As Britain gets to grips with the incredible opportunity offered by leaving the declining European Union, a new life chances fund emerges in the UK while there is more on helping girls get on in life in Rajasthan, India. Happy Days.
£80m Payment-by-Results Life Chances Fund launched
Alice Sharman – Civil Society
The Cabinet Office has announced the launch of an £80m fund to tackle complex social problems.
The Life Chances Fund is an £80m “top-up fund” which will support local public sector organisations to commission social impact bonds and other payment-by-results contracts involving “socially-minded investors”.
The fund will support contracts which are locally commissioned and aim to tackle “complex social problems”.
The fund is intended to match fund local commissioners who want to launch a SIB or similar project, and will typically contribute about 20 per cent of the funding.
India ‘Development Bond’ Helps Get Girls Into School, Charity Says
Rina Chandran – Reuters
A new funding model for development programs in India which gives private investors a return on their investment has helped get marginalized girls in Rajasthan into the classroom, its backers said.
The world’s first “development impact bond” provides upfront funding from private investors, who earn a return from donors or governments if targets are achieved.
UBS Optimus Foundation, a grant-making foundation of the Swiss bank, made an undisclosed investment to a program by charity Educate Girls in rural Rajasthan for three years.
At the end of the term, the foundation should receive the funds back with interest of up to 15%, depending on whether the children’s learning targets are met.
“While this is designed to improve the quality of girls’ education in Rajasthan, the concept could be attractive to funders across a range of issues who want to make investments with both financial and social returns,” Kate Hampton, chief executive at the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation – which will pay back the investment and interest – said in a statement.
The model is seen as a way for governments and donor agencies to transfer risks to investors, and increase efficiency in implementation of programs.