Webinar Measuring the impact of your outcomes based project – On 13th November the GO Lab are hosting a webinar about impact evaluations for social impact bonds. Would the same results have been achieved if the project didn’t go ahead? Can we prove the project made a difference? How do you go about doing an evaluation? These are crucial questions when designing and implementing a SIB and will be discussed during the webinar. GO Lab
Video Top tips for developing SIBs – Chih Hoong Sin, Director at Traverse and GO Lab Fellow of Practice shares his top tips for developing social impact bonds. What is the main thing he has learned during his supporting commissioners design SIBs, and what bedevils the success of a SIB? GO Lab
Case Study Supporting people in conflict affected countries – In Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Mali, a humanitarian impact bond has been set up to support those who have been left with disabilities due to conflict. Three new rehabilitation centres are under construction and will be operational in the next few years. Payments will be made to investors based on the amount of people regaining mobility. GO Lab
Interview 10 years of Social Finance – an interview with David Hutchison What have been the greatest learning curves for Social Finance in the past decade? How do you create successful cross sector partnerships? How can we encourage transparency without fear of advertising failures? These are some of the questions we asked David when we interviewed him last month. GO Lab
Conference reflection A new way to navigate social impact bonds Reflecting on the international conference co-hosted by the GO Lab last month, Andreea Anastasiu writes about the importance of bridging the gap between academia and practice and shares three key learnings. Save the date for the international conference 5-6th September 2019. GO Lab
Webinar Setting up the payment mechanism in an outcomes based contract – on Wednesday 24th at 10-11.30am we are hosting a webinar that will discuss the key considerations that those developing SIBs and other outcomes based approaches need to keep in mind when building the payment mechanism for their SIB contracts. Should payment be 100% on outcomes? How do I know if I am paying the right amount for outcomes? How often should I make payments? These questions will be discussed and you can also bring your own. GO Lab The recording of this webinar and the slides are now available through the link.
National Social Impact Bonds: on the margins – A feature in the Financial Times about SIBs arguing that there model has struggled to succeed. The article considers the challenge of scaling programmes, but also nods to the new found momentum in development impact bonds.) Financial Times
National How investors can help ensure every child is in school – Gordon Brown argues that the financial community is uniquely positioned to bridge the funding gap in the public sector. He refers to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that were a focus at the UN General Assembly, and argues that they cannot be achieved without private investors. He speaks about the potential of social impact bonds in this space and impact investing more generally. Financial Times
National How social impact bonds can confound their critics and deliver better value for government A second piece in Forbes in the last few months. This article is written by an investor (from Bridges Fund Management) and is generally very positive about SIBs. It shares the drawbacks and then shows how they can be overcome. Forbes
National Ministers bail out £335m Liverpool hospital after Carillion collapse – Following the collapse of Carillion, the government will announce this week that it is cancelling the Royal Liverpool Hospital deal that was overseen by Carillion. The government will step in and take temporary charge of the hospital’s construction with new contracts being tendered in the coming months. This article argues that this is likely to refuel the intensifying political debate about the role of private sector outsources in the delivery of essential public services. Sky news
Sector Capital recovering but other outsources still at risk, experts warn – Outsourcing giant Capital is ‘on the road to recovery' according to a report by Tussell, city based data specialists. Whilst there has been a decline of more than 80% in share price over the last three years, they are now at a lower risk and are seen to be recovering. Local Gov
Sector Social Prescribing pilots for mental health patients launched in Wales The Welsh health secretary announced new early intervention pilots to help reduce reliance by mental health patients on prescription medication. Local Gov
Government Review finds ‘insufficient financial controls’ enabled £2m council fraud – A recent report found that there was fraud of a former employee of a joint venture set up by Barnet council and Capita. This article quotes shadow communities secretary Andrew Gwynne who argues that this is a ‘textbook example of why outsourcing fails’. LocalGov
Government evaluation Behind the findings – responding to the Innovation Fund Evaluation As previously mentioned, the quantitative evaluation of the Innovation Fund pilot projects have been published and the findings appear negative. We have put together a response that looks at what we can learn from this, casting a critical eye over the methodology and looking at ways to move forward. GO Lab
Evaluation Evaluation of Birmingham Council’s Step Down Programme– The Step Down Programme is a partnership between Birmingham City Council and Core Assets which started in 2014 to bring young people out of residential homes into foster placements. The findings from the evaluation are mixed but on balance, both the increased stability established for many of the young people and the cost savings, suggest that it should be regarded as a success.
