Cambridge, UK, February 4-5, 2024 - The Centre for Resilience and Sustainable Development (CRSD) at the University of Cambridge, in partnership with the Commonwealth Secretariat, is excited to announce the Cambridge Policy Simulation Lab (CPSL), an innovative methodology developed by Prof Nazia M Habib. This pivotal event, part of the 'Their Future, Our Action' initiative, is set to take place at Newnham College to stress-test a global youth finance facility which can attract blended finance to invest in youth and nature based solutions. The CPSL will integrate three critical outputs from this empirical research which led to the development of the Common Pool Asset Structuring System (COMPASS), the Political Economic Resilience Index (PERI), and legally validated a whole-of-systems approach to identify investable opportunities to attract blended finance.
This research primarily focused on the Small Island Developing States (SIDS). The findings and lessons from SIDS are generally applicable in the era of rising climate crisis and exhibit the challenges of accessing climate finance.
At the CPSL workshop, experts will design, develop and deploy multiple financial models using the evidence developed during the two years of intensive action-research engagement. Over 15,500 expert hours came together with over 5,000 youth participants at various stages of the action-research. Prof Habib and her team created actionable outputs that were tailored to the needs and intended uses for specific requirements. Their goal was to promote the appropriate and purposeful application of evidence to improve collective decision-making.
By leveraging existing multilateral and bilateral partnerships and tapping into the impact investment community, the Commonwealth Secretariat and the Centre for Resilience and Sustainable Development (CRSD) partnership aim to continue the efforts to strengthen the global financial resilience system of these small states, and provide due emphasis on investing in youth-focused and nature-based solutions.
Our award-winning action-research demonstrated how to co-create research design with those who are responsible for making decisions and generating evidence for application. There are multiple pathways to attract funding for SIDS. An earlier CPSL outcome led to the creation of 10,000 jobs by attracting 10 million USD in blended finance. This simulation lab will discover applications for the Commonwealth Secretariat to take forward to The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.
