In the framework of its on-going initiative on ‘Mobilising European Research for Development Policies’, the European Commission and four EU Member States (Finland, France, Germany and Luxembourg) have commissioned ODI (Overseas Development Institute), DIE (Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik) , ECDPM (European Centre for Development Policy Management), the University of Athens (Department of Economics, Division of International Economics and Development) and the Southern Voice Network to produce the fifth report in the series on ‘finance and means of implementation in the post-2015 context’, to contribute to the post-2015 debate from an independent European perspective.

The report’s overarching research question is, “How can financial resources be most effectively mobilised and channeled and how can they be combined with selected enabling policies and other means of implementation, to effectively support a transformative post-2015 agenda?”

As part of preparing the report we held a workshop in Dhaka workshop to discuss the contributions of country illustrations to the ERD 5, with experts from Bangladesh, Indonesia, Mauritius, Ecuador and Moldova in attendance.

The country illustrations are expected to provide examples on the role of finance in promoting economic, social and environmental transformations at country level. The illustrations are chosen to reflect different country contexts (from low-income to middle-income economies) in different regions, in order to provide evidence on the type of financial instruments and supportive policies most effective in these contexts. This will allow the post-2015 finance discussions to be grounded in evidence from specific country examples.

Different transformational objectives are not necessarily mutually supportive and may involve important trade-offs in policy-making at the domestic level. In order to demonstrate transformation it will be important to ensure that transformations are sustainable and inclusive, including marginalised groups and transforming how institutions work, including their efficiency and accountability. Countries will have employed a very different mix of finance and other means of implementation at the domestic level, and whether successful finance and transformation strategies adopted in one country context can be translated into other similar country contexts remains to be seen. It will also be important to ensure, beyond the domestic level, that the international dimension is conducive to sustainable development transformations in country.

The country illustrations will aim to provide important evidence to demonstrate the importance of finance used in combination with other means of implementation to enable country-level sustainable development transformation. Such evidence will be of vital importance to provide concrete examples of certain finance-means of implementation mixes that have delivered transformational potential in different types of countries.

Country experts interviewed at the workshop highlighted different financial instruments and supporting policies that have been vital for country-level transformation, including access to long-term finance and creating an enabling business environment – these podcasts are available here.

Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya (Centre for Policy Dialogue), Dr Dirk Willem te Velde (Overseas Development Institute), Dr Peter Wolff (Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik), Dr James Mackie (European Centre for Development Policy Management), Professor Mustafizur Rahman (Centre for Policy Dialogue), Dr Fahmida Khatun (Centre for Policy Dialogue), Mr Nikhil Treebhoohun (Global Finance Mauritius), Dr Bagus Santoso (DEFINIT), Dr Iván Borja (Universidad San Francisco de Quito), Dr Olesea Ghedrovici (Academy of Economic Studies Moldova), H E Mr William Hanna (European Union Delegation to Bangladesh), Dr Ahsan Habib Mansur (International Monetary Fund), Ms Simeen Mahmud (BRAC Development Institute), Dr Rizwanul Islam (International Labour Organisation), Dr Hassan Zaman (Bangladesh Bank), Ludovico Alcorta (United Nations Industrial Development Organisation), Sebastian Grosse-Puppendahl (European Centre for Development Policy Management), Leah Worrall (Overseas Development Institute).