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United Economic Development Fund

GLOBAL APPROACH

Encourage and facilitate transformative investments in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) by piloting and expanding innovative financing mechanisms and policies in collaboration with local governments and domestic banks, spanning both the public and private sectors.

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UEDF SWITZERLAND.View 06
UEDF
The regenerative economy is a holistic approach to economic growth that focuses on rebuilding and rejuvenating natural and social systems rather than exploiting them for short-term gain. It is based on the principles of sustainability, equity, and resilience, and aims to create a world that is not just environmentally sustainable, but also socially just and economically viable.
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Building blocks of a regenerative financial ecosystem that works for everyone.

Regeneration is the process that delivers sustainable living systems as the outcome of that process. Therefore, intelligent system design (and appropriate humility) would suggest using the same universal patterns and principles the cosmos uses to build stable, healthy, and sustainable systems throughout the real world as the model for our human economy.

Building blocks of a regenerative financial ecosystem that works for everyone.

This idea is grounded on three premises: 

  • The human economy is a living system (albeit an unhealthy one today). 
  • There are universal patterns and principles – “first principles” – we can define that broadly describe the qualities and tendencies of how life works. 
  • If the human economy is to be sustainable over the long run, it must harness the regenerative process by aligning with these same “first principles” of living systems. 
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Repurposing of local government finance is a vehicle to accelerate environmentally sustainable and inclusive development.

Unlocking financing from domestic and international financial institutions to strengthen local infrastructure and expand local economies.

Strengthening climate change–resilience in communities and economies by increasing financing for, and investment in, climate change adaptation.

Rebuild local fiscal space, accelerate national economic recovery and restore trust in public institutions, all of which are core responsibilities of both central and local governments.

Support of multi-level development finance for the full implementation of the Rio Conventions and the New Urban Agenda.

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There are many ways that businesses can contribute to the regenerative economy. Some ideas and suggestions include:

Rather than the traditional linear model of make-use-dispose, circular business models aim to keep resources in use for as long as possible, extracting the maximum value from them while in use, and then recovering and regenerating them at the end of their life. This can be achieved through strategies such as product-as-a-service, repair and reuse, and recycling and upcycling.

Agriculture has a significant impact on the environment, and regenerative agriculture practices can help to restore and rejuvenate degraded land while also improving soil health, water retention, and biodiversity. Businesses can invest in regenerative agriculture by sourcing their raw materials from regenerative farms, or by supporting regenerative agriculture initiatives through financial investments or partnerships.

Many social and environmental challenges are best addressed at a local level, through the efforts of community-led organizations and initiatives. Businesses can support these efforts by partnering with and investing in local organizations, or by providing resources such as funding, expertise, or time.

A regenerative economy is one that is inclusive and equitable, and businesses can contribute to this by prioritizing diversity, equity, and inclusion in all aspects of their operations. This includes things like offering fair wages and benefits, promoting diversity and inclusion in hiring and leadership, and supporting initiatives that benefit marginalized communities.

There are many other ways that businesses can contribute to the regenerative economy, and the opportunities will vary depending on the specific industry and context. By taking a holistic and long-term perspective, and by considering the social and environmental impacts of their actions, businesses can play a vital role in building a more regenerative and sustainable world.

We have distilled our research into a pattern of key interconnected principles that underlie systemic health and collectively represent the eight principles or qualities of regenerative vitality that can be used as the theoretical foundation of Regenerative Economics. We are not suggesting that the complexity of living systems can be reduced to eight (or any other number of) principles, nor that these eight define some universal Truth. But collectively, and seen as a single unified whole and not a checklist of pieces, this unity does point in the direction of how we now understand life to work, life creating the conditions for ever more life in an upward spiral of complexification. Therefore, these eight principles, taken as a whole, can serve in a very practical way as the vital compass for our journey to the emergence of regenerative economies adapted to each unique context.

In Right Relationship

Humanity is an integral part of an interconnected web of life in which there is no real separation between “us” and “it.” The scale of the human economy matters in relation to the biosphere in which it is embedded. What is more, we are all connected to one another and to all locales of our global civilization, as both our lived experience and quantum physics tell us. Damage to any part of that web ripples back to harm every other part as well. So the principles of reciprocity and mutualism found in both biology and indigenous wisdom, and even the Golden Rule common across all the World’s religions, are foundational to a regenerative economy.

Views Wealth Holistically

True wealth is not merely money in the bank. It must be defined and managed systemically in terms of the well-being of the whole. This can only be achieved through the harmonization of multiple kinds of wealth or “capital” — to use economic language — beyond the conventional financial, material and technological capital to include social/relational capital, cultural, experiential and yes spiritual capital, however one defines it. But all of these forms of capital rest on the foundation of natural capital and in particular healthy ecosystem function, upon which all life — inclusive of our human economies — depends. Critically, the whole is only as strong as the weakest link.

Innovative, Adaptive, & responsive

In a world in which change is both ever-present and accelerating, the qualities of innovation and adaptability are critical to health. It is this idea that Charles Darwin intended to convey in this often-misconstrued statement attributed to him: “In the struggle for survival, the fittest win out at the expense of their rivals.” What Darwin actually meant is that: the most “fit” is the one that fits best i.e., the one that is most adaptable to a changing environment. Therefore, the entrepreneurial dynamism associated with a free enterprise system and the free flow of capital is essential. Yet both must somehow be channeled in a way that is responsive to the changing dynamics and essential needs of systemic health rather than short term individual desires of wants and greed.