Evaluation A tale of two SIBs – and why they matter – Big Lottery Fund have just published two reports on SIBs - West London Zone and HCT Travel Training. This blog piece takes a look at why are have been both conventional and inventive and why it matters. GO Lab
Think Tank- From Transactions to changemaking: rethinking partnerships between the public and private sectors– A new report has just been published that calls for a fundamental rethink about the relationship between the public and private sector in a changing world. It sets out the shift required to be fit for purpose – from an approach which we identify as primarily transactional in nature, to one which is genuinely focused on changemaking, with real and deep impact for the public. New Local Government Network (NLGN)
You can read an interview with one of the authors Trinley Walker where he argues that ‘Without better data, government can’t be accountable’
Think tank Accountability in modern government: recommendations for change – This report is for anyone interested in the state of accountability in the UK and follows a discussion paper in April 2018 that highlighted issues with accountability in Whitehall, in wider public services with the culture of accountability. This report offers solutions to improve accountability that tackle the problems caused by these weaknesses.
Academic research Pay for success and population health: Projects reveal challenges and promise – A paper has been published in Policies for Action that looks at the Pay for Success programmes in the US focusing on health. There are key challenges such as a lack of evidence and economic benefits, but they have also highlighted recommendations that help to overcome them. Policies for Action
Academic research Positive Impact Investing: A Sustainable Bridge between Strategy, Innovation, Change and Learning – A new book just released about impact investing that covers many topics related to SIBs. You can view the chapter highlights here to see if they are of interest. The most relevant chapter is perhaps ‘growing social impact finance: implications for the public sector’ Springer publishing
UNDP 5 lessons from Latin America and the Caribbean on the 2030 Agenda – The UNDP blog highlights some of the challenges of implementing the SDGs by 2030, including the need for more data, encouraging holistic public policies, financing through impact bonds and more. UNDP
UNDP Innovative Financing for the SDGs – The UNDP have published a speech given by UN Assistant Secretary General that shares his thoughts about the SDGs and the scope for 2030. The speech looks at the role of private finance and philanthropy, and towards the end there is a section on SIBs. It says the ‘UNDP is working on a pipeline of social impact bonds that bear potential for replication and can be turned into large outcomes based facilities’. It is brief but significant given the high profile nature of the speech. United Nations Development Programme
University A blueprint for building university based boundary organisations that achieve impacts on policy and practice This post on the LSE Impact Blog looks at how more institutions are enhancing their impact on policy and practice. It looks at key themes and features to enhance impact. The LSE Impact Blog
University Sustaining collaborative action As more cross sector collaborations gain traction, we must understand what it takes to keep them running over the long term and ensure that progress continues despite changes in leadership.Stanford Social Innovation Review
Insights from Japan - Do social impact bonds represent a new dawn for public services in the land of the rising sun? Chih Hoong Sin, Director at Traverse, and GO Lab Fellow of Practice travelled to Japan to investigate SIBs and impact investing. He shares the story of their slow conception and the challenges along the way. This is the first part of a series of blogs pieces from Chih Hoong. Traverse
Global The emergence of development impact bonds – This article in World Finance looks at how governments and NGOs are under more pressure than ever to find new ways of funding international development programmes. It points to development impact bonds as an innovative financial instrument and argues that they are set to change the global financing landscape World Finance
Global A landmark month for impact bonds in education – Two new initiatives have been launched in September: a SIB for education outcomes at scale in India, and a SIB for early childhood development in South Africa. After the success of the Educate Girls DIB, this article looks at the details and the potential for the two new DIBs. Brookings
