As the world enters the final four years for achieving the 2030 Agenda, one of the biggest global challenges remains how to channel funding to the communities and territories where real-life transformation is happening.
With this strategic challenge as its central focus, on June 9th, the Bilbao Bootcamp II: Scaling and Building Fundable Territorial Solutions was inaugurated at the University of Deusto. This event brings together nearly 200 leaders from governments, development finance institutions, impact investors, philanthropic organizations, the United Nations system, and local authorities to unlock new avenues of financing for sustainable development at the territorial level.
The three-day international forum (June 9-11) is co-organized by the Government of Spain, the Basque Government, the UN Joint SDG Fund, and the UN Local2030 Coalition, whose global secretariat is based in Bilbao. Its primary objective is to transform local development priorities into projects capable of attracting large-scale public and private funding.
Ethics and territorial development
At the opening ceremony, the Rector of the University of Deusto, Juan José Etxeberria, emphasized the active role of academia in these global governance and investment flow forums, structuring its contribution on two complementary levels: applied science and the safeguarding of ethical principles. In his opinion, “localizing the SDGs is not a technical detail; it is the recognition that no global goal is achieved in the abstract. Hunger is combated in a specific agricultural region, the green transition is decided in a specific district, and dignity is built in a specific neighborhood.”
He added that "finance is always a means, never an end. Money is not the goal; the goal is a dignified life for people and the health of the planet. Efficiency without ethics is a lever without direction. Every financial architecture is also an architecture of values." The rector also evoked the iconic Bilbao estuary and the Pedro Arrupe Footbridge that connects the campus to the city as "the best metaphor for what we are here to do: build bridges between global ambition and local action; between capital and community." Full speech.
The Mayor of Bilbao, Juan Mari Aburto, and the Regional Minister of Finance, Noël d'Anjou, also participated in the official opening of Bilbao Bootcamp II. This second edition of the initiative consolidates and significantly expands upon the results of the pilot phase held in 2025, which supported eight countries and mobilized $23 million in catalytic capital, with an average leverage projection exceeding 1:8.
This year, the meeting expands to 12 countries – Cambodia, Costa Rica, Côte d'Ivoire, Guatemala, Kenya, Mauritania, Mexico, Mozambique, Senegal, Serbia, South Africa, and Thailand – supported by $36 million in catalytic funding and with a planned mobilization of more than $340 million, reaching an average leverage ratio of 1:8.5. Sixteen United Nations entities are participating in the initiative, supporting countries in developing bankable territorial solutions aligned with the Local2030 Localization Blueprint.
From design to investment commitment
The meeting will be held in three phases. The first will focus on designing the territorial financing architecture and identifying innovative investment mechanisms. The second will allow national teams to refine their proposals through technical sessions and direct meetings with potential funders. Finally, the third day will culminate in a project presentation session with development finance institutions, impact investors, and philanthropic organizations to explore financing and collaboration agreements.
The choice of Bilbao as the venue for this second edition reflects the international recognition of the Basque model of territorial transformation, based on a long-term strategic vision, collaboration between institutions and social actors, and robust multi-level governance. Furthermore, the Basque Country hosts the Secretariat of the United Nations Local2030 Coalition, a platform that coordinates global efforts to translate the Sustainable Development Goals to the local and territorial levels. This position has made the Basque Country an international benchmark in decentralized cooperation and the promotion of public policies aligned with the 2030 Agenda.
Expected results include the identification of up to $200 million in co-financing opportunities, the development of twelve bankable territorial solutions, the creation of more than thirty international strategic alliances, and the strengthening of a global financing architecture aimed at accelerating the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals from the local level.
Origionally published on Deusto.
