Two interesting stories today. The first Nigerian SIB has been offered and secondly South Carolina looks to SIBs to reduce infant mortality. Very interesting.
Nigeria – DFID Purchases Nigeria’s First Social Impact Bond
doreopartners.com
Propcom Mai-karfi a program of the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) recently purchased Nigeria’s first social impact bond known as the Raise Out of Poverty Bond (ROPO), making it the first international development agency to subscribe to the bond.
US – South Carolina Looks To Wall Street To Help Reduce Infant Mortality
The Post and Courier
South Carolina is exploring ways to use private investment social-impact bonds or pay-for-success bonds, to help reduce infant mortality.
“People call these social-impact bonds, but they’re not really bonds in the traditional sense,” said Andrea Phillips, vice president of Goldman Sachs’ Urban Investment Group. “The government is transferring risk … off of itself. Where private capital comes into play is to provide the up-front financing and to absorb that risk.”
Investors make their money back with profit if the government saves money. A national report published last year shows that government saves more than $70,000 per family that participates in Nurse Family Partnership over a lifetime.
These social-impact bonds have never been used in South Carolina before, and whether or not they can help improve state’s infant mortality rate is unknown, although there is a high expectation of success.