Since the early 1990ies, Private Sector Development has become a major issue within the field of development policies. Consequently, bi- and multilateral development banks, i.e. institutions that basically provide finance for projects in developing and emerging countries have been gaining in importance. The visions of these development finance institutions reflect their conviction that the private sector plays a crucial role in stimulating economic growth, creating employment and fostering overall socioeconomic development. In this view, the private sector is key to poverty reduction.

The respective implementing organizations are the European Development Finance Institutions (EDFI). This organization groups 15 member institutions, the youngest being the Austrian Oesterreichische Entwicklungsbank (OeEB) founded in 2008.

This report is based on case studies analyzing established development finance institutions (DFIs) in four European countries: DEG from Germany, CDC from the United Kingdom, FMO from the Netherlands, and Norfund from Norway. Katharina Hammler, Agnes Gössinger, Aljoscha Gütermann and Alexander Ebhard conducted field work in these countries, including numerous interviews with experts, and published the results in their diploma theses. This report is grounded on these individual studies, merging their findings and adding comparative conclusions and recommendations.