BBVAMF met its fellow institutional members of the SDG Fund’s Private Sector Advisory Group in New York to propose new initiatives to help achieve these SDGs.
“Let us resolve to put peace first”. With these words, António Guterres took his place as Secretary General of the United Nations. A concise, direct message, articulating all the policy lines of the international development body par excellence. A message that the SDG Fund’s Private Sector Advisory Group, of which the BBVA Microfinance Foundation is a part, has taken to heart at its first meeting in the new 2017-2019 period.
The twelve private institutions in the group met this Friday at the United Nations HQ in New York, to share and debate new initiatives to tackle the 17 Agenda 2030 goals. It is in the preamble to this universal declaration where the reference is made to the necessary and essential relationship between peace and sustainable development: “There can be no sustainable development without peace and no peace without sustainable development”, it reads.
BBVAMF is aware of this reality in its mission to promote the inclusive and sustainable economic and social development of vulnerable people, and also supports refugees and victims of the armed conflict in Colombia. It does so through Bancamía, BBVAMF’s institution in Colombia, which works towards the social reintegration social of the displaced, improving access to financial services and training with the support of state aid agencies and institutions such as the Colombian Reintegration Agency.
In Panama, BBVAMF works with UNHCR to help those fleeing conflict in Colombia. According to official figures, in December 2015 there were 1,593 recognized refugees in Panama. That year, the Foundation’s institution, Microserfin, renewed a commitment with the United Nations agency to make financial and social inclusion a reality for displaced entrepreneurs.
BBVA Microfinance Foundation has been a member of the SDG Fund’s Private Sector Advisory Group since it was set up in April 2015. The Foundation, which is non-profit and celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, operates in alignment with the SDGs. Its work has an impact, in differing degrees, on eight of the 17 goals. In its new social performance report, BBVAMF has a chapter on the SDGs, the most ambitious international targets ever set for the world’s development and welfare in the next few years.