MAVA Foundation
The MAVA Foundation is a Swiss-based foundation established in 1994 by Luc Hoffmann. Born of the passion and vision of its founder, who believed in protecting the planet’s wild splendour, the MAVA Foundation conserves biodiversity for the benefit of people and nature by funding, mobilising and strengthening its partners and the conservation community.
The MAVA Foundation mainly supports projects in the Mediterranean basin, coastal West Africa and the Alps, and activities with a global dimension. Programmes serving developing countries include the Mediterranean, coastal West Africa, sustainable economy and global projects.
The MAVA Foundation provided USD 75 million for development in 2021 through its grantmaking activities. Compared to 2020, this amount represents an increase of 2% in real terms.
In 2021, the MAVA Foundation provided USD 5.2 million to the multilateral system, representing 6.9% of its development finance, all of which was earmarked for specific countries, regions, themes or purposes.
The MAVA Foundation channelled most of its multilateral aid through the United Nations (UN) system and other multilateral organisations, such as ACCOBAMS.
The United Nations (UN) system received USD 3.4 million from the MAVA Foundation in 2021, notably UNDP (USD 2 million), unspecified UN entities (USD 1.1 million) and FAO (USD 0.3 million).
See the section on geographic and thematic focus for the geographical and thematic breakdown of bilateral allocations earmarked through the multilateral development system.
In 2021, the MAVA Foundation channelled its contributions mostly through non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and civil society (USD 43 million), Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) and the private sector (USD 15.4 million) and universities, research institutes or think tanks (USD 11.1 million).
In 2021, civil society organisations (CSOs) received USD 43 million (57.3%) of the MAVA Foundation’s development finance. A share of 4.5% of the MAVA Foundation’s development finance was allocated to CSOs as core support, while 52.8% was earmarked to specific projects.
In 2021, the MAVA Foundation’s development finance was primarily focused on Africa and Europe. USD 21.7 million was allocated to Africa and USD 7.8 million to Europe, accounting respectively for 29% and 10.4% of development finance. A sum of USD 38.2 million (50.9%) was unspecified by region in 2021, mainly including support to multi-regional programmes and research grants.
In 2021, 17.1% of development finance went to the top 10 recipients. The MAVA Foundation’s most significant recipients included China (People’s Republic of) (USD 2.4 million), Senegal (USD 2.3 million) and Guinea-Bissau (USD 2.1 million). Moreover, 80.4% of development finance was not allocated by country.
Least developed countries (LDCs) received USD 5.1 million (6.8%) of MAVA Foundation’s gross disbursements in 2021. The MAVA Foundation allocated the highest share of its development finance (7.6%) to upper middle income countries in 2021, followed by lower middle income countries (5.3%) in 2021, noting that USD 60.3 million (80.4%) was unallocated by income group.
Furthermore, the MAVA Foundation allocated USD 3.6 million to small island developing states (SIDS) in 2021, equal to 4.8% of its development finance. This finance was extended to Guinea-Bissau and Cabo Verde.
Sectors
In 2021, more than half of the MAVA Foundation’s commitments were allocated to multi-sector. Investments in this area accounted for 79.8% of the foundation’s commitments (USD 41.6 million), with a strong focus on support to general environment protection (USD 40.1 million).
Sustainable Development Goals
In 2021, the MAVA Foundation committed the largest shares of its contributions to the goals on partnership for the goals (SDG 17), life below water (SDG 14), responsible consumption and production (SDG 12) and life on land (SDG 15) of the United Nations 2030 Agenda. Commitments to climate action (SDG 13) totalled USD 10.7 million.
Official website: https://mava-foundation.org
The methodological notes provide further details on the definitions and statistical methodologies applied, including core and earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations, the Sustainable Development Goal focus of private development finance, channels of delivery, unspecified/unallocated allocations, the gender equality policy marker, and the environment markers.