On the occasion our IDFC 12th Steering Group meeting, this year hosted by our member TSKB in Istanbul, Turkey, focusing on our Gender Equality Working Group, we launched its new identity. A new logo and graphic charter to reflect a strong, fresh, and vibrant aesthetic. ​The vertical symbol represents a starting point and the expansion of the network of development banks.  It introduces new, brighter, and more powerful color codes that represent the SDGs, clearly signaling the Club’s commitment to implementing them.​

The new identity echoes to the Club’s work on the following axes:

• Evolution, as the IDFC awakened the need to transform and expand the impact we generate as Public Development Banks worldwide.
• Change, echoing to our motivation to continue leading change, betting on the joint work we do day by day in the Public Development Banks.
• Communities, to involve people in making financial decisions that directly impact their lives and the environment.
• Sustainable Finance movement, which is constantly evolving movement that requires the collaboration from all involved actors.

4 pillars to highlight the Club’s goals and actions:

• Working Groups  IDFC members join efforts towards sustainable finance and to that end focuses in 5 work streams: SDGs Alignment, Cooperation for Development, Climate Finance, Biodiversity and Gender Equality.
• Role of PDBs IDFC aims to position PDBs at the heart of financial reform discussions. PDBs excel in mobilizing finance, structuring plans, monitoring resources, and measuring impact, influencing markets and maximizing investments.
• Improving capital IDFC promotes new lending schemes by developing financial instruments that support PDBs´ appetite for raising liquidity, reducing risk, and reducing the cost of funding.
• IDFC Facility Supports IDFC members in enhancing sustainable finance and aligning with the Paris Agreement, Biodiversity Framework, and Agenda 2030 through knowledge exchange and capacity development on sustainability.

The IDFC Steering Group Meetings also serve the specific purpose of setting a roadmap with IDFC’s visibility and mission at its heart. The IDFC Steering Group takes a development banking perspective to address the common goals of member institutions, and the major themes from the meetings are inducted into the discussion agenda on international platforms such as the Finance in Common Summit, thereby paving the way for countries to set their strategic roadmaps.

IDFC has a total of 26 members from Europe, from Africa, from Asia and the MENA Region, and from Central America, South America and the Caribbean Region, while the IDFC Steering Group has 13 members. For the first time since its establishment, the IDFC Steering Group Meeting was held in Türkiye. The meeting also focused on evaluating the Club’s global strategic roadmap and agenda, in addition to strengthening TSKB’s relationships and expanding areas of cooperation with member banks that are key financial stakeholders in Türkiye’s green transformation and inclusive development efforts.

TSKB CEO Murat Bilgiç addressed the eminent audience at the opening of the IDFC Steering Group Meeting hosted by TSKB this year with a focus on climate and gender equality. “The foundations of IDFC were laid at our Bank in 2011, and we have been a member of the Steering Group since 2019. And now, TSKB is delighted to host this year’s session of the IDFC Steering Group Meeting. This is a highly important meeting, indeed a strategic opportunity for us and our esteemed stakeholders to expand our contribution to global sustainability targets under the UN Sustainable Development Goals.”

Bilgiç also stated that the meeting intended to address critical matters such as climate finance, alignment with the sustainable development goals, gender equality, solidarity for development and biodiversity to increase relevant cooperation and experience exchange. “As we represent our country on an important platform such as IDFC, we continue to develop effective solutions globally, with inclusive development at the core. As IDFC members, I believe our long-term work and commitments will raise global awareness and strengthen cooperation. IDFC’s participation in the Finance in Common Summit in 2024, coupled with ongoing collaboration meetings with the signatories of the gender equality declaration, also play a critical role in determining progress and future goals. As a principle, we serve measurably and transparently in line with our goals. Accordingly, the items adding further depth to our relevant work included approaches such as SDG Mapping under IDFC and our active involvement in activities focusing on climate change. As an inclusive organization, we continue to play an active role in the Gender Equality Working Group, which we co-chair with AFD and BICE. Our major contributions so far include the ‘IDFC Collective Roadmap’, a roadmap with a focus on gender equality drawn up for IDFC and implemented in 2021 in cooperation with the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management (FSFM), and the ‘Gender Finance Mapping’, the first action plan drawn up on the basis of the roadmap. For the future, we will continue to actively contribute to IDFC’s gender equality and climate roadmap on a national and international scale. Moreover, we will keep creating added value with new funds to the real sector as well as potential opportunities and fresh collaboration in the near future, all leveraged by stronger NDCs under the Paris Agreement and by country strategies on climate mitigation and adaptation as part of Net Zero 2053 goal.”

The opening speech by TSKB CEO Murat Bilgiç was followed by an address on ‘Macroeconomic and geopolitical outlook’ by Mithat Rende, TSKB Board Member and Former Ambassador. As part of the agenda, Prof. Itır Erhart, social entrepreneur and Faculty Member at Istanbul Bilgi University, took the floor as a keynote speaker during a special session on gender-climate relations.

The main theme of the IDFC Steering Group Meeting was gender equality, with ‘Climate Finance’, ‘SDG Alignment’, ‘Gender Equality’, ‘Biodiversity’ and ‘Cooperation for Development’ under the Paris Climate Agreement as other key topics for discussion.