Outcomes Funds

The Education Commission, Chaired by Former UK PM Gordon Brown, and the Global Steering Group for Impact Investment have come together under the chairmanship of Sir Ronald Cohen to catalyze the establishment of a $1 billion Education Outcomes Fund for Africa and the Middle East (EOF).The EOF aims to help transform educational attainment in the region and achieve SDG 4*. It will do so by pooling grant funds from aid, philanthropic and private sector donors, to pay as pre-agreed attainment targets are met by pay-for-success programs, financed through development impact bonds (DIBs).There is a growing body of evidence that this approach has huge potential to address many historic challenges, by aligning incentives around outcomes, fostering innovation and flexibility in service delivery, and attracting new sources of private capital.The EOF will seek rapid scale-up of innovative interventions in areas such as Early Childhood Development (ECD) or ed-tech, that can strengthen state education provision, and help low income countries ‘leapfrog’ from their existing level and quality of education provision.

The India Education Outcomes Fund (IEOF) and India Impact Fund of Funds (IIFF) are twin impact funds currently being established in India. The Global Steering Group for Impact Investment is incubating both Funds through their early stages of development.The India Education Outcomes Fund (IEOF) will support improved learning and educational outcomes across India with focus on poor and low-income students in government and affordable schools, including early childhood interventions, literacy & numeracy in primary school, and, employability of students after high school. Investors providing risk-bearing impact capital in these projects will be repaid by the IEOF on accomplishment of pre-contracted outcomes. The $1 billion IEOF, raised from philanthropists, international aid organizations and CSR contributions, makes it possible to attract $700 million of impact capital for impact enterprises and non-profits, through professional fund managers and Development Impact Bonds (DIBs).The India Impact Fund of Funds (IIFF) is a “wholesaler” of impact debt capital to catalyze India's Impact Investment sector, in a way inspired by the UK’s Big Society Capital. A GSG initiative in partnership with UNSIF, its aim is to unlock long-term, affordable debt to finance intermediaries and impact enterprises. IIFF will help achieve UN SDG Goals and Indian government’s priorities. Its funders will include development finance institutions, institutional investors, Indian diaspora, family offices and high net worth individuals in India. IIFF aims to use its $1 billion of debt finance to “leverage in” matching finance with impact intermediaries.