The Leading Group The Leading Group on Innovative Financing for Development, consisting of 55 member and 4 observer countries, and working in conjunction with international organizations (particularly United Nations-related agencies) and representatives of the civil society, held its Sixth plenary meeting in Paris on May 28th and 29th 2009 in order to concretise the scaling up the international community had been urging at the Doha conference on development financing in December 2008. Its conclusions set several recommendations member countries are invited to follow. Moreover, the Leading Group urged to extend innovative financing to new fields, beyond health, such as climate change, education and mirants remittances.

The work done by the Group has been notified at the highest level. In July 2009, the Secreatary General of the United Nations published a Progress report on innvoative sources of development finance evidencing growing interest towards this field. The report includes several references to the Leading Group which is considered to be the main platform in this domain.

The Group is pursuing its ambitious work. Indeed, in October 2009, it launched a Taskforce on International Financial Transactions and Development in Paris that will prepare a detailed report presenting operational options by May 2010.

But much remains to be done. Indeed, at the International Conference on Financing for Development held in Monterrey in March 2002, the international community recognized how important it was to seek innovative financing sources and agreed to study the findings of the United Nations Secretary-General’s fact-finding study on innovative financing sources.

Since then, much progress has been made in terms of concrete achievements and international mobilization.

In January 2004, in Geneva, the presidents of Brazil, Chile and France, with the support of the United Nations Secretary-General, launched an initiative to fight hunger and poverty, calling on the international community to create new sources of financing for development.

At a meeting of Heads of State and Government held in September 2004, at the United Nations, on the initiative of the President of Brazil, joined by the presidents of Chile, France, and the President of the Government of Spain, a technical report was published. The report presented a range of innovative financing mechanism options, making it possible to establish a genuine framework for action.

At the 2005 World Summit, the Heads of State and Government recognized that it was important to develop new financing sources and joined ongoing international efforts.

In September 2005, seventy-nine (79) countries endorsed the New York Declaration on Innovative Sources of Financing for Development, co-sponsored by Algeria, Brazil, Chile, France, Germany and Spain.

This message was reaffirmed during the U.N. high level dialogue on the ODA in New York in September 2008, in the Declaration entitled “Action against hunger and poverty: Declaration on Innovative Sources of Financing for Development”, signed by the Heads of State and Government of the founding members. This event also gave an opportunity, at the initiative of the UK, to renew the mobilization for innovative financing sources in the health sector with the launching of a high-level taskforce on innovative international finance for health systems.

The consideration of the sources of innovative financing and their implementation are from now on conducted within the framework of the Leading Group on innovative finanancing that brings together 55 member countries and 4 observer countries, of various development levels, as well as major international organizations including the World Bank, WHO, UNICEF, UNDF, and NGOs.