Development finance institutions

Practice standards to support donors in the deployment of public resources through DFIs and private asset managers, in a way that maximises the positive contribution towards the SDGs. The Standards are harmonised in approach with the UNDP SDG Impact Standards suite, the IS-FSD constitute a framework, ensuring that collectively (with the SDG Impact Standards for PE Funds, Bond Issuers and Enterprises) they help to connect actors across the system using a common language and approach for integrating SDG impacts in the investment strategy and throughout the investment process and governance structures.

Use this resource to:

• Governance: Set up processes and embed practices that are aligned with the SDG Impact Standards.
• Assess: Understand whether all relevant information is being actioned to understand impact. The Standards outline how baselines, social/ ecological thresholds and other contextual information should be included in assessment of whether an underlying asset is contributing to the SDGs.

A set of harmonised metrics developed by subject matter experts and impact management practitioners, that have been agreed upon by Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) and other private sector partners.

In March 2021, HIPSO together with IRIS+ have published the Joint Impact Indicators, a harmonised set of basic indicators that are available for the impact investment community at large. Further harmonisation work continues: work is underway to map various investor metric sets and corporate disclosure standards, with a view to achieving global consistency. E.g. IRIS+-GRI, B Lab-GRI, HIPSO-IRIS+.

Use this resource to:

• Assess: Select from a catalogue of metrics specifically designed for Development Finance Institutions.

Guidance summarises Multilateral Development Banks’ approach to the topic of investor contribution (which they term “additionality”).

Use this resource to:

• Strategy: Understand the common approaches to additionality, which allows for multilateral development banks to substantiate additionality in projects.
• Governance: Learn about the common approaches to the governance of additionality.