Development finance institutions (DFIs) can only address a small part of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and Paris agenda through their own investments. A key part of the role (and therefore the impact) of DFIs is to mobilise investment from others.
At BII we recognise the pivotal role mobilisation plays in achieving the SDGs. Mobilisation is a widely used term in development finance, covering a range of activities. Every year we report the private sector capital our investments have helped mobilise, using the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and Multilateral Development Bank (MDB) methods.
However the OECD and MDB methodologies do not capture all the ways DFIs can mobilise resources. This includes some of the mobilisation pathways we identified in our Understanding Mobilisation discussion paper.
More broadly, the lack of precise terminology around mobilisation makes it difficult to compare activities, measure amounts mobilised, or learn lessons across organisations. To think strategically about increasing mobilisation and measure progress, it is important to start from agreed definitions and measurement methodologies.
That’s why evaluators working with BII on a multi-year mobilisation study* have proposed a set of definitions and methodologies which align as closely as possible to methodologies already used by MDBs and DFIs, while also being analytically robust, and consistent with the ten mobilisation pathways previously defined by BII. You can read the paper here: Private capital mobilisation: Concepts and definitions.
The concepts and definitions presented in this paper will also help to guide future research activities. We will continue publishing lessons from BII’s experience with different mobilisation strategies and from external evidence of what works in different contexts.
* The mobilisation study is aimed at finding the most effective means for BII to mobilise private finance in different contexts. Following the publication of a series of case studies to investigate whether and how BII has mobilised capital in various investments, the study team, led by new technical director Neil Gregory, is working to support BII’s exploration of various strategies to increase its mobilisation of private capital, including those described in BII’s Driving mobilisation paper. The evaluators also aim to support an improved understanding of when and how DFIs can most effectively mobilise capital.
