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Please be aware that the content herein has not been peer reviewed. It consists of personal reflections, insights, and learnings of the contributor(s). It may not be exhaustive, nor does it aim to be authoritative knowledge.
Title
Please provide a name for your action learning plan.
Gaza Emergency Investor Pipelines
Challenge statement
Challenge type: If you are working on multiple challenges, please indicate if this is your "big bet" or "exploratory" challenge.
Please note: we ask you to only submit a maximum of 3 challenges - 1x Big Bet, 2x Exploratory. Each challenge must be submitted individually.
EXPLORATORY
Challenge statement: What is your challenge? (Please answer in specific terms: "Our challenge is that...”.)
UNDP/PAPP recognizes that the private sector is pivotal to complement, accelerate and enhance the sustainability of recovery and reconstruction efforts. Attracting investments from local, diaspora, or international investors whose goals align with the evolving recovery and reconstruction plans is essential. To incentivize investments, it is crucial to provide evidence-based business cases and bridge information gaps for the private sector and present de-risking schemes.
Background: What is the history of your challenge? What is causing or driving it? Who is involved? How does the current situation look like? What undesired effects does it produce?
The ongoing war has caused large-scale destruction and exacerbated pre-existing humanitarian needs, thus depriving Gazans of their basic human rights, including access to electricity, water and sanitation, healthcare, and education.
As highlighted by the Gaza Strip Interim Damage Assessment - a joint report released on 2 April 2024 by the World Bank Group and United Nations with financial support from the European Union - the estimated damage to infrastructure in Gaza through January 2024 exceeds $18.5 billion, which is equivalent to 97% of the total GDP of Gaza and the West Bank combined, in 2022. Residential buildings make up most of the recorded damage (72%), followed by damages to critical infrastructure and services such as education, WASH, health, energy, ICT, municipal services and transport (19%), as well as infrastructure damages in the commerce, industry, and services sector (9%). As 92% of primary roads have been destroyed, this will further compound challenges to future recovery and reconstruction efforts. According to UNEP, the amount of debris generated is estimated to be more than 37 million tons, and debris removal may cost around $620 million.
Additionally, the war has had a severe impact on the entire Palestinian economy. According to
estimates of the socio-economic impact assessment of the Gaza War on the State of Palestine by UNDP and ESCWA, nine months of war could lead to a staggering 29% loss of GDP compared to pre-war
projections for 2023 and 2024. Unemployment levels are expected to soar to 7.8%, and poverty rates are projected to surge from 38.8% to 60.7%, leading to an increase in the number of people living in poverty by an additional 1.86 million. Additionally, human development in the West Bank and Gaza will face
significant setbacks of over 16 and 20 years, respectively
Against this backdrop and in alignment with national reconstruction and development priorities and in consultation with local, national and international actors, UNDP/PAPP has developed an integrated Gaza Early Recovery, Reconstruction and resilience plan with a set of phased interventions that can be implemented at scale as soon as the security and access conditions allow across three key pillars of: 1) Essential
public and social infrastructure and services, 2) Inclusive economic recovery and 3) Inclusive governance.
Quantitative evidence: What (official) data sources do you have on this challenge that better exemplifies the importance and urgency of this frontier challenge? You can add text, a link, or a picture.
Qualitative evidence: What weak signals have you recently spotted that characterizes its urgency? Please provide qualitative information that better exemplifies the importance and urgency of this frontier challenge. You can add text, a link, or a picture.
Value proposition: What added value or unique value proposition is your Accelerator Lab bringing to solving this challenge? Why is it your Lab that needs to work on this challenge and not other actors within UNDP, other stakeholders in the country respectively? Why is it worth investing resources to this challenge?
The Accelerator Lab along with UNDP relevant team in Gaza aim
to develop an Emergency Investor Map. This tool will highlight investment
opportunities emerging from early recovery planning, creating a win-win
situation by directing private capital into areas that can accelerate recovery
and reconstruction efforts in Gaza in collaboration with UNDP/PAPP and other
development actors. By proposing feasible social and business models, the map
will help identify priority sectors and initially evaluate opportunities for
private sector engagement to support the rebuilding of the Gaza Strip. The
proposed Emergency Investment Pipelines for Gaza aim to:
Contribute to close the Gaza recovery and reconstruction financing gap by identifying and
developing investment-ready and impactful investment opportunities
Bridge the information disparities between potential
private sector financing, profitable and impactful investment opportunities and
actual investment, fostering the attraction of private capital
Enable the flow of private investment through derisking,
blended finance and/or guarantee mechanisms, and
Utilize impact analysis and impact management to ensure
integrity, efficiency, and effectiveness of investments to meet stakeholder
needs.
Short “tweet” summary: We would like to tweet what you are working on, can you summarize your challenge in a maximum of 280 characters?
Develop a Gaza Emergency Investor Map highlighting opportunities emerging from early recovery planning to direct private capital into areas that can accelerate recovery and reconstruction efforts in Gaza.
Partners
Who are your top 5 partners for this challenge? Please submit from MOST to LEAST important and state Name, Sector and a brief description of the (intended) collaboration.
Please state the name of the partner:
Sustainable Finance Hub
What sector does our partner belong to?
United Nations
Please provide a brief description of the collaboration.
Support in creating an adapted and simplified SDG Investor Map Methodology for the
Gaza Emergency
Provide ongoing quality assurance support, and conduct final quality
assurance of research results
Is this a new and unusual partner for UNDP?
No
Who are your top 5 partners for this challenge? Please submit from MOST to LEAST important and state Name, Sector and a brief description of the (intended) collaboration.
Please state the name of the partner:
United Nations Capital Development Fund
What sector does our partner belong to?
United Nations
Please provide a brief description of the collaboration.
Explore options to enable the flow of private investment through derisking, blended finance and/or
guarantee mechanisms
Is this a new and unusual partner for UNDP?
No
Learning questions
Learning question: What is your learning question for this challenge? What do you need to know or understand to work on your challenge statement?
Which priority sectors and ideas within are ready for private sector investment for recovery? And what business models could be adopted to ensure investment feasibility and impact including derisking schemes?
To what stage(s) in the learning cycle does your learning question relate?
Explore
Usage of methods: Relating to your choice above, how will you use your methods & tools for this learning question? What value do these add in answering your learning question?
·
Identifies priority sectors and sub-sectors for recovery
and reconstruction.
Explores business ideas within these sectors,
prioritizing them based on their potential to accelerate recovery and
reconstruction, as well as their viability amidst the volatile political
situation and uncertainties regarding post-war governance.
Develops preliminary business cases for viable ideas,
including investment modalities and de-risking strategies.
Aligns investment opportunities with Gaza's recovery and
reconstruction plans and accelerating socio-economic recovery.
Existing data gaps: Relating to your choice above, what existing gaps in data or information do these new sources of data addressing? What value do these add in answering your learning question?
Robust business case
Closing
Early leads to grow: Think about the possible grow phase for this challenge - who might benefit from your work on this challenge or who might be the champions in your country that you should inform or collaborate with early on to help you grow this challenge?
This tool will guide and inform the dialogue and agreements with the private sector as impact investors and derisking donors on their engagement to accelerate Gaza recovery and reconstruction. The tool could be used by senior management and UNDP team across the different programmatic pillars as well as our partners at the government since it will align with the national recovery and reconstruction plans.
END OF ACTION LEARNING PLAN: Thank you! The form saves automatically and your submission has been recorded. You may now exit this window.
8Decent work and economic growth
11Sustainable cities and communities
17Partnerships for the goals
