October 1, 2022

This study analyzes five major multilateral development banks (MDBs) and their efforts to enhance their development impact and meet the needs of partner countries around the world in alignment with the 2030 Agenda. To support ongoing discussions on the need to rethink the role of MDBs, the Study aims to provide MDB shareholders, their staff and development and finance experts with an assessment of the efforts made by MDBs to align with the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs at three levels of analysis: strategic, institutional and operational. This assessment is intended to support a collective discussion aimed at identifying concrete ways to advance development impact and

Key messages

• The progress of the multilateral development banks (MDBs) remains insufficient to date: despite generally encouraging strategic orientations, alignment with the SDGs seems to be losing its vigor when it comes to translating it into organizational frameworks and field operations.
   
• Beyond short-term needs, MDBs also have a role to play in anticipating the transformational changes needed to achieve sustainable development.
   
• MDBs have a key role to play in raising awareness and building capacity, while providing essential financing based on countries’ development plans, through which alignment with the SDGs responds to shared responsibilities, by MDBs , countries and relevant stakeholders. The potential of the MDBs could be strengthened by being better mobilized around a holistic and longer-term approach, orienting their operations towards the objectives defined within the framework of the 2030 Agenda and the needs identified at the country level.
   
• Some public development banks have already started working on such alignment, with innovative practices and principles. type “banks for development”.

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