With an estimated SDG financing gap of $2.5 trillion a year in developing countries alone, the international development community is placing an increasing emphasis on blended finance. This report aims to provide hard evidence to inform the discussion on the role of blended finance in plugging the SDG financing gap in developing countries.

This briefing note is the outcome of an ongoing process within the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) to answer the question - how can DFID design and manage programmes to address complex development challenges without creating too much staff workload?

This report reviews investment in human capital and spending on health and education by both government and donors in all of the 82 poorest countries. It finds that the allocation of funds often does not match the distribution of poverty within countries, and data on how finance is allocated at the subnational level is lacking.

This report looks systematically at the impact on development financing of countries’ transition from low- to middle-income status. It includes eight case studies: Egypt, Ghana, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Nigeria, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.

This report considers the approaches taken by development partners when transitioning and exiting from bilateral aid programs. It features case studies of Australia, Denmark, the European Union, France, Germany, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.