Throughout the world, poverty is increasingly concentrated in countries and regions affected by fragility and conflict, which intensify already acute challenges to development. Fragility and conflict can range from persistent domestic or cross-border violence to vulnerability in the face of natural disasters or extreme weather events related to climate change, such as flooding or droughts.

The Annual Report for fiscal year 2015 (FY15) describes GPOBA’s efforts toward fulfilling its mandate to fund, design, demonstrate, and document OBA approaches to service delivery. During FY15, we balanced our ongoing commitment to deepening the impact of OBA in tested sectors with exploring the applicability of OBA in new sectors and environments. GPOBA’s $228 million subsidy portfolio consists of 44 projects in seven sectors in 28 countries, with cumulative disbursements of $116.3 million.

In 2014-2015, Results for Development Institute (R4D) conducted a scoping study on the potential for OBA in education for GPOBA. This report provides the consolidated findings from the study which included (i) a literature review of RBF schemes in education, (ii) a landscaping and analysis of existing OBA projects in education, and (iii) recommendations for applying OBA in the education sector moving forward.

OBA and other innovative forms of results-based financing (RBF) are still relatively new to the education sector, but emerging evidence suggests that OBA/RBF may be versatile tools for addressing issues of educational access, quality, and inequity. In 2015, GPOBA undertook a major study on the use and potential impact of OBA/RBF in education. 

With development needs outstripping public sector capacity, private sector finance and expertise are becoming increasingly important. OBA and public-private partnerships (PPPs) are innovative mechanisms for leveraging private sector investment in development solutions. OBA can add value to a PPP by ensuring that private investment benefits poor populations. This note explains how, and offers three case studies (the Philippines, Bangladesh, Liberia) where OBA and PPPs are working together. 

Globally, around 1.1 billion people live without access to electricity. Ensuring universal access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy by 2030 is one of the Sustainable Development Goals adopted in 2015. The Global Partnership on Output-based Aid (GPOBA) supports this energy access goal through the use of output-based approaches to service delivery. This note looks at the key components of designing OBA projects in the energy sector, and presents two projects in Kenya and Uganda that support access to grid electricity.

GPOBA’s achievements this year demonstrate the strong ongoing coordination between the operations and knowledge aspects of its work, which together aim to ensure that poor populations are included in development gains. Going forward, GPOBA and its partners will continue to work with results based approaches that help to create resilient communities whose citizens have affordable access to the basic services that contribute to improved health, quality of life, and economic opportunity. 

Urban transport systems are crucial to economic and social development, and are particularly important 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. In order to better understand the urban transport landscape and how output-based aid (OBA) might be applied most effectively in the sector, the Global Partnership on Output-Based Aid (GPOBA) undertook an urban transport study.