The Director General of the Sustainable Development Council , Ms. Chamindry Saparamadu, delivered the keynote address at the Sectoral Stakeholder Session organized by SLYCAN

Delivering a Key Note Address at the Sectoral Stakeholder Session organized under the Multi –Actor Partnership on Climate and Disaster Risk Financing and Insurance by SLYCAN Trust , the Director General of Sustainable Development Council (SDC) Chamindry Saparamadu highlighted how sustainable development and climate resilience can be scaled through innovative blended finance mechanisms.

Citing successful case studies from India and Indonesia such as the Sustainable India Finance Facility and the Tropical Landscapes Financing Facility of Indonesia, she explained that blended finance solutions can create better incentives for private sector investment in sectors such as agriculture, where a complex landscape of risk and profitability concerns deters private investment.

Blended finance is the use of catalytic capital from public or philanthropic sources to crowd-in private sector investment for sustainable development. Blended finance could support the uptake of sustainability best practices in pooling and mobilizing resources of different stakeholders with differing risk, return and impact appetites and could be used to aggregate high-impact investment opportunities in different areas.

Over the past months, SDC and SLYCAN Trust together have generated a vast of body of research and knowledge products relating to suitable blended finance solutions for Sri Lanka’s agriculture sector including on identification of vital partnerships, pipeline of bankable projects and effective climate finance communication strategies for a sustainable agricultural transformation in Sri Lanka.