Providing employment opportunities to 2,000 marginalised tribal women in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra to work as poultry farmers and become micro-entrepreneurs is a Public-Private Partnership named The WHEEL (The Women Holistic Empowerment and Enhanced Livelihood) Impact Bond.
Claimed to be the world’s first “domestically funded Sustainable Development Goals Bond” (SDG Bond), the initiative has been launched under the Grameen Outcome Accelerated Lending (G.O.A.L) Impact Bond Series. The WHEEL has been launched by ChildFund India (ChildFund) and Grameen Impact Investments India (Grameen Impact).
Note that as the part to achieving UN SDGs are still being worked out, financing remains one of the paramount issues.
“Since the funder or donor pays for only the successful programmes depending on the social impact, funds are not wasted. Such initiatives are increasingly being adopted to ensure more impactful interventions.”
Meanwhile, in The WHEEL, with a specific outcome target of an average annual net income of Rs. 30,000, the social outcomes of the Bond directly align with the SDGs namely, Goal 1 of No Poverty, Goal 5 of Gender Equality, Goal 8 of Decent Work and Economic Growth, and Goal 10 of Reduced Inequalities.
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“Impact Bonds are an excellent vehicle to demonstrate accountabilities, results and therefore the change that we all wish to see. ChildFