Deadline: 15-Aug-22
The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) is seeking applications for its International Municipal Investment Fund (IMIF) Technical Assistance Facility to provide support to assist with cities and local government projects.
Furthermore, IMIF TAF will support policy and regulatory reform. IMIF TAF focuses largely on providing direct support to municipalities in developing countries. After completing the Technical Assistance phase, projects that the IMIF TAF will support may be eligible for acceptance by IMIF for investment.
The International Municipal Investment Fund (IMIF) is a unique, bespoke investment fund, initiated by UNCDF and UCLG, with the collaboration of FMDV, that is designed to focus exclusively on supporting cities and local governments, with a particular focus on developing countries, to accelerate the achievement of the SDGs and the Paris Agreement. Following a competitive selection process, Meridiam was selected as Fund Manager for the IMIF in the context of the Malaga Coalition for a global financial ecosystem that works for cities and local governments. UNCDF leads the Malaga Coalition in partnership with United Cities and Local Governments and its technical partner, Fonds Mondial de Villes (FMDV).
Funding Information
The financial support is expected to be between $25,000 to $250,000 per project.
Targeted Sectors
This call for Expression of Interest invites eligible cities and local governments to submit information for UNCDF to assess the eligibility of potential investment through the IMIF. Targeted sectors include, but are not limited to:
- Solid waste – Water supply; sewerage, waste management, and remediation activities
- Water, sewerage – Water supply; sewerage, waste management, and remediation activities
- Urban development – Construction
- Industry – Construction
- Transport – Transportation and storage
Geographic Scope
Eligible cities and local governments in non-OECD countries are invited to submit their interest in response to this call for Expression of Interest.
Eligibility Criteria
The following needs to be met to be eligible for this expression of interest:
- Applicant must be a city or a local government.
- Country-level eligibility requirements.
- Country cannot be at war (or considered to be in a conflict zone or is currently in a civil war).
- Country has typical access to the international banking system and the currency can be exchanged internationally.
- A letter showcasing central government awareness and/or approval (if needed by local law) of projects being submitted.
- A letter showcasing Ministry of Finance (or related ministry) awareness and/or approval (if needed by local law) of the project being submitted.
- City-level eligibility context.
- Three years of audited financial statements available from 2016 onwards.
- Laws and regulations are in place to allow local government Public-Private Partnerships.
- Law and regulations are in place to define the process for Public-Private Partnerships to acquire investors.
- Define the regulatory reforms needed to make the project successful (i.e., tariff reforms).
- A list of city officials, their terms of service including the technical staff which will manage the project with their qualifications.
- Project-level eligibility requirements.
- The project is seeking equity financing.
- Project approved by the city council.
- Project approved by the mayor.
- The project must complete feasibility studies.
- The project should be revenue-generating and conceptually commercially viable.
Evaluation Criteria
All investments sourced in this expression of interest will go through a transparent evaluation. The evaluation will be based on the following criteria:
- Country Situation Analysis
- Municipal: Political, regulatory, and governance
- Municipal: Finance and legal
- Project level (preliminary)
- Alignment with the SDG agenda
- United Nations Sanctions List
For more information, visit https://www.uncdf.org/article/7688/eoi-imif-technical-assistance-facility