Press Release
Bilbao, Spain, 29 April 2025 – The city of Bilbao will host The Bilbao Local Finance Design Sprint: Scaling Local Solutions through Strategic Financing from 14 to 16 May 2025. Sponsored by the Basque Government, co-hosted by the United Nations Joint SDG Fund and the United Nations Local2030 Coalition, co-organized by the World Rural Forum and in collaboration with the City of Bilbao and the BBK Foundation, this three-day in-person workshop will convene 50 global experts and stakeholders to co-create a collective blueprint of solutions for unlocking finance for subnational food systems and green economy transformation.
“By combining the Joint SDG Fund’s catalytic financing expertise, the Local2030 Coalition’s localization expertise, and the Basque Government’s hands-on experience in territorial development financing, this workshop aims to lay the foundation for scalable solutions in food systems and green economy transformation at the local level,” said Sébastien Vauzelle, Head of the Secretariat, UN Local2030 Coalition.
"The Bilbao Design Sprint marks a turning point in sustainable development financing. Following the Basque Government's leadership, the Joint SDG Fund and the Local2030 Coalition are combining catalytic financing with localized expertise. The blueprint developed in Bilbao will provide invaluable guidance ahead of the Fourth Financing for Development Conference (FfD4), helping us scale local priorities that deliver on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and guide our work around the globe to accelerate the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)," said Lisa Kurbiel, Head of the UN Joint SDG Fund Secretariat.
As part of the “Road to Seville: The Local Way” process, this workshop comes at a pivotal moment – only two months ahead of the Fourth Financing for Development Conference, which places a strong emphasis on the territorial implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. The event will demonstrate how local finance solutions can serve as a powerful catalyst for systemic change, particularly in Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and regions facing complex vulnerabilities.
In 2024, the Joint SDG Fund and the Local2030 Coalition joined forces to launch a dedicated portfolio of catalytic initiatives in 30 countries that clearly demonstrates the role of SDG localization in accelerating the SDGs from the ground up.
This year, the Bilbao workshop will convene local and national government representatives, UN country teams, and stakeholders from eight different countries as well as financing experts from diverse UN entities, leading Basque representatives of public and private institutions, practitioners from the World Bank, impact investors, philanthropists, and other financial institutions from around the world.
Based on territorial proposals and localization experiences and expertise, participants will collaborate to design scalable and practical financing solutions tailored to specific country contexts, focusing on:
Based on the Basque model that exemplifies the territorial approach promoted by the Local2030 Coalition in general and the event in particular, the workshop will culminate in the endorsement of the “Bilbao Action Plan” – a strategic blueprint that, together with the localization marker, outlines financing solutions for territorial transformation with a systemic approach, particularly in complex settings and LDCs. It will also deliver ready-to-implement prototype solutions that integrate local SDG financing mechanisms, investment frameworks, and policy innovations, each with clearly defined implementation pathways.
In addition, the event will contribute to the creation of a dynamic multi-stakeholder platform that brings together financial institutions, impact investors, national and local governments, the World Bank, and UN teams to enable sustained collaboration in local SDG financing and support the global scaling of similar initiatives. This represents a first step toward supporting other countries in adapting and adopting this territorial approach to implementing the 2030 Agenda.
The Basque Government has funded over 1,300 international projects in 65 countries and has recently legislated to dedicate 0.7% of its budget to international cooperation –positioning itself as a global leader in decentralized Official Development Aid. The Basque Government’s support for the Local2030 Coalition’s Secretariat in Bilbao reflects a significant contribution to the development of models for SDG localization. Building on its successful track record, this experience offers a potential blueprint for mobilizing citizenship ownership, building capacity, and fostering innovation across key actors, including local governments, businesses, civil society, and knowledge institutions. By promoting strong public-private alliances and the creation of roadmaps, this approach helps establish the enabling conditions needed to attract sustainable investment to the territorial level.
The Joint SDG Fund accelerates progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals by supporting innovative policies and financing solutions. Under the leadership of the United Nations Resident Coordinators, the Fund accelerates key SDG transitions at country level by fostering collaboration across UN entities, ensuring alignment with national priorities, and mobilizing diverse multi-stakeholder partnerships and financing for maximum impact. The Fund has delivered strong results, using US$ 344 million in commitments to unlock an additional US$ 6.6 billion in external investments. Its initiatives have reached over 206 million people to date, showcasing its effectiveness in service delivery and community capacity building.
The United Nations Local 2030 Coalition is the United Nations’ system-wide platform for the localization of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It ensures that the UN system is equipped to align global goals and national policies with local contexts, needs, and priorities, while securing a one-UN approach to localization. Through its five constituencies—national and local governments, civil society and academia, the private sector, and youth—the Local2030 Coalition serves as a convergence point between the United Nations system and local development stakeholders, enabling connections for higher impact and systemic transformation, with a focus on those furthest behind.
The World Rural Forum (WRF) is a diverse network that promotes Family Farming and Sustainable Rural Development, composed of Family Farming federations and organizations such as COPROFAM, PIFON, PDRR, PROPAC, and AFA, rural development organizations such as INADES, and cooperatives and agricultural research centers such as CIRAD. The organization's social objective, "Promoting Family Farming and Sustainable Rural Development," emphasizes the promotion of sustainable rural development on five continents, improved public policies for family farming and their effective implementation, gender equity in family farming and rural development, the integration, incorporation, and equal participation of young people in family farming and rural development processes, and support for the strengthening and empowerment of family farming organizations and other organizations working in rural areas.
BBK Foundation is a banking foundation that has always been connected to the reality of Bizkaia and dedicated to solving its challenges. For more than 100 years, the city has led projects to address the needs of Bilbao and Bizkaia at every moment. It is an organization committed to finding solutions to the social needs of people, promoting culture, and promoting the development and well-being of Bizkaia. The BBK Foundation, a partner in the creation and support of the Secretariat of the Local 2030 Coalition, obtains its resources through the management of its assets and the economic benefits it receives from Kutxabank, of which it is the majority shareholder.
The city of Bilbao is committed to becoming a global leader in sustainable development, as evidenced by the fact that it hosts the headquarters of the United Nations Local2030 Coalition Secretariat, which promotes the global localization of the 2030 Agenda. Since 2019, Bilbao has adopted the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs as the strategic framework for strengthening the social contract and municipal strategies for coexistence and values. Today, Bilbao's goal and its Agenda 2030 plan focus on achieving a more humane, livable, inclusive, and equal city. A more competitive city to attract public and private investment for a long-term project to transform the city and its citizens toward sustainability.
This workshop represents a strategic convergence of these partners, based on their shared commitment to localizing the SDGs through innovative financing approaches.
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For more information, please contact:
Ms. Elizabeth Paturzo at elizabeth.paturzo@un.org and Mr. Iñigo Arbiol at inigo.arbiol@un.org.
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