The Outcomes Accelerator Governing Committee is pleased to announce it has selected 11 shortlisted projects to be considered for its inaugural cohort following a highly competitive call for proposals that generated 84 expressions of interest (EOI). The final projects to be selected for Accelerator support will be announced within weeks, following a final round of technical review and due diligence.
The Outcomes Accelerator is a catalytic platform to accelerate more effective testing, scaling, and mainstreaming of outcomes-based financing in the delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It offers flexible funding, targeted expertise, and networking to support project proponents in bringing their early- and late-stage projects to launch.
The Governing Committee of the Outcomes Accelerator is comprised by its funders, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), the UBS Optimus Foundation and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office of the UK (FCDO), who are supported by Levoca LLC as the Secretariat.
The first call for proposals generated a robust pipeline of outcomes-based financing (OBF) projects across all 17 SDGs and from all six regions in 45 ODA recipient countries. These 84 EOIs addressed important and diverse SDG areas and were aimed at launching a range of OBF instruments including impact bonds, outcome funds, social impact guarantees, pay-for-performance contracts, impact-linked financing for enterprises, and other innovative approaches. The 11 shortlisted proposals are primarily focused on four SDG areas: SDG 4 (Quality Education), SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), SDG 3 (Health), and SDG 13 (Climate Action). All proposals were competitively assessed against pre-defined evaluation and eligibility criteria that can be found here.
Congratulations to the shortlisted applicants! The Outcomes Accelerator looks forward to announcing the finalists in the coming weeks. The Governing Committee would also like to thank all 84 applicants for their interest and active participation in the Accelerator.
The shortlisted proposals are (in alphabetical order):
- Africa Rural Livelihoods Investment Facility: iGravity and HEKS/EPER will aim to design a blended finance facility focused on investing in SMEs that can increase smallholder farmer incomes, improve local food security, and support positive agro-ecological practices of smallholder farmers in Uganda, Senegal, Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana, and Cote d’Ivoire.
- Alphabonds for Quality Primary Education in India: The ixo team, with its implementing and funding partners, plan to finalize the technical design and regulatory compliance mechanisms for financing the scale-up of an edTech intervention targeting primary school learners in India, using the Alphabond decentralized outcomes-based digital financing instrument.
- Catalyzing a Results-Driven Supply Chain to Improve Health Outcomes in Africa: Total Impact Capital and partners, such as the Africa Resource Centre (ARC), plan to undertake late-stage design to work launch a Pay-for-Performance Supply Chain Trust to enhance the performance of private sector medical supply chains in Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, and Rwanda.
- Community-based Detection and Treatment of Acute Malnutrition in Kenya: The Power of Nutrition and Save the Children, in collaboration with Palladium Impact Capital, will aim to provide technical support to the Government of Kenya to effectively use OBF mechanisms to deliver lifesaving nutrition programs tackling acute malnutrition, with plans to later test a bond instrument similar to the World Bank Rhino Bond.
- Delivery Accelerator to Mainstream Results-Based Financing programs in Economic Development in Bogota: In partnership with Bogota Mayor’s Office, Instiglio plans to work to institutionalize a Delivery Accelerator to define, contract, and deliver outcomes in productivity and employment programs within the city government.
- Early Childhood Development Enterprise Incubator in South Africa: The IMBE Enterprise Incubator and partners will aim to develop and scale a data-driven microenterprise acceleration model to improve the financial resilience of early childhood development businesses that service poor children.
- Informal Skilling for Out-of-School Youth in Bangladesh: BRAC and partners plan to design an impact bond targeting out-of-school youth engaged in the informal labor market utilising a proven apprenticeship programme.
- Outcomes Fund for Fevers in Africa: The Health Finance Coalition, Malaria No More, Global Fund, and partners plan to design a performance-based financing vehicle that seeks to scale quality products and innovative delivery models in the private sector for treatment of malaria.
- Scaling Maternal Health Solutions in Angola: MAZE Impact and partners aim to scale up an innovative maternal health intervention and design an impact bond to improve the lives of 30,000 pregnant women and their families in the province of Luanda.
- Schools Eye Health Accelerator in Vietnam: Vision Catalyst Fund, Tri-Sector Associates, and partners will aim to design a Social Impact Guarantee (SIG) to fund a government-driven school eye health program in Vietnam to improve the quality of and access to eye care services and educational outcomes for children.
- Social Success Note Facility in Climate Action in India: IPE Global and partners will aim to set up a portfolio-level Social Success Note (SSN) for early-stage climate-smart enterprises working to deploy technologies in support of India’s climate adaptation and mitigation practices.
