VIENNA, 2 December 2021 - The acceleration to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) requires investments from both the public and private sectors to address the discrepancy between demand and supply of investment finances for sustainable economic development of developing countries.

On the path to build back better towards accelerating inclusive and sustainable industrial development (ISID), the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) has finalized an online course to enhance and develop essential industrial expertise for investment promotion. The training targets, among others, to support industrial recovery and expansion programmes in value chains that had been most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic to mobilize finances for responsible investments and sustainable technologies. Capacity development has proven to be a fundamental basis to increase the efficiency and effectiveness for managing limited financial resources for industrial development concepts, thus the state together with the private sector needs to focus on improving and financing skills development programmes to develop or improve the bankability of investment pipelines.

The training course on investment project preparation and appraisal is comprised of fourteen (14) modules designed to assist regulators, project sponsors, project designers, financiers, guarantors, investment promotion executives, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), entrepreneurs, and start-ups to acquire knowledge and skills for the development of quality projects and to augment their position for attracting domestic and foreign investment finances for project development. The modules are further subdivided into four themes: project development and market analysis, technical analysis, financial planning and analysis and risk analysis and project implementation planning and appraisal.

The training provides the fundamental principles for identification of investment opportunities through an in-depth description of the phases of the project cycle, highlighting the connection between the project and its environment to ensure minimal or no adverse effects to the external environment for sustainability. It also upskills participants with the basic knowledge for performing financial planning, risk analysis, and SDG monitoring for industrial projects. The course will be an ideal complement to UNIDO’s Computer Model for Feasibility Analysis and Reporting (COMFAR) Software which has been in the market for over 30 years and which currently has over 11,000 COMFAR users in 160 countries.

The course will be available in early 2022 at the UNIDO Knowledge Hub, complementing other investment promotion modules on impact investing and international business alliances launched earlier with its partner WAIPA. Physical delivery of the course is also planned as part of a multi-stakeholder partnership initiative in supporting Investment Promotion Agencies (IPAs) in Least Developed Countries (LDCs), as an initiative recently endorsed in the Final Declaration of the 9th Ministerial Conference of the Least Developed Countries held last week on 25 and  26 November 2021.

For more information, please contact the UNIDO Department of Digitalization, Technology and Innovation (DTI)

email: DTI@unido.org