If it’s not a bond, then what it is? Join us for a candid discussion about impact bonds, a unique form of results-based financing (RBF) that brings together public and private sector finance and expertise to achieve development outcomes. Under an impact bond model, private investors finance an intervention and are repaid by either the government or a donor upon the achievement of pre-defined outcomes. Impact bonds are often used when working with non-state providers with liquidity constraints and can be leveraged by governments who wish to fund innovation with reduced risk.

On June 7, 2022, the RBF Knowledge Silo Breaker (KSB) launched a new webinar series to develop a deeper understanding of how RBF is being utilized to deliver development outcomes globally and across sectors. This inaugural session convened leading global experts on RBF to discuss the latest cutting-edge innovations, emerging trends, challenges, and lessons in RBF for service delivery, specifically highlighting innovative OBF case examples.

The global crisis sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic has provided new insight into the functionality and resilience of outcome-based financing (OBF) programs in the face of unforeseen circumstances, according to experts at the sixth session of the U.K.’s Government Outcomes Lab (GOLab) “Engaging with Evidence” series.

Development and aid contracts need to be reformed in the pandemic era to allow for crisis-related contingencies after COVID-19 forced numerous development projects to adopt remote and virtual approaches, experts said at an event co-hosted by Devex and UBS Optimus Foundation.

This webinar presented an overview of the Ghana Solar Home Systems project and explored how RBF can be used to maximize financing for development in renewable energy.

"The Application of Results-Based Financing for Urban Transport” webinar focus on urban transport systems, which are crucial for connecting poor populations to jobs, education and health services. As the developing world rapidly urbanizes, there is an opportunity to build safer, cleaner and more inclusive transport systems.

Social Impact Bonds: Addressing Gaps to Solving Social Issues”, the first webinar in the series, will explore the financial instrument as a potential model that addresses weaknesses of traditional approaches in solving social issues, and some examples from implementation. As a RBF instrument, impact bonds tie financial returns and payments to social outcomes. Their design brings private sector investment to programs that are not profit-centered but produce social benefits.

Achieving transformational change in climate change mitigation and adaptation requires a combination of enhanced international cooperation and trillions of “climate-smart” private investments, which in many cases will need to be channeled through blended public and multilateral financing schemes. Understanding how best to mobilize, leverage and scale up climate smart investments requires new forms of financing in order to efficiently use limited public and multilateral funds. 

The webinar will discuss the project in detail, examining how OBA is being used to maximize finance for development to address sanitation challenges in Bangladesh.

This webinar will explore GPOBA’s Nepal Solid Waste project. With rapid urbanization, population growth, and new economic activity, municipal solid waste is increasing at alarming rates, and is expected to almost triple in low and lower middle income countries by 2025. At the same time, solid waste management (SWM) systems in most developing countries are underfunded and suffer from lack of planning. Improving SWM requires intervention all along the supply chain. GPOBA’s SWM project in Nepal was created to expand SWM services in five municipalities.