Objective and Scope

The objective of the Transition Fund is to improve the lives of citizens in transition countries, and to support the transformation currently underway in several countries in the region by providing grants for technical cooperation to strengthen governance and public institutions, and foster sustainable and inclusive economic growth by advancing country-led policy and institutional reforms.

To provide flexibility to respond to transformational and cross-cutting proposals, the Transition Fund provides grant funding and fosters partnerships for technical cooperation projects to address a broad range of inter-related thematic areas covering all three pillars of the Deauville Partnership (Finance, Trade, and Governance). Transition countries can make proposals across the following thematic areas (which are illustrated here by examples):

• Investing in Sustainable Growth.  This could include such topics as innovation and technology policy, enhancing the business environment (including for small and medium-sized enterprises as well as for local and foreign investment promotion), competition policy, private sector development strategies, access to finance, addressing urban congestion and energy intensity.


• Inclusive Development and Job Creation.  This could include support of policies for integrating lagging regions, skills and labor market policies, increasing youth employability, enhancing female labor force participation, integrating people with disabilities, vocational training, pension reform, improving job conditions and regulations, financial inclusion, promoting equitable fiscal policies and social safety net reform.


• Enhancing Economic Governance.  This could include areas such as transparency, anti-corruption and accountability policies, asset recovery, public financial management and oversight, public sector audit and evaluation, integrity, procurement reform, regulatory quality and administrative simplification, investor and consumer protection, access to economic data and information, management of environmental and social impacts, capacity building for local government and decentralization, support for the Open Government Partnership, creation of new and innovative government agencies related to new transitional reforms, reform of public service delivery in the social and infrastructure sectors, and sound banking systems.


• Competitiveness and Integration.  This could include such topics as logistics, behind-the-border regulatory convergence, trade strategy and negotiations, planning and facilitation of cross-border infrastructure, and promoting and facilitating infrastructure projects, particularly in the areas of urban infrastructure, transport, trade facilitation and private sector development.