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Casper Sonesson

Casper Sonesson is a seasoned policy advisor with extensive experience in development, particularly within the United Nations framework. Currently serving as a Policy Advisor at the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) since January 2020, Casper previously operated as an Independent Consultant from July 2019 to January 2020. Prior roles at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) include Global Policy Advisor for Extractive Industries and Private Sector in Development from October 2014 to June 2019, and various leadership positions such as Deputy Director & Team Leader of Private Sector/Innovations and Development Alliances from 2000 to 2014. Casper's tenure also includes significant contributions to private sector development and microfinance initiatives from 1996 to 2000, as well as project consultancy in entrepreneurship development at the United Nations from 1994 to 1996. Educational qualifications include a Master’s degree in Political Science/Economics from Lund University and a Post-Graduate Certificate in Cross-Sector Partnerships from the University of Cambridge.

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New York, United States

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United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF)

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The UN Capital Development Fund makes public and private finance work for the poor in the world’s 46 least developed countries (#LDCs). With its capital mandate and instruments, UNCDF offers “last mile” finance models that unlock public and private resources, especially at the domestic level, to reduce poverty and support local economic development. This last mile is where available resources for development are scarcest; where market failures are most pronounced; and where benefits from national growth tend to leave people excluded. UNCDF’s financing models work through two channels: savings-led financial inclusion that expands the opportunities for individuals, households, and small businesses to participate in the local economy, providing them with the tools they need to climb out of poverty and manage their financial lives; and by showing how localized investments -- through fiscal decentralization, innovative municipal finance, and structured project finance -- can drive public and private funding that underpins local economic expansion and sustainable development. UNCDF financing models are applied in thematic areas where addressing barriers to finance at the local level can have a transformational effect for poor and excluded people and communities. By strengthening how finance works for poor people at the household, small enterprise, and local infrastructure levels, UNCDF contributes to SDG 1 on eradicating poverty with a focus on reaching the last mile and addressing exclusion and inequalities of access. At the same time, UNCDF deploys its capital finance mandate in line with SDG 17 on the means of implementation, to unlock public and private finance for the poor at the local level. By identifying those market segments where innovative financing models can have transformational impact in helping to reach the last mile, UNCDF contributes to a number of different SDGs and currently to 28 of 169 targets.


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201-500

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