Development Finance and Impact Fund Research Support

Research and compile a structured database of development finance institutions and impact funds.

UNDP - United Nations Development Programme

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Home-based;

Volunteering Finance & Economy

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Application deadline in 11 days: Monday 6 Jul 2026 at 00:00 UTC

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Overview

Research and compile a structured database of development finance institutions and impact funds.

You have:

Background in finance, economics, international development, or a related field sufficient to understand investment mandate terminology, fund structures, and DFI operating models.
Strong research skills: ability to find, verify, and synthesise information from institutional annual reports, fund prospectuses, and policy documents.
Proficiency in Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets for structured data entry across multiple fields.
Attention to detail in recording mandate criteria, ticket sizes, instrument types, and source references accurately.
Familiarity with the African investment or development finance landscape is a significant advantage.
Prior exposure to impact investing, blended finance, or development finance institutions through study, work, or research is strongly preferred.

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Details

timbuktoo Africa Innovation Foundation is a pan-African innovation initiative anchored in UNDP's Regional Bureau for Africa. The Foundation's mission is to support African founders to start, grow, and scale — targeting 100,000 enrolled startups, 1,000 scaled companies, and the mobilisation of USD 1 billion in catalytic and commercial capital for African innovation.

The Foundation's investment architecture is built on a four-layer blended capital stack: UNDP catalytic anchor capital, development finance institution (DFI) concessional funding, impact fund mandate capital, and commercial co-investment. The Chief Investment Officer leads the Foundation's relationships with DFIs, impact funds, and institutional investors across the continent and globally, and is responsible for building the capital mobilisation pipeline that connects enrolled companies to appropriate institutional investors.

A structured, current, and well-researched database of DFIs and impact funds with active mandates to invest in African startups and innovation ecosystems is a foundational tool for this work. It enables the CIO's team to identify the right institutions for each deal, understand mandate constraints and deployment criteria in advance of outreach, and map the full institutional investor landscape against timbuktoo's enrolled company pipeline. This database does not exist in structured form and is needed as a priority input to the CIO's capital mobilisation strategy for 2026.

We are looking for two online volunteers with a background in finance, economics, or international development to research and compile a structured database of development finance institutions and impact funds with active investment or co-investment mandates in African startup and innovation ecosystems.

Using publicly available sources — including institution websites, annual reports, fund prospectuses, investment policy statements, OECD DAC statistics, and published news coverage — the volunteer will profile a minimum of 40 institutions across the following categories:

Multilateral development finance institutions (e.g. IFC, AfDB, PROPARCO, DEG, FMO, British International Investment, Swedfund, Norfund, OPIC/DFC)

Regional and national DFIs with African mandates (e.g. Afreximbank, DBSA, TDB, CDC Group successor entities, national development banks)

Impact funds and blended finance vehicles actively deploying into African startups or innovation ecosystems (e.g. funds with stated SDG mandate capital, gender-lens investing mandates, or climate-innovation mandates in Africa)

Sovereign wealth funds and foundations with publicly stated African innovation investment programmes

For each institution, the volunteer will document the following fields in a structured spreadsheet:

One completed, structured spreadsheet profiling a minimum of 40 DFIs and impact funds with active African innovation and startup investment mandates — formatted to the Foundation's template and delivered within 8 weeks.

The volunteer will aim for a minimum of 40 profiled institutions, with at least 8 entries in each of the multilateral DFI, regional DFI, and impact fund categories. All entries must be based on verifiable public sources, with the source URL recorded for each institution.

Background in finance, economics, international development, or a related field — sufficient to understand investment mandate terminology, fund structures, and DFI operating models

Strong research skills: ability to find, verify, and synthesise information from institutional annual reports, fund prospectuses, and policy documents

Proficiency in Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets for structured data entry across multiple fields

Attention to detail in recording mandate criteria, ticket sizes, instrument types, and source references accurately

Familiarity with the African investment or development finance landscape is a significant advantage

Prior exposure to impact investing, blended finance, or development finance institutions — through study, work, or research — is strongly preferred

Apply now

Potential interview questions

Describe your experience with financial data analysis.	This assesses your familiarity with handling financial information and data interpretation.	Provide specific examples of analyses you've performed or projects you've worked on.
How do you ensure accuracy in your research?	The interviewer wants to understand your methods for verifying information.	Pro members can see the explanation.
Can you provide an example of a time you worked on a team project involving data collection?	Pro members can see the explanation.	Pro members can see the explanation.
What tools or software do you use for data management?	Pro members can see the explanation.	Pro members can see the explanation.
Describe a challenge you faced while researching and how you overcame it.	Pro members can see the explanation.	Pro members can see the explanation.
How would you approach profiling a new institution for funding opportunities?	Pro members can see the explanation.	Pro members can see the explanation.
What do you know about development finance institutions and their role in startups?	Pro members can see the explanation.	Pro members can see the explanation.
Can you explain your understanding of blended finance and its significance?	Pro members can see the explanation.	Pro members can see the explanation.