This five-part online session series will introduce Austrian NGOs and their partner organizations to innovative finance, impact investing, and blended finance. The sessions will support participants in understanding key terminology, exploring where their organization fits within the wider funding ecosystem and identifying practical ways to diversify income beyond traditional grants. The sessions will cover the fundamentals of these types of finance and key instruments, such as impact bonds, concessional loans, guarantees, and catalytic capital. They will also cover impact measurement and reporting and include practical case studies with examples from the Global South. A decision-making tool will also be included to help organizations identify realistic next steps. Throughout, we will focus strongly on shifting power, decolonization, and ensuring that the content is not taught only through a Global North lens.

Programme

16.11.2026 | Part 1 – Introduction to innovative finance

What is meant by innovative finance, blended finance and impact investing? The first session is a gentle starting point that builds a shared language for the whole series. It will provide to you a simple map of funding types: grants, donations, loans, investment and corporate partnerships. And we will cover questions such as:

  • How does impact investment differ from a grant, and why does the difference matter for NGOs?
  • Why are these approaches growing in a changing aid landscape and what questions of power do they raise?
  • What are the main critiques from civil society?

17.11.2026 | Part 2 – Mechanisms and instruments

Instead of getting lost in technical detail, in this session we examine the main tools of innovative finance using simple examples and plain-language. We will take a closer look at the following tools:

  • Impact bonds: paying for results rather than activities.
  • Concessional loans: loans on softer terms than a bank would offer.
  • Guarantees: promises that reduce the risk for other funders.
  • Catalytic capital: money that takes the first risk so that others can follow.

Next to explaining each tool’s potential for NGOs, this session will also ask critical questions such as: who pays, who carries the risk, who benefits and who decides, and how an NGO could realistically use it.

19.11.2026 | Part 3 – Building blended finance partnerships

How can different actors work together, and how can we make those partnerships fair? In this session, we look at the players, their motivation and how to build fair partnerships that last.
You will learn:

  • … about the different players: donors, development finance institutions, private investors, companies and NGOs
  • … what each player wants and discover what NGOs bring to the table, such as local knowledge, trust and reach
  • … the role of the private sector in partner countries, including local businesses and banks.
  • … how to build partnerships where Global South partners share decisions, not only deliver activities.

25.11.2026 | Part 4 – Applying innovative finance in NGOs and development practice

In this session, we aim to put our ideas into practice by working with real examples from medium-sized development NGOs and insights from our Global South guest speaker on how their organization has put these ideas into practice.
You will learn:

  • … the basics of impact measurement and reporting: what funders ask for, and how to keep it proportionate.
  • … what an organization needs in place first, including finance systems, governance and board support.
  • … a simple decision-making tool: is this right for us, and what is a realistic first step?

26.11.2026 | Part 5 – Ask me anything (AMA) session

The final session of this seminar is an open session to bring in unanswered questions on any topic from the series, discuss common challenges and practical solutions with peers and hear directly from a Global South practitioner (soon to be announced).

During the registration process, you can sign up for each session separately.

Trainer: Juliette Averseng is a Manager at Human Planet, the innovative finance advisory firm affiliated with MzN International. She has more than ten years of international experience in development, innovative finance and impact investing, and has led impact investment projects with governments, the private sector and development finance institutions, mainly in Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa. She regularly helps donors, NGOs and UN agencies to understand and use innovative finance, and supports implementing organizations to become ready for investment.

Organization & Coordination: Nicole Jennings (MzN International). About MzN International: MzN International is an international development consultancy that supports NGOs, foundations and donors with strategy, funding, learning and organizational development. Its team is mainly based in the Global South. Together with Human Planet, MzN helps civil society organizations explore new and fair ways to fund their work.

Registration

Please register by 15 November. Participation is free of charge.

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Please note:

  • You can unregister up to 24 hours before the event by sending an email to veranstaltungen@globaleverantwortung.at.
  • The use of AI agents is not permitted. Any such agents will be removed.
  • Screenshots or recordings may be taken during the online session, for example on our website, social media and in publications. If you do not wish to be recorded, please inform the event manager at the start of the event.

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