The IsDB has launched the second phase of the Lives and Livelihoods Fund (LLF 2.0), ‘the Fund for Tomorrow’, along with its development partners Abu Dhabi Fund for Development, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Islamic Solidarity Fund for Development (ISFD).
“The LLF 2.0 maintains its focus on primary healthcare, agriculture and basic infrastructure, while women empowerment and climate change adaptation are being introduced as cross-cutting themes, which will be addressed in all the LLF 2.0 projects,” Dr Hiba Ahmed, the director-general of the ISFD, commented.
The ISFD has committed US$150 million comprising US$100 million as temporary cash Waqf with investment returns earmarked to the LLF 2.0 and US$50 million as highly concessional financing. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has pledged 20% of the total granted by donors up to US$100 million to the LLF.
The second phase of the fund will mobilize resources for the next five years with an added emphasis on co-financing and blended finance to maximize the impact of the fund to meet the US$2.4 trillion SDG financing gap.
As a means to finance government and social development projects, the LLF 2.0 will contribute to achieving 10 of the 17 SDGs in 32 out of 57 of the IsDB member countries.
A major tranche of LLF 2.0 grants will be directly disbursed to country projects. Additionally, investments in technical assistance and implementation support are hoped to maximize the countries’ value for money.
Since the launch of the LLF 1.0 in 2016, the fund has invested in over US$1.4 billion in 22 IsDB member countries and has committed to make up to US$2.5 billion available for projects in the healthcare, agriculture and basic infrastructure sectors.
According to the IsDB, the financing from the first phase of the fund has benefited over three million smallholder farmers, provided access to quality healthcare for 12.5 million women and children and is set to provide over 7.5 million people with better water and sanitation facilities.
According to Dr Hiba, the LLF 1.0 contributed to meeting the objective of scaling up the availability of concessional resources for poverty-focused projects, with the financing under the LLF 1.0 nearly doubling the concessional resources for least developed member countries from the IsDB Group.