Public Sector Partnerships

The WWF is run at a local level by the following offices...

Zimbabwe

Public Sector Finance is a major driver of environmental change. WWF builds engagement and partnerships with Public Sector Finance institutions at all levels to ensure that they prioritize conservation in both policy and practice.

Every year, more than US$100 billion flow from richer countries to poorer countries in the form of development aid through public sector finance institutions. This Official Development Assistance (ODA) helps to fund everything from programmes for eradicating hunger and infant mortality to large-scale infrastructure projects.

With the monumental Climate Paris Agreement and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on financing for development, a golden opportunity was presented for governments around the world to pledge towards a sustainable future through the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Major action is required by public and private institutions to finance the estimated US$5-7 trillion needed annually to realize the goals. The focus is to ensure that these commitments materialize, are embedded into national planning and budgets, and widely supported through partnerships.

The dynamics of public sector finance for development have been changing: Aid budgets in many OECD countries have been reduced or priorities shifted and boosted demand for greater accountability in development aid. “South-South” cooperation is on the rise and emerging economies like China, Brazil, and South Africa have moved from being recipients of aid to donors in their own right. Public sector finance institutions are looking to leverage private sector investments to deliver development objectives.

WWF offers decades worth of expertise and experience in partnering with public sector institutions that align with both the organisation goals and the global agenda of achieving a truly sustainable world.

Who Do We Partner With

WWF focuses on building solid ties with strategically-chosen partners. These include national governments and regional bodies responsible for integrating environment in national and regional development priorities, as well as International Financial Institutions. WWF has developed a solid presence on the ground as well as a strong team across the world who manages the partnerships with these institutions based on a common strategy and coordinated approach, and to ensure effective delivery of the ambitious outcomes that are only made possible through partnerships.

Our List of Public Sector Partners

Our Core Values With Public Sector Partners

Long-term and large-scale commitments, both political and financial, are necessary to achieving development that is environmentally, socially and economically sustainable. These core values guide our engagements with our public sector partners:

Conservation contributes to sustainable development and social equity.
Respect of people's rights in accordance with customary, national and international human rights laws;
A commitment to partner with governments, civil society, and the private sector.
Strong involvement of stakeholders in the identification of problems and solutions.

More here on WWF social policies.

How We Work With The Public Sector

With Bilaterals

Many WWF Offices, mainly in OECD countries, have strong partnerships with their national public sector agencies and act as the 'Focal Point' for WWF's interaction with them. Some of these partnerships have been in place for over 20 years. Some 'bilateral' Focal Point offices coordinate amongst themselves, shadowing public sector institutions' groupings such as the "Nordic+".

With Multilaterals

Several offices in the WWF Network lead on relations with our multilateral partners: WWF-European Policy Office for the European Institutions; WWF-US for the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, Global Environment Facility, and the Green Climate Fund; WWF France for the Land Degradation Neutrality Fund, WWF Philippines for the Asian Development Bank; and the Regional Office for Africa for the African Development Bank.

On The Ground

WWF Offices in many countries have increasingly appointed people to lead in their relations with the local, resident offices of our partners. As public funding to WWF offices in these countries has grown, so has the offices' recognition of the need for capacity to manage a good dialogue with public sector partners and to deliver effectively on programs they co-finance.

Our Approach

Working as One

The world is rapidly changing and we need to change with it. This is why WWF emphasizes large-scale programmatic work and innovative solutions, and why we focus on improving coordination and increasing collaboration. This enables us to reach across scales, actors and sectors, and ultimately grow our impact. Through a network of over a hundred dedicated staff, we maintain relationships with over forty public sector finance institutions and ensure that public funds are properly managed on the ground.

More Than Just Money

Our approach— outcome over income — emphasizes the importance of delivering large-scale impacts for the environment. Our engagement with our partners is not just about funding for WWF projects but leveraging far greater sums for conservation worldwide. Of course, financing ambitious environmental programmes delivers impacts, but our partnership goals don't stop there.

The Critical Friend

We aim to be a "critical friend" when helping partner institutions improve their practices and delivery. We provide our partners with trusted, solution-oriented support, and push them to do more for the environment; from improving the environmental safeguards on loans they give, to providing them with expertise on greening large-scale infrastructure projects. We hold our partners accountable for the commitments they make.