IDENTIFYING INNOVATIVE FINANCE SOLUTIONS FOR SERVICE DELIVERY IN MOROCCO

The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) innovates financial solutions to empower local governments in the least-developed countries to increase dedicated budgetary space and resources for programs that improve lives. UNCDF’s West Africa team engaged a Capstone team to identify ways to better finance service delivery within Morocco's public finance architecture. The team focused on public lighting infrastructure—an expensive budget item for municipalities—and identified an initiative to cut expenses in half. The Capstone team traveled to Morocco to interview stakeholders at the regional and national levels to refine its analysis. The team proposed the introduction of a revolving loan fund to finance upfront investment in energy-efficient public light systems, with repayment being made through cost savings realized from energy savings. The team recommended application of this approach in Morocco's Oriental Region as a scalable model to implement a revolving fund for infrastructure development, furthering the client’s mission to find local solutions to local service delivery gaps.