The Facility for Investment Climate Advisory Services (FIAS) is a collaboration between 13 development partners and the World Bank Group. As of FY24, the roster of FIAS Development Partners was Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, the European Union, France, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States, in partnership with the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC). FIAS funding supports client-facing and knowledge development projects. IFC oversees and manages the FIAS multi-donor trust fund that allocates support to client-facing projects implemented by IFC Advisory and Upstream Services teams and FIAS-supported global platforms and global knowledge projects implemented by IFC and IBRD teams.
FIAS-supported teams work with client governments on engagements aimed at achieving impact at scale. Most FIAS-supported projects entail partnerships with national governments on reforms and sector-related work to boost private sector-led growth. Some projects involve partnerships with subnational entities and groups of private firms and business associations in various sectors. Client-facing work supported by FIAS assists in implementing legal and regulatory streamlining and helps improve investment generation and retention in key business sectors such as agribusiness, tourism, manufacturing, and finance. The engagements supported by contribute to the global development agenda, establish communities of practice, leverage examples and shared experience, improve feedback loops between reform input and implementation, shape reputation and perception, and create and increase developing country support for reforms. International organizations and academia partner with FIAS to share and replicate best practices, establish and enhance global thought leadership, and implement joint projects and diagnostics through work with organizations such as the Organization for Economic-Cooperation and Development (OECD), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Trade Organization (WTO), and the UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).
Going forward, FIAS is supporting projects aligned with the IFC 3.0 Creating Markets Upstream strategy. The aim of upstream is to leverage IFC Creating Markets Advisory to help create the conditions for increased private sector investment and to generate a pipeline of investible projects attractive to private investors and, potentially, to IFC. Upstream builds on experience from investment and advisory initiatives that successfully created new market opportunities, and applies innovative models around staffing, funding, indicators, and operations to enable new levels of delivery.
IFC teams supported by FIAS work with private sectors, regional organizations, and governments to help link firms to investment opportunities while building capacity and advocating for reform through business associations and public-private dialogue. A key goal of this work is to ensure that the private sector perspective is represented in public reform efforts. Regional projects encompassing multiple countries help FIAS leverage maximum results.
FIAS supports advisory services that deliver thought leadership and client-facing programs with attributable and measurable outcomes and impacts. The FIAS commitment to results measurement, impact evaluation, and knowledge and learning includes the proactive communication of results and impact through publications, newsletters, product launches, speeches, social media, and other communications channels. The foundation of this commitment is a cutting-edge results measurement and knowledge-management program backed by impact evaluation and the FIAS theory of change. Together, these systems, publications, and programs create a feedback loop linking project implementation, results, product design, and global thought leadership.