This month, in the lead up to the Third International Conference on Financing for Development, the co-facilitators of the preparatory process issued the ‘zero’ draft of the official conference outcome document. In a letter sent on 16 March 2015 to UN Member States, Geir Pedersen, Permanent Representative of Norway, and George Talbot, Permanent Representative of Guyana, described the draft as a forward-looking framework with concrete actions for the financing of sustainable development, in support of the post-2015 development agenda.

The draft Addis Ababa Accord text highlights the importance of financial access and the need to support financial inclusion efforts as one of the pillars of successful global development, noting its positive impact on the poor, women, rural communities, marginalized communities and persons with disabilities. The draft Accord recognizes that financial inclusion requirements vary by country and that consequently, financial inclusion strategies should be developed and reviewed in consultation with relevant national stakeholders in order to make financial inclusion a priority policy target.

Increasing capacity development and expanding peer learning and experience sharing are identified as areas for increased investment. The draft encourages the World Bank, IMF, the United Nations and academia to work closely with the Alliance for Financial Inclusion and other regional organizations to achieve this objective.

In addition to the financial inclusion text, the draft Accord covers the full spectrum of inclusion related policy including remittances, SMEs, and the importance of increased private public cooperation as just a few of the focus areas essential to the post-2015 global development agenda.

Overall the draft accord strikes a positive tone about the future, noting that solutions can be found through ‘strengthening official finance, unlocking the transformative potential of people and the private sector, while ensuring that investment patterns support sustainable development, and by strengthening national and international policy environments’.

The Addis Ababa Accord will be further discussed and developed by UN Member States during a second drafting session currently scheduled for 13-17 April 2015, in New York, US.