The Casablanca Vision
Ten principles for unlocking Development through the Power of Co-financing
February 2026
On February 11, 2026, the World Bank Group and the AFD Groupe jointly organized, under the auspices of the Ministry of Economy and Finance of Morocco, a meeting bringing together development partners and countries to share their experiences in co-financing development projects. The discussions highlighted the following:
- Countries face massive financing needs to achieve sustainable development and create jobs to improve lives. Strengthening cooperation among Multilateral Development Banks (MDBSs), bilateral partners, the private sector and other stakeholders – alongside deploying innovative financing mechanisms – should be a key priority.
- Co-financing has the power to transform countries and their economies, as no institution alone is sufficient to tackle today’s development challenges. By bringing together different financial resources, technical expertise, and respective comparative advantages, co-financing enables larger-scale and more complex projects, while improving strategic alignment, reducing transaction costs, and strengthening efficiency, predictability, and country ownership.
- Co-financing addresses aid fragmentation head on by consolidating external financing, and by bringing together partners around shared frameworks and common objectives. It is a concrete way for MDBs, bilaterals, and others to better support countries, aligned with the G20 call for development partners to work more together for greater impact, through enhanced coordination and collective action.
- Co-financing is centered on country needs and requests, ensuring strong national ownership. Countries expect co-financiers to provide coordinated and timely support aligned with their national priorities. They seek simplified procedures, faster implementation, and financing solutions tailored to their capacity and needs.
- Co-financing crowds-in resources to optimize and to do more with available development financing, including by mobilizing additional public and private capital at scale, to deliver tangible results on the ground and strengthen domestic institutions.
- Co-financing with the private sector provides added benefits. It enables larger financing volume, reduces fiscal pressure on governments, and enhances risk sharing, while leveraging innovation and private sector expertise to support development outcomes.
In addition, the benefits of partnerships with national development banks building on coalitions such as Finance in Common (FiCS); and of joining forces around global initiatives such as Agriconnect and Mission 300 and regional ones such as the Arab Water Initiative were highlighted.
Considering the points above, participants affirmed the importance of continued efforts to make co-financing easier and more accessible, to support shared global priorities. To do so, they identified the following ten principles to guide future country-driven and impact-oriented collaboration around co-financing:
1. Center on country ownership and demand-driven approach – Ground co-financing on countries’ development priorities, strategies, and reform agendas, combining resources and enhancing operational efficiencies.
2. Promote country level collaboration using different partnership mechanisms – Engage, promote active dialogue, and share information among partners where possible to identify and pursue co-financing opportunities at the country, regional, and global levels, including through the Global Collaborative Co-financing Platform.
3. Support national institutions, systems, and implementation capacity – Design projects in close coordination with governments and strengthen national institutions and local financial institutions, such as National Development Banks, considering implementation capacity.
4. Continue to simplify and align procedures – Reduce complexity and accelerate project implementation through aligned or harmonized processes, supported where practicable with collaboration arrangements.
5. Foster organizational support for collaboration – Find ways to encourage operational teams to explore co-financing opportunities with others to meet countries’ development needs, through incentives and support.
6. Engage with diverse partners, including the private sector and non-sovereign donors – Draw upon different financial tools and expertise to support country-led solutions and broaden the base of development finance beyond traditional sources and instruments.
7. Promote predictable and sequenced financing – Aim to provide coordinated and timely co-financing to support implementation phases.
8. Monitor results and impact of co-financed projects– Track progress based on outcomes achieved on the ground, not only commitments.
9. Nurture long-term partnerships and learning – Build sustained cooperation with countries, adapting co-financing based on lessons learned.
10. Communicate collective accomplishments – Highlight notable cases where institutions have come together to finance transformative projects with impact.
