gap, to address global taxation and strengthen action on climate change.
An African Perspective
Participants discussed how all development challenges are essentially fiscal challenges, highlighting the necessity of building consensus on Africa’s key priorities due to the broad nature of the FfD agenda, which risks diluting outcomes. There was also a strong focus on impact. On one hand, some past efforts aimed at introducing new approaches or reforms have not led to the expected financial flows and leverage for Africa. At the same time, not all global financial architecture reforms are directly related to the United Nations. However, past UN initiatives have successfully influenced key global action and/or reforms through political mobilisation.
A particular point of interest is the need to ensure alignment on priorities and messaging between UN representation and the Ministries of Finance/Central Banks in Africa. The FfD processes have traditionally been led by diplomats, but there was a conscious effort this year to emphasise the perspectives of other parts of government and also to engage with civil society. The process – including the preparatory committee in Addis Ababa in July of this year – has sought to represent the financing needs and challenges facing Africa. These are often related to fiscal space, debt stress, and access to concessional finance.
Collective Action
A discussion highlighted the importance of collective action from Africa, particularly among African policy institutes, to help influence and set the agenda for the FfD dialogue to ensure it reflects the most critical issues facing African economies. To this end, the idea of a joint piece of advocacy from African policy institutes was proposed. This could take the form of a brief, an op-ed, or a piece of analysis. Additionally, there may be opportunities for collective involvement in the formal FfD process, through contributions to the elements paper or participation in stakeholder consultations.
Opportunities for Engagement from Africa
UNDESA outlined key opportunities for input, both through written contributions and direct participation. Experts discussed how different groups can engage, including civil society, youth, and research organizations. There was general agreement and expressed interest from some AAV policy institutes, to collaborate on inputs and the aforementioned advocacy piece.
Recognizing this conference as an essential platform for addressing critical cross-cutting financial issues, experts highlighted the need for coordinated participation of various civil society organisations, and think tanks in particular, to build momentum and political will toward a step-wise resolution of the debt problem.