Digital Financing of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals

Billions of people around the world are responding to the COVID-19 pandemic using digital tools to work, spend and socialize. In August 2020, the UN Secretary’s Task Force on Digital Financing for the Sustainable Development Goals published a report on how digital tools could also support the financing of the SDGs and, ultimately, place citizens in control of finance and ensure that it meets their needs, today and in the future. Conscious FinTech contributed to the report by mapping the German Fintech companies that promote the SDGs.

There will be a Q&A, so bring your questions, and get engaged!
Streaming will take place on this website. No need to register!

About the speakers:

Simon Zadek, Sherpa of the Task Force on Digital Financing
Simon is an independent advisor and writer dedicated to sustainable economic development and sustainable business activity. Besides joining the UN’s Task Force on Digital Financing, he advises leading international organisations, such as the Centre for International Governance Innovation, the World Economic Forum, and the International Institute for Sustainable Development and co-directed the UNEP Inquiry into the Design of a Sustainable Financial System.

Piet Kleffmann - Digital Ambassador, KfW Development Bank
Piet dedicated his career to international development cooperation. He currently serves as Digital Ambassador in the recently established Innovation, Digitalisation and Communication division of KfW Development Bank. His particular focus is on the development of new applications of blockchain technology in development cooperation. From 2014-2018 he lead the team Governance and Natural Resources South of Africa and together with the Digital Office of the KfW bank group he developed the blockchain-based approach TruBudget to better control the public financing in developing countries. In 2018 he took over the management of the TaskForce TruBudget. Before that Piet served as regional representative of the KfW Development Bank and managed the organisations' office in Kenia for 5 years.

Moderation:
Leonhard Nima
Leonhard is a serial social entrepreneur, Co-Founder of N3XTCODER and former Adjunct Professor of Social Entrepreneurship at Hult International Business School in San Francisco and London. He previously worked for Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus at The Grameen Creative Lab as Head of Academia.

About The Task Force:
Established by the UN Secretary General António Guterres in 2018, the Task Force on Digital Financing of the SDGs was mandated to identify, recommend and catalyze ways to harness digitalization in accelerating financing of the SDGs. It brought together 17 leaders from across finance, technology, policy, regulation and international development and engaged with hundreds of financial institutions, governments and regulators, civil society organizations, think tanks and expert groups.
In its final report The People’s Money: Harnessing Digitalization to Finance a Sustainable Future, published in August 2020, the task force sets out an ambitious Action Agenda. Specifically, the task force identifies five catalytic opportunities for businesses, policy-makers and those governing finance to follow and deliver on these opportunities. Furthermore, it shows how digital finance can be used in ways that empower citizens as tax-payers and investors in envisaging a digital transformation at scale that better aligns people’s money with their needs, collectively expressed by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

About the Organizers:
Conscious Fintech and N3XTCODER Impact Studio, both situated in Germany, are dedicated to drive sustainability in financial services, with a particular focus on Fintech. As part of this effort both organizations frequently organize meetups informing relevant audiences about new developments and innovations in the space. In this meetup series they join forces together with Heinrich Böll Stiftung Baden-Württemberg.