| Overview : At a time of unprecedented global challenges, sustainable finance is a driving force for social and economic resilience. Public and private finance are essential for recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, and from the wide-ranging effects on the achievements of the SDGs. Rallying private sector participation and strengthening private and public sector networks for achieving sustainable and inclusive economic growth take on new urgency. National resource mobilization and increased commitments from private investors and enterprises will be needed for recovery, while maintaining progress towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. In order to achieve transformational changes in health, climate, environment, education, agriculture, gender equality, and the eradication of poverty in all its forms, greater private sector engagement and investments are critically needed. In response to this need, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) developed the SDG Impact as a flagship initiative to empower investors with clarity, insights and tools to achieve the SDGs. The SDG Impact aims to provide investors, businesses and others with unified standards, tools, and services required to authenticate their contributions to advance the SDGs and to identify SDG investment opportunities in emerging economies and developing countries. In this context, the SDG Impact introduced an impact intelligence tool - the SDG Investor Maps – to be produced by UNDP Country Offices as a dynamic tool containing a range of market-specific investment opportunities for SDG-aligned capital deployment. The SDG Investor Map may be complemented by a COVID-19 Rapid Assessment. Its goal is to gather and analyze new data on 1) changes in private sector strategies, and 2) emerging SDG-related priorities in the context of COVID-19, in order to rapidly identify business models and Investment Opportunity Areas (IOA) that can respond to the COVID-19 crisis. It is based on an online survey directed to the private sector, in-depth private sector interviews, and desk research of emerging COVID-19 impact assessments (e.g., UNDP socio-economic impact assessments). While the rapid assessment gives quick insights into the micro-level impact of COVID-19 and can be customised to focus on special groups, it does not on its own have the analytical rigor and standardized approach of a full SDG Investor Map nor does it explore investment intentions: it is therefore not a stand-alone tool to facilitate the determination of potential projects that could benefit from investment flows to generate development outcomes. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) will partner and support the development of an Investor Opportunities Mapping platform for Belize that provides information on investment opportunities that will promote growth and development in Belize thereby reducing the transaction costs for investors searching for opportunities. UNDP is therefore soliciting the services of a consulting firm or institution to work with the UNDP team and in close collaboration with key stakeholders to implement this initiative. |
