Thematic Global Evaluation of the Joint SDG Fund’s SDG financing enabling environmental portfolio

This evaluation has explored the performance of 61 JPs that form the 'SDG Financing: Enabling Environment Portfolio' for the period of June 2020 to June 2023. The overall evaluation approach as outlined in the ToR was based on the programme’s theory of change which aims to capture direct programme results, emerging impact and broader systemic changes which were expected to further strengthen the mobilization or improve utilization of financial resources for SDGs against the demonstrated needs of the countries.

Compared to the single agency projects normally implemented by UN entities, the Joint SDG Fund (JSDGF) has been an ambitious attempt by the UN to create a coordinated commitment with Governments and other partners leveraging the capacities and resources of the UNDS in the least developed countries (LDCs) and other developing countries to accelerate financing for the SDGs. The evaluation indicates a substantial degree of success of the Joint SDG Fund in raising awareness within the UNDS about the importance of systematically promoting financing efforts to accelerate SDGs and generating momentum towards raising country level resources for this purpose. The approach of encouraging and enabling Governments to formulate documented and evidence-based strategies as a guide for a ‘whole-of-government’ approach to re-allocate and/or generate additional resources for acceleration towards a few or more SDGs of focus is mostly well understood and applied. As a result of the JPs, the policy discourse in most of the countries that have received support has shifted very firmly towards a robust understanding of and action for financing SDG acceleration. Important constraints affecting the achievement of results include the advent of Covid that coincided with the start of the programme and its limited two-year operational period.