Empowered Participation

In an interdependent system, fitness comes from contributing in some way to the health of the whole. The quality of empowered participation means that all parts must be “in relationship” with the larger whole in ways that not only empower them to negotiate for their own needs but also enable them to add their unique contribution towards the health and well-being of the larger wholes in which they are embedded. Thus while “inclusiveness” may be morally desirable, empowered participation is a non-negotiable quality of systemic health for the entire system.

Community & Place

Each human community consists of a mosaic of peoples, traditions, beliefs, and institutions uniquely shaped by long-term pressures of geography, human history, culture, local environment, and changing human needs. Honoring this fact, a Regenerative Economy nurtures healthy and resilient communities and regions, each one uniquely informed by the essence of its individual history and place. While the pattern of eight universal principles apply to all places, each place must define how the pattern applies based on their own unique contexts. Just as every snowflake looks like a snowflake, every snowflake is also unique.

Edge Effect Abundance

Creativity and abundance flourish synergistically at the “edges” of systems, where the bonds holding the dominant pattern in place are weakest. For example, there is an abundance of interdependent life in salt marshes where a river meets the ocean. At those edges the opportunities for innovation and cross-fertilization are the greatest. Working collaboratively across edges – with ongoing learning and development sourced from the diversity that exists there – is transformative for both the communities where the exchanges are happening, and for the individuals involved. Specialized silos of expertise, while necessary in our complex world, also create barriers to new ways of manifesting regenerative potential.

Robust Circulatory Flow

A living economy demands a healthy metabolism to flush toxins and nourish every cell at every level of our human networks. Just as human health depends on the robust circulation of oxygen, nutrients, etc., so too does economic health depend on robust circulatory flows of energy and materials in a “circular fashion” where waste is food as in all biological systems. But it also demands robust circulation of money out to all extremities of the system, the robust circulation of accurate information enabled by the internet (but severely damaged in our post truth society), and even the circulation of empathy to help raise consciousness, support trust and healthy dialogue. It should go without saying that a healthy economic metabolism also demands healthy, toxin free material and financial inputs, while disposing of wastes in a way and on a scale that does not undermine the health of the whole.

Seeks Balance

Being in dynamic balance is essential to systemic health. Like a unicycle rider, regenerative systems are always engaged in this delicate dance in search of balance. Achieving harmony requires balancing paradoxes with both/and thinking rather than either/or thinking. Healthy systems harmonize multiple variables in a unified whole instead of optimizing single ones at the expense of others. For example, a Regenerative Economy seeks to balance masculine and feminine energy and qualities such as analytical thinking with intuitive ways of knowing, and competition with collaboration. It also balances efficiency and resilience; diversity and coherence; and supports fractal structures that balance small, medium, and large organizations in healthy hierarchy, all in service to the health of the whole.

Regenerative systems in the real world — that is to say the miracle of life itself — hold for us the promise and concrete reality of infinite regenerative potential. Just as fractal patterns that repeat from the microscopic to the cosmic define the living and non-living world, so too can we dare to believe that the universal patterns and principles of regenerative vitality can apply from the economy of the individual home to the local and bioregional, and all the way to the global economy. And critically, the regenerative process unlocks previously unseen potential with no limit, all the way to infinity, just as we can dare to believe that consciousness has no limit. It is this regenerative potential that holds the promise of exponential and unending prosperity for humankind and the living world in which we are embedded just as life expands in the face of entropy. Such is the promise of simply participating in — and contributing to as only humans uniquely can — the journey of evolution itself. But, and this is an important but, such promise is open to us if and only if we shed our arrogant ignorance and learn to live synergistically with these patterns and principles that describe living systems and just so happen to be aligned with the wisdom traditions that have stood the test of time. Let us choose life as the basis of our economic system design.

2019

Our approach ,adopts a transformative impact financing approach to promote service delivery, infrastructure investment and local economic development that retains value within the local territory.

Transformative Impact Finance UEDF implements a transformational impact finance strategy to support service delivery, infrastructure investment, and local economic growth that preserves value within the local territory in order to increase local fiscal space and local fixed capital formation. Public and Private Sector Partnerships UEDF partners with local governments, domestic banks, and local businesses to design, prototype, and test financing methods and business models in both the public and private sectors to support locally conceived public investments and revenue-generating capital investment projects.
Understanding Our Development Impact Promote and support transformative investment through local governments and domestic banks in SMEs by piloting and scaling up innovative financing mechanisms and policies in the public and private sectors.
Measurable Impact During the past two decades, our work has delivered measurable impact in areas such as job creation, women’s economic empowerment, clean energy, resilience to climate change and strengthened food security
Local Level UEDF contributes to local economic growth, peacebuilding, and more importantly, improvement in people’s quality of life at the grassroots level.

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Transforming Economies Forward & Change Through Investing.

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The driving force behind our transformation is our team. We are constantly developing fresh capabilities and broadening our investment and operational frameworks, with the aim of bolstering our investment outcomes and fortifying our organizational resilience for the times ahead.

International Exchange Trade Board is committed to helping financial systems reinforce their contribution to sustainable economic growth and healthy social development.

International Exchange Trade Board. ❯

Developing an intelligent, secure, and transparent monetary infrastructure of the tomorrow. 

IMFDA ❯

Inter Development Infrastructure Fund partners with governments by developing a joint venture infrastructure fund strictly focus on local economic development.

Inter Development Infrastructure Fund  ❯

EMERGENCE

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United Economic Development Fund is a worldwide investor with a long-term perspective, driven by our mission, and focused on shaping the future.

SHAPING ECONOMIES
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A consortium comprising central bankers, financial officials, regulators, and leaders from both public and private sectors.

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