The Road to the SDGs

– 2018 marked the beginning of the journey by linking the budget to the strategy – 2019 marked the mainstreaming of the Proactive Needs Assessment component – 2020 marked the mainstreaming of the Ensuring Impactful Selectivity component. ACHIEVEMENTS X The ISPF Proactive Needs Assessment process thus far has set out a framework to build a vision for how IsDB can contribute to the emerging global development agenda for 2030. The two key milestones of this process were the Board of Governors (BoG) Roundtables conducted on the side- lines of the 2018 and 2019 Annual Meetings in Tunis and Morocco, respectively. These roundtables set a clear direction for IsDB on the key strategic priorities and principal challenges for MCs and endorsed IsDB’s new business model. The new business model was based on IWP strategic planning processes to align with MCs’ priorities as expressed by the BoG. X Several initiatives were approved by the Board of Executive Directors (BED) in support of the new direction, including the GVC-based country programming; project preparation facilities; IsDB Developers Platform; Transform Fund for STI; Country Platforms, formerly known and approved as Regional Infrastructure Supranational Entities; COVID-19 Guarantee Facility; and the DEFAI. X Other initiatives include governance enhancement through the new BED committees, comprehensive assessment and review of all IsDB funds, and a revised salary scale system. X More than 100 strategic initiatives are planned every year, as a result of using the ISPF as a planning model, which assesses the most strategically aligned programmes. X These concerted consultations and efforts by IsDB’s leadership led to the new development model, “Making Markets Work for Development”. To achieve MCs’ development agendas for 2030, especially within the emerging post- COVID-19 global context, the ISPF provided the foundation needed to achieve a strategic reorientation of IsDB with major sprints completed already and others currently underway under the P5P. X The rollout plan of the new business model balanced the trade- off of: – Giving an adequate response to the urgent post-COVID-19 challenges – Linking urgent response to the longer-term challenges of Agenda 2030 – Ensuring business continuity of ongoing commitments throughout the next IWP period and beyond. X The ISPF provides a parallel execution framework whereby the classic model is gradually phased out and the new business model is phased in. This provides MCs with all the typical project financing along with a suite of new financing schemes that leverages IsDB synergies. In addition, going forward, all IsDB’s interventions will take a programmatic MCPS-driven approach where projects are targeted more precisely towards maximising job creation, diversified exports/ value-add, and foreign investment. INVESTMENT X The Operational Plan funding has been increasing by US$ 0.5 billion annually, reaching US$ 2.5 billion in 2021. X The impact of the ISPF can also be seen in an encouraging improvement in IsDB’s ratio of internal administrative expenses per US$ 1 million approved, which fell to US$ 93,000 in 2020, from US$ 128,000 in 2018. O P E R A T I O N A L P L A N F U N D I N G The Operational Plan funding has been increasing by US$0.5 billion annually, reaching US$2.5 billion in 2021 [ 169 ] T H E R O A D T O T H E S D G s | P R O G R E S S A N D A C H I E V E M E N T S