USAID to Launch New Course and Webinar Series on Mobilizing Finance for Development

USAID is launching a new, self-paced version of its Mobilizing Finance for Development (MF4D) course on Marketlinks. We are pleased to make this course available to our implementing partners and the broader development community. To deepen learning from the course and promote opportunities for interaction, we are offering a supporting webinar series this July.

Finance -- the process of extending funds for use and investment by businesses, households and governments -- is a key driver of economic growth in developing countries.  Our ability to mobilize finance for investment, particularly private and commercial finance, is critical to achieving our development goals.

The bad news is that too little of this capital is finding its way into transactions which advance development. The good news is that abundant private capital is available in the countries where we work, as well as in the vast pools of global capital seeking investment in emerging markets.   The best news is that we have tools and resources to channel private capital into areas important to our development goals.

How do we do this?  It's complicated...so through the MF4D self-paced course, we introduce USAID's approach to development finance as well as provide practical tools and strategies for mobilizing private capital. The self-paced course is divided into three modules, each of which takes approximately 1.5 hours to complete.  

The MF4D course will:  

• Offer an understanding of why mobilizing finance is critical to addressing development challenges in countries where USAID works; 
• Introduce the basic concepts of finance, key actors, and instruments; 
• Identify constraints to accessing finance; and
• Introduce tools, resources, and interventions that help overcome those constraints and catalyze finance for development.

A live webinar series will provide opportunities for sharing insights, and discussion about the role of finance in development. 

The series will kick off on July 15, followed by three sessions through the end of September. Participation in the live webinar is limited to 100 people. Webinar participants will be expected to complete the online module that will be discussed during the live webinar in advance. Course participants will be split evenly between USAID staff and non-USAID staff (implementing partners and development practitioners). All registrants must participate in all four webinars.

In each webinar, participants will review a course module, explore a case study, and discuss how to apply a development finance approach to a pre-selected set of development challenges. Recently updated ‘finance vignettes’ will be presented to highlight creative ways to mobilize finance for development. We encourage questions during the live webinar and throughout the series through an interactive listserv.