South Africa Bertha Centre celebrates launch of SA’s first social impact bond – After the successful launch of the Impact Bond Innovation Fund in the Western Cape, the use of this financial mechanism and public private partnerships will be used with the aim of boosting public service outcomes in South Africa. Business Ghana
South Africa First early childhood development impact bond is launched in South Africa – As mentioned above, the new South Africa DIB has just been launched. This seeks to improve early childhoods learning and development outcomes in the Western Cape. You can find out more about the different organisations involved and the proposed work that will be done in this press release
India Development Impact Bond brings in new private sector capital…it’s a way to encourage NGOs to be focused on performance The Times of India have published an interview with Maya Ziswiler, Head of Social Finance at UBS Optimus Foundation. She answer questions around how DIBs work and reflects on the challenges, the motivations and whether it is worth it. The Times of India
Latin America Pay for success pilot in Latin America makes the business case for forest conservation Conservation International and The Nature Conservancy have secured $1 million in development finance to introduce a series of pilot programs to improve forest conservation in Latin America. Impact Alpha
United States VA tests a social impact bond aimed at post traumatic stress The US department of Veterans Affairs and agencies in Massachusetts and New York are launching a three year pay for success project to help veterans suffering from PTSD. Impact Alpha
Australia - Resilient families becomes first social benefit bond to mature in Australia– Resilient families is an intensive family support programme seeking to keep families together. The five year bond has now finished, making it the first one to reach maturity in Australia. The programme performed well with 32.5% fewer children entering out of home care compared to a control group. Pro Bono Australia
Australia- Australia social impact bond to tackle youth unemployment– Social Ventures Australia is looking to raise $5 million from private investors to expand an employment training and coaching pilot that ran last year in an effort to reduce youth unemployment in New South Wales. Impact Alpha
Asia Pacific Paving the way for greater impact investing in Asia Pacific – This article sets our three considerations for Asia-Pacific foundations embarking on impact investing journeys. The second consideration is about experimentation and selecting appropriate tools - SIBs are one of these tools that are considered. A quick read if you are interested in impact investing and new developments in Japan, China, Thailand and more. Stanford Social Innovation Review
Workshop Agile Contracts in the Public Sector- On 21st November the PSTA are hosting a one day workshop in London that seeks to help people use agile working to get better results, more social value and improve outcomes for citizens. The workshop is open to anyone in local and central government, the private and charitable sector with an interest in further embedding Agile as a means of tackling complex social problems. PSTA
Opportunity Transformation Academy – This will support people to initiate and lead change across complex systems, develop capabilities and be part of a new regional cross sector network of changemakers. There are academies across the country and will involve a range of workshops, events, peer challenge, and a virtual site for practical action planning. PSTA
Opportunity Commissioning Academy – This is a development programme for senior leaders to help those working on defining policy, shaping public service provision or allocating resources for services to get the best outcome. PSTA
Public talk Public services in 2018: performance and pressure – on Friday 12th October at 9-10.15am there is a talk by the Institute of Government that looks at performance of key public services, such as prisons, hospitals, schools, social care. You can watch the live stream if you can’t make it. Institute for Government The recording of this talk is now available through the link
Public talk How to make government accountable – on Monday 15th October at 12.30-1.30pm there is a discussion that focuses on the question ‘weak accountability leads to government failures or tragedies that affect the public – so what can be done to strengthen it? You can watch the live stream if you can’ t make it. Institute for Government. Institute for Government
Global directory - Mapped: The Innovation labs transforming government – and how to get in touch- To help people collaborate and connect and come up with creative solutions to society’s problems Apolitical have created a directory of innovation labs across the world. The GO Lab get a spot. Apolitical