ObjectivesFund scope
The Albania SDG Acceleration Fund supports the integrated and coherent mobilization, allocation, and disbursement of resources to promote effective development and implementation of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) activities. To advance the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, stakeholders make national progress gains through the provision of ongoing support to projects that address priority SDG areas, creating an evidence-based understanding among policymakers and members of civil society on how Albania has progressed towards SDG and 2030 Agenda achievement.
Fund stakeholders advance the 2030 Agenda by driving progress towards SDG achievement while also respecting human rights, promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment, and using these and similar intersectional issues to multiply sustainable and inclusive economic growth, poverty eradication, and social development. Between 2015 and 2021, stakeholders used blended forms of financing to heed 2030 Agenda calls for collective action and integrated approaches across multiple sectors and goals. Investments went towards projects implemented under SDG priority areas of the National Strategy for Development and Integration (2015-2020) and the Programme of Cooperation for Sustainable Development (2017-2021).
In January 2022, the national government and United Nations country team in Albania will launch a second phase of the Acceleration Fund, using the financial vehicle to guide the implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) for 2022-2027.
Phase II of the fund
To ensure no one is left behind, Phase II action will finance four outcome areas under the Cooperation Framework: fair investments in people; economic growth and resource management; governance, rule of law and human rights, and gender responsive governance. In doing so, fund stakeholders, led by the Government of Albania and United Nations, can continue advancing the 2030 Agenda through contributions that speed up progress, achieve national sustainable development goals, support SDG processes, and offer catalytic support in priority areas of SDG achievement set against the NSDI 2021-2030, UNSDCF 2022-2027, European Union integration, the 2021-2023 Economic Reform Programme, and other relevant development frameworks and standards.
In January 2022, stakeholders will launch phase two of the Albania SDG Acceleration Fund with continued support to partners implementing multi-dimensional sustainable development activities that assist Albania in meeting its SDG and 2030 Agenda commitments. The overarching goal of stakeholders during this phase will be to support the implementation of the Government of Albania and UNSDCF 2022-2026 across four outcome areas: Equitable investment in people; economic growth and resource management; governance, rule of law and human rights, and gender responsive governance. These areas—together with intersecting themes—will form the basis for new fund windows.
Theory of change
Stakeholders designed the first phase of the Albania SDG Acceleration Fund according to the United Nations Programme of Cooperation for Sustainable Development, 2017-2021. Following consultations with the Government of Albania and other stakeholders, they agreed that under the One UN framework, impact and development effectiveness measures were central to addressing ongoing challenges in four areas:
- Governance and rule of law
- Social inclusion (e.g. health, education, and social protection, and gender-based violence)
- Economic growth, labour, and agriculture
- Environment and climate change.
Enmeshed across all priorities are core principles of gender equality and development of national capacities. Because the 2030 Agenda requires collective action and integrated approaches, the Government of Albania and United Nations country team established the fund to support programming under these four areas and others.
To support integrated and coherent resource mobilization in Phase II, the allocation and disbursement of government and donor resources will promote development and implementing integrated activities to meet the SDGs. Fund stakeholders will build on existing platforms and tools to strengthen coordination, evaluation, planning and communication; develop partner synergies; support the risk-savvy allocation of finances that support innovative and joint cooperation efforts focused on SDG achievement and EU accession; reduce political and fiduciary risks; enhance responsibility through a transparent result-based management system and broaden the financial base of emerging or non-resident donors.
The Common Country Analysis (CCA) informs UNSDCF strategic priorities and outcomes, which country partners validated. They ranked identified priorities in such a way to ensure that cooperation will apply cross-sector and multi-stakeholder lenses and leverage the comparative advantages of the United Nations system. Inputs from a host of change makers—including government officials, young people, civil society representatives, business leaders, and more—form the theory of change for cooperation, which covers expected outcomes and outputs, implementation strategies, major assumptions and risks, and indicators of success.
> $55M 
$55M - $25M
$25M - $5M
< $5M
