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, Germany, Ireland, Japan, South Korea, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and Taipei China and the United Kingdom.
Highlights: The Early Transition Countries Fund was established as a flagship channel for providing donor support to the Early Transition Countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kyrgyz Republic, Moldova, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan). Since its inception, the Fund has been a pioneer in supporting innovative financial instruments, local currency lending, investment councils, municipal and environmental infrastructure projects and economic inclusion work. Since 2015, the Fund has played a particularly important role in supporting EBRD efforts in the realm of sustainable infrastructure, including solid waste, water & wastewater, district heating and transport projects, and remains a key channel for donor support to these areas.
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 countries of operation. 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 targets 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.
EBRD Southern and Eastern Mediterranean Multi-Donor Account
Launch date: 2011
Active donors: Australia, 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
Launch date: 2014
Active donors: Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union, the largest donor.
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. 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, National Investment Council and Prozorro online procurement have helped anchor key policy reforms and stabilise the economy, paving the way for investments. The Business Ombudsman Council has helped pay or return EUR 580 million for businesses and entrepreneurs due to unfair treatment and the Prozorro public procurement platform has facilitated more businesses to participate in public tenders with over a ten-fold increase since its inception.
High-Impact Partnership on Climate Action
Launch date: 2021
Active donors: Austria, Finland, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Spain, the TaiwanICDF (International Cooperation and Development Fund) and the United Kingdom.
Highlights: The EBRD launched the “High-Impact Partnership on Climate Action” (HIPCA) at COP26 in Glasgow, in 2021. The new partnership is a pioneering effort by the EBRD and was developed in collaboration with Austria, Finland, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Spain, the TaiwanICDF and the United Kingdom. Since its launch the Partnership has grown to over EUR 190m in size with EUR 54m already been allocated to support 26 high impact projects across multiple sectors such as energy, financial institutions and transport.
It 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 partners work 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 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.
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, Ukraine and the United States of America.
Highlights: 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. The Fund has been operating in Ukraine since 2010 and has by now expanded to all the EU Eastern Partnership countries of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia and Moldova. The Fund co-finances district heating and public buildings projects together with local transport, solid waste and street lighting investments. The E5P resources are close to EUR 235 million. The EBRD acts as the fund manager on behalf of contributors and other IFIs.
Northern Dimension Environmental Partnership Fund
Launch date: 2002
Donors: Netherlands, Belarus, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Russian Federation, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.
Highlights: The operations are 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 are fully grant funded and focus on spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste deposited in the north-west of Russia. The environmental investments combine NDEP grants and IFI loans for mainly wastewater treatment to improve the ecological status of the Baltic and Barents Seas. There are also several pilot projects to combat black carbon emissions affecting the Arctic region. NDEP has been operational in northern Belarus since 2010 focusing on wastewater treatment benefiting the Baltic Sea and surrounding countries. EBRD acts as the fund manager of NDEP.
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.
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.
