Multilateral Development Finance

The United Nations, the World Bank and other 200 multilateral agencies and global funds receive about one third of total ODA. When including earmarked funding provided to multilaterals, this goes up to two fifths. The scale at which the multilateral system is used reflects donors’ views of it as an important channel of development co-operation.

Multilateral development finance: balancing crisis response and the reform imperative?

Join us for a series of live virtual talks on multilateral development finance from 28 November to 8 December 2022. Following the launch of the 2022 Multilateral Development Finance Report on 28 November, experts from academia, think tanks and development agencies from across the world will share their views and insights. Co-hosted with partner organisations that span the whole globe, each of the events will add a regional perspective to enrich the global dialogue on multilateral development finance in post-COVID times.

See programme

The case for a stronger multilateral system: launch of the Multilateral Development Finance report

Are we moving towards multilateralism “à la carte”?

The multilateral development system is growing as a channel for development co-operation.
Donors’ earmarked contributions are driving that growth, raising concerns over the declining quality of multilateral funding.

Multilateral organisations: A driving force in the “decade of action”

Development effectiveness is at the core of what the multilateral system can offer.
The COVID-19 crisis shows we need to build a stronger multilateral development system.

Three reforms for the multilateral development system to remain effective

Scale: ensure that the multilateral system can help address development challenges of a new magnitude (e.g. extreme climate events or pandemics).
Efficiency: ensure value for money in a context of constrained resources.
Accountability: restore trust in the multilateral development system.

DAC members’ earmarked funding to multilateral organisations

Evolution of core and earmarked multilateral contributions (2011-2018)

This policy brief takes stock of the existing knowledge on donors’ earmarking, and proposes four new categories as a basis for more granular analyses of donors’ earmarked funding.

The four categories distinguish between donors’ contributions based on their level of thematic and
geographic earmarking:

- country-specific programmatic funding;
- global or regional programmatic funding;
- country-specific project-type funding; and
- global or regional project-type funding.

Development finance topics

Multilateral Development Finance

Are we moving towards multilateralism “à la carte”?

Multilateral organisations: A driving force in the “decade of action”

Three reforms for the multilateral development system to remain effective

DAC members’ earmarked funding to multilateral organisations

Data

Publications

Events