D4D Programme: Leveraging the impact of the Belgian Cooperation through Digitalisation-- COVID-19 new or expanded activity

In line with the 2030 Agenda of the Sustainable Development Goals that have been defined by the United Nations, and with the Belgian Development Cooperation’s Strategic Policy on ‘Digital for Development’, the D4D programme aims to support and to enhance the digitalisation to accelerate the sustainable development, increase prosperity, reduce inequalities and to empower people and businesses of developing and emerging countries. The intervention is presented as a Belgian Cooperation Initiative, where BIO and Enabel will fund D4D projects and act as a partnership broker for these projects. The two public institutions will collaborate during the implementation by bringing their respective strengths in managing the different financing instruments: grants, loans and equities. The general objective is to contribute to the SDGs through digitalisation.

The specific objective is to increase use and access to digital solutions offering better living conditions in developing and emerging countries.

The program is built around 5 outcomes:1) An accessible funding mechanism for D4D projects contributing to the achievement of the SDGs is operational 2) Public entities, social enterprises and nonprofit organizations have implemented projects providing digital solutions through grants 3) More private actors have access to better financial solutions to implement their investment project 4) Facilitation of partnerships and capitalization result in increased collaboration on D4D 5) Additional funds are mobilized to expand the program