The is a created by the , the Islamic Development Bank , the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the , and most recently the UK's Department for International Development. According to Gulf News, the five year fund is the "largest ever Middle-East based, fully-multilateral development initiative". In 2015 The Economist reported on the fund creation for tackling poverty and ill health in the Muslim world, and that the IsDB and BMGF sought to collaborate in the fund with Gulf countries. The fund started its operations in September 2016. is the Head of the Lives and Livelihoods , Islamic Development Bank.
The LLF is a collaboration between the IsDB and Donor partners bringing an innovative financing solution for 33 of the member of the Bank. Donor grants are blended with ordinary capital resources to provide concessional financing for IsDB member countries. For projects in the least developed member countries, LLF offers ~35% grant portions and 65% IsDB OCR financing. The International Monetary Fund rules allow lower middle-income countries to borrow at market rates, the Lives and Livelihoods Fund offers packages of 10% grant portion and 90% ordinary financing, which makes loans significantly cheaper for the recipient countries. The blending results in substantially more funds, at concessional rates, made available for social development projects in geographies where they are most needed. The concessionality is leveraged to target key drivers of poverty in the beneficiary countries.
The Fund targets investments towards key drivers of poverty in the most marginalized groups. Projects are finances in health, agriculture, and basic infrastructure sectors in member countries. Health projects focus on primary healthcare system strengthening, and control/elimination of infectious diseases. Agriculture projects are geared towards increasing the productivity of small-holder farmers. Basic infrastructure investments support projects such as generating and distributing off-grid rural power, installing small-scale water and sanitation schemes, and setting up mobile communications for digital payments.
The Lives and Livelihoods Fund enables the least developed member countries of the Islamic Development Bank to finance projects that will help lift millions out of poverty.
The LLF Impact Committee have approved worth over US$1 billion in the first four years since the Fund's inception. These projects are spread across Sub-Saharan Africa, MENA, and . The maiden Annual Reports of the LLF was published in 2017. The following Annual Reports of the Lives and Livelihoods Fund are available to-date: * * * The LLF and its investments in health, agriculture, and basic infrastructure projects are featured in a number of IsDB reports including, but not limited to:
The LLF and its role in achieving the SDGs in IsDB Member countries was recently featured in the .
