The EBRD manages regional and thematic multi-donor funds, where resources are pooled to foster efficiency and create higher impact. The most active funds include:
The EBRD also acts as a fund manager for multi-donor facilities on behalf of contributors and other IFIs:
EBRD Sustainable Infrastructure Fund
Launch date: 2004
Active donors: Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taipei China and the United Kingdom.
Highlights: The Sustainable Infrastructure Fund (previously Early Transitions Countries Fund) was established as a flagship channel for providing donor support to the Early Transition Countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kyrgyz Republic, Moldova, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan). Since its inception, the Fund has been a pioneer in supporting innovative financial instruments across the region. Following reform in 2022 this fund now focuses on just the infrastructure sector, specifically: 1) focuses sustainable & inclusive infrastructure, 2) continues policy gender inclusion and upstream projects related to sustainable infrastructure, 3) specialises in public sector and smaller scale interventions, 4) maintains technical cooperation focuses, but flexible to include co-investment grants, and 5) maintains early transition countries with the option to expand to other geographies in time.
EBRD Small Business Impact Fund
Launch date: 2015
Active donors: Italy, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Taipei China and the United States.
Highlights: The Small Business Impact Fund is directing donor funds to financing, advisory and policy dialogue activities to support small and medium-sized enterprises in EBRD’s regions. Over the years, the EBRD has been on the frontline of providing regular development support and emergency and crisis response to small businesses across its regions of operations. In 2022 alone, the Fund raised EUR 33.3m for SME support activities in Ukraine and those countries affected by the war. The fund supports key flagship programmes of the EBRD, including:
The EBRD's Women in Business programme, which addresses the challenges faced by women-led businesses across our countries of operations.
The EBRD's Star Venture programme, which supports promising start-ups, accelerators and consultants.
The EBRD's Advice for Small Businesses programme, which provides advice to SMEs in a wide range of areas, from strategy to operations, quality management, financial reporting, energy efficiency and more.
The EBRD’s SME Direct Finance Support, which is channelled through the EBRD’s trademark frameworks, Direct Finance Framework (DFF) and Risk Sharing Framework (RSF).
EBRD Southern and Eastern Mediterranean Multi-Donor Account
Launch date: 2011
Active donors: Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Spain, Taipei China and the United Kingdom.
Highlights: Paving the way for the EBRD’s efforts to develop open and sustainable market economies in SEMED countries, the MDA plays a critical role in facilitating the Bank’s investments and expansion in the region. The MDA finances technical cooperation (TC), investment grants, incentive payments and first-loss guarantees in a full range of sectors identified by the Bank as priorities in SEMED, including private sector and competitive support, agribusiness, energy, municipal and environmental infrastructure, in addition to cross-sector capacity building and legal and regulatory reforms.
EBRD Ukraine Stabilisation and Sustainable Growth Multi-Donor Account (Ukraine MDA)
Launch date: 2014
Active donors: Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union.
Highlights: The Ukraine MDA was established to support Ukraine’s efforts to reform its economy, improve its business climate and restore sustainable growth. The Ukraine MDA has constituted an integral part of the EBRD’s operational approach towards the country and played a critical role during the war. Since its founding, the Multi Donor Account’s focus has predominantly been on supporting the uptake of reforms through comprehensive policy engagement and capacity building. Projects supported by the MDA, such as the Business Ombudsman Council, Ukraine Reform Architecture (URA), National Investment Council and Prozorro online procurement have helped anchor key policy reforms and stabilise the economy, paving the way for investments.
High-Impact Partnership on Climate Action
Launch date: 2021
Active donors: Austria, Canada, Finland, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Spain, the TaiwanICDF (International Cooperation and Development Fund) and the United Kingdom.
Highlights: The “High-Impact Partnership on Climate Action” (HIPCA) is the Bank’s first multi-donor partnership tackling climate change and environmental degradation. Its primary objectives are to unleash investments and solutions that reduce or prevent greenhouse gas emissions, strengthen resilience and reduce vulnerability to climate change, and protect the environment. In the economies where the EBRD operates, the partnership works across numerous areas, including energy systems; sustainable food systems; green financial systems; cities and environmental infrastructure; natural capital; climate adaptation and resilience; just transition; and gender and economic inclusion.
EBRD West Bank and Gaza Multi-Donor Account
Launch date: 2019
Active donors: Netherlands, Spain, Luxembourg (joining 2023) and the United Kingdom.
Highlights: The West Bank and Gaza Multi-Donor Account was established to support EBRD investments in the region aiming to boost private sector competitiveness and innovation, increase access to finance for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, promote sustainable employment opportunities and foster a sustainable supply of energy. The MDTF complements and operates in parallel to the EBRD Trust Fund for West Bank & Gaza, which serves as a vehicle for EBRD’s net income allocation for West Bank & Gaza.
Eastern Europe Energy Efficiency and Environment Partnership (E5P)
Launch date: 2010
Active donors: European Union (the largest contributor) Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovak Republic, Sweden, Switzerland, Taipei China, Türkiye, Ukraine and the United States of America.
The E5P was established to facilitate municipal infrastructure investments boosting energy efficiency and environmental protection in the Eastern Partnership countries, in particular aiming at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Typical sectors for E5P support include: rehabilitation of district heating systems, energy efficiency measures for public buildings, solid waste management, wastewater treatment, green local transport and street lighting modernisation.
Highlights: With the start of the Russian war on Ukraine, the E5P reacted swiftly by providing emergency measures for sustaining the critical municipal infrastructure. The key objective for the E5P in Ukraine is to strengthen the war resilience and continue as an agile instrument for green, post-war reconstruction of Ukraine.
The E5P pledged resources for all the six Eastern Partnership countries are close to EUR 352 million. The EBRD acts as the fund manager on behalf of contributors and other IFIs.
Northern Dimension Environmental Partnership Fund (NDEP)
Launch date: 2002
Donors: European Union (the largest contributor), Netherlands, Belarus, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Russian Federation, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.
Highlights: The NDEP operations were split into two windows of activities: nuclear safety with grants funds of EUR 167 million and environmental investments with EUR 182 milion. Nuclear safety projects were fully grant funded and focus on spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste management in the north-west of Russia. The environmental projects combined NDEP grants and IFI loans for municipal infrastructure, mainly wastewater treatment in north-west Russia and Belarus. The overall objective of the Fund was to improve the ecological status of the Baltic and Barents Seas with cross-border impacts. EBRD acts as the fund manager of NDEP. The Fund is currently dormant and will close at the end of July 2023.
European Western Balkans Joint Fund (under the Western Balkans Investment Framework)
The Western Balkans Investment Framework was established as a joint initiative of the European Commission, the Council of Europe Development Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the European Investment Bank, bilateral donors and the Western Balkans beneficiary countries. The WBIF is a regional blending facility supporting priority infrastructure and socio-economic development and EU accession across the Western Balkans.
The European Western Balkans Joint Fund, managed by the EBRD and the EIB, is a multi-donor fund under the WBIF and the key instrument for pooling of grants and loans within the WBIF.
Launch date: 2009
Donors: European Commission, Norway, Sweden, Germany, Austria, Italy, the United Kingdom, European Investment Bank, Czech Republic, Poland, Luxembourg, Slovenia, France, Finland, Greece, Hungary.
Highlights: Since the launch of WBIF, the EBRD has contributed to the construction of more than 800km of roads, including regional ones and new motorway sections connecting the Western Balkans to major European transport corridors. Today, 2.3 million people have access to water and wastewater treatment systems and close to 100,000 students benefit from improved school facilities. The EBRD’s interventions through the WBIF also enabled improvements in the energy sector with investments in renewables and energy efficiency projects for residential households and businesses, contributing to a significant reduction of CO2 levels in the region.
EBRD Action for Equality and Gender Multi-Donor Fund (A4EG)
Launch date: 2023
Foundation Donors: Japan and Taipei China.
Highlights: The EBRD Board approved the “Action for Equality and Gender Multi-Donor Fund” (A4EG) in December 2022, it was launched in March 2023. The A4EG Multi-donor Fund provides a critical vehicle to support the acceleration and expansion of the private sector to promote gender equality and equality of opportunity across the Bank’s operations. Its primary objectives are to broaden access to skills, employment, and livelihoods that better reflect challenges and opportunities resulting from new forms of work; to build inclusive and gender-responsive financial systems and business environments; and to create inclusive and gender-responsive services and public goods that integrate a focus on broader public goods. Early activities have included support to Ukraine.
Launch date: 2022
Donors: France, Canada, Italy, Japan, Norway, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Germany, Netherlands, Denmark and the USA (with a landmark contribution of US$500 million)
Highlights: In 2022, as a response to the war, the EBRD launched the Crisis Response Fund with a dedicated focus on Ukraine. The Fund has so far received more than €820 million in donor funds, which are being utilized as financial guarantees and investment grants to support vital sectors of the Ukrainian economy; energy security, agriculture and food security, municipal infrastructure, pharmaceuticals, and SMEs.
With the EBRD’s support, local civil society organisation Agricultural Advisory Services has helped the social enterprise Cooperative Learning Farm, which runs Molocharse as a regular farm and a training centre for junior vets.
