What role can the private sector play in building lasting peace?

Investing for Peace will take center stage at an official side event during the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4), taking place in Seville on Thursday, 3 July 2025, from 10:30 to 12:00.

Titled “Mobilizing Innovative Private Finance for Peace”, the event will explore emerging strategies to engage the local private sector in fragile and conflict-affected settings—turning finance into a catalyst for resilience and peace. Speakers from the public and private sectors will present practical solutions for financing peace through innovative investment models. The event will emphasize approaches that deliver both social impact and financial returns in fragile contexts.

The discussion is co-hosted by the German Federal Foreign Office, the Permanent Mission of South Africa to the United Nations, the UN Peacebuilding Support Office (PBSO), the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), and Interpeace.

Speakers include:

• Elizabeth Spehar, Assistant Secretary-General for Peacebuilding Support, United Nations
• Pradeep Kurukulasuriya, Executive Secretary, UNCDF
• Pierre Van Hoeylandt, Senior Adviser on Peace Finance, German Federal Foreign Office
• Zane Dangor, DG, Department of International Relations and Cooperation, South Africa
• Itonde Kakoma, President and CEO, Interpeace
• David Kuijper, GM, European Association of Development Finance Institutions (EDFI)
• Jonathan Bellish, CEO, Shuraako Capital
• Hodane Osman, Governor, Somalia Development Bank

📅 Thursday, 3 July
🕥 10:30–12:00
📍 Room 23, FIBES Conference Center, Seville 
🌐 4th International Conference on Financing for Development