From Funding to Financing SDGs: UN’s ‘Support to SDG Financing’ Programme’ Makes Strides Towards Sustainable Development in Albania

UN Albania convened today a high-level dialogue of on the issue of Financing Sustainable Development in Albania. This event marked the culmination of a series of dialogues and interventions conducted under a broader multi-partner initiative, aimed at comprehensively addressing the diverse aspects of financing for sustainable development in the country. Today’s event gathered key programme partners from the Government line ministries parliament, UN Agencies, representatives of local and international finance institutions and other speakers and experts in the field.

Building Institutional Capacities and Viable Solutions: This UN Joint Programme has worked closely with national partners to strengthen institutional capacities and identify viable solutions for increasing SDG-related spending in Albania. Through a range of initiatives, the programme has generated valuable insights and lessons that can accelerate progress towards sustainable development targets.

Reflecting on Progress and Emerging Trends: The 'Financing Sustainable Development in Albania' event provided an excellent opportunity to reflect on the progress achieved thus far and engage in discussions on emerging trends in financing sustainable development. Speakers and experts shared their invaluable insights, fostering a dynamic dialogue among participants.

Milestones and Emerging Opportunities: The event featured panel discussions that covered key topics related to financing sustainable development. The first panel highlighted the milestones achieved by Albania in increasing financing for sustainable development, exploring the role of public budgets and other sources of financing in advancing SDGs. The second panel focused on emerging opportunities to finance sustainable development and discussed forward-looking strategies to involve national and international partners.

Importance of Cooperation and Achievements:

In her remarks at the event, the UN Resident Coordinator Fiona McCluney underlined how important is cooperation across financial players if we are to keep our SDG pledges and praised the achievements of the programme in this regard:

‘In Albania, just like in other countries with a similar income level, financing for SDGs has been mainly driven by public spending. However, sustainable development requires an engagement of other actors in the financing landscape, domestic and international. Through this programme UN assisted Albania in providing an analytical basis (INFF) to develop feasible solutions and identifying fiscal space to increase SDG-related spending.

Moving forward, there are some exciting opportunities associated with improved public expenditure oversight, by Parliament, and through enabling framework for private sector and  Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG).  Looking forward seeing the work move forward – she said.

This dialogue offered an opportunity to reflect on the progress made thus far and share the valuable lessons that could be leveraged as the country moved forward in its efforts to achieve sustainable development targets.

Chair of the Parliament Subcommittee on SDGs, Anila Denaj acknowledged the progress made by the 'Support to SDG Financing' Joint Programme.

‘By generating valuable knowledge, conducting capacity building activities, actively engaging in policy development, collaborating with Parliament, and establishing an Integrated National Financing Framework, the programme significantly contributed to advancing the country's sustainable development goals.’ – she said

The programme was implemented jointly by UNDP, UNICEF, and ILO, in close collaboration with UN Women and UNFPA. It was funded by the UN Joint SDG Fund with global contributions from Denmark, European Union, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.

For more information visit the programme page here.