| Overview : COVID-19 is having a massive impact on public finances across Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This has resulted in the widening of the funding gap for African countries to achieve the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development. The socioeconomic impacts of the pandemic have also reversed a decade or more of development gains and triggered a human development crisis in most places. The UN Economic Commission for Africa estimates that governments across the continent face a financing gap of around US$425 billion over the next 3 years just to recover from the pandemic. Among many pressing needs, considerable resources are required to carry out vaccination programs, treat COVID-19 patients, expand social protection programs, and sustain the delivery of basic public services, such as education, health, nutrition, and water and sanitation. In addition, many ailing businesses and enterprises require public assistance in order to survive and recover from the severe economic shock. African governments must perform a balancing act between short-term financing needs and long-term recovery plans in a manner that advances rather than undermines the SDG agenda. Closing financing gaps requires bold, innovative and strategic solutions. Now more than ever, African governments, including its ministries of finances, economy and planning offices, budgeting units, revenue authorities, central banks, etc. must put in place integrated national financing strategies to mobilize domestic and international, public and private resources to finance the recovery agenda and accelerate SDG aligned investments. International cooperation for development financing is indispensable, especially to support the poorest countries that have been hardest hit by the pandemic and other shocks, ranging from cyclones, droughts and floods to locust invasions and conflict. In particular, international cooperation is required to solve the looming debt crisis, facilitate grants and concessional finance to vulnerable countries, and identify and test novel financing approaches involving taxes, debt, and public-private partnerships. Recognizing that it is impossible for domestic resources alone to meet the current investment, financing, and funding needs, international cooperation is also required to form consensus around one or more global solidarity financing mechanisms to ensure that governments across SSA have the means to protect the human capital base and facilitate an inclusive and sustainable recovery. Against this background, UNDP and UNICEF are working together on a SSA Financing Flagship Initiative to support governments and the private sector to increase investments in human capital, ESG, and green/sustainability sectors. This collaboration ultimately aims to improve the amount and impact of financing to these priority sectors in order to lay the foundation for an inclusive and sustainable socioeconomic recovery. Joint activities will take place at national, regional, and global levels. On the national front, engagement will be focused on analysis and advocacy, which will build on ongoing activities of both agencies to identify pipelines of projects that are simultaneously able to generate a return on investment while meeting the normative criteria of the financing mechanism in terms of relevant ESG and other sustainability or SDG impact guidelines, principles and/or standards. On the global front, UNDP and UNICEF intend to join forces in high-level advocacy to forge consensus on an Africa Solidarity Financing Mechanism that is anchored in Member States’ existing proposals within Financing for Development and G20/G7 processes. Together, these processes will converge at regional level to set up an Africa Solidarity Mechanism that can draw on both public and private financing flows to help finance the post-COVID recovery across SSA, while recursively replenishing the initial investment made by public entities and contribute to that longer term vision of SDG Achievement in Africa. A preliminary feasibility assessment has been conducted to explore potential options for the establishment and operation of the Africa Solidarity Mechanism. The next step work is to structure the most feasible option and a roadmap for the Africa Solidarity Mechanism. Based on the above, we are looking for a consulatant to further structure the most feasible option and roadmap with convincing details for the establishment and operation of an Africa Solidarity Financing Mechanism. |
