EU and UNDP launch Innovative Finance Challenge to help municipalities unlock new financing opportunities | Apply by November 13

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), through the EU-funded Mayors for Economic Growth (M4EG) Facility, is launching a new Call for Interest for the Innovative Finance Challenge (IFC). The initiative will support municipalities in Armenia, Moldova, North Macedonia and Ukraine in designing and implementing innovative financing solutions to address local development challenges.

The call is also supported by the City Experiment Fund (CEF), funded by the Ministry of Finance of the Slovak Republic.

The IFC will provide cities with technical and financial (up to US$20,000 per city) support to test and implement innovative financing mechanisms tailored to their local needs. These may include revolving funds, community co-funding platforms, municipal asset management and monetisation, property tax enhancement, municipal bonds and community land trusts. Municipalities may also propose their own innovative solutions.

The financing solutions proposed under the IFC are expected to respond to a concrete financing bottleneck faced by the applicant municipality, rather than serve as a generic revenue-generation tool.

The deadline for applications is 13 November 2026.

Selected municipalities will participate in the Challenge from January to November 2027.

CEF works with municipalities across Europe and Central Asia to tackle complex urban challenges through strategic innovation and experimentation, with financial support of the Ministry of Finance of the Slovak Republic. The M4EG Initiative was launched by the European Union in 2017, and has been continuously funded by the EU since then. Since 2021, the initiative has been managed by UNDP, in close cooperation with the EU, local authorities and various partners.

Find out more

Press release

Guidance note, eligibility criteria and application materials

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