Let’s start with a little bit of recent history. Innovative financing for the UN goes back to the International Conference on Financing for Development in 2002. The hope was that innovative financing would help to bridge the gap between what was available and what was needed to reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015.
During my internship with the United Nations Development Operations Coordination Office (UNDOCO), we organized a virtual innovation fair devoted to Real Time or Frequent Monitoring. With only coffee as an incentive, Rose Sherman and Mita Paramita from Brightfront Group did all the leg work.
In my 25 years at the United Nations I have had the fortune to sample a number of the silos for which our institution has become famous. The development. And the humanitarian. I’ve also worked at the intersections - on peacebuilding, on recovery from the tsunami, on the MDGs.
Ideas for driving progress at the dawn of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have emerged from Zambia’s experience in shaping the post-2015 development agenda.
During the Syria crisis years, the context in Jordan has changed significantly. The situation has evolved from an initial focus on life-saving humanitarian assistance to a time when assistance to refugees and host communities must be equally prioritized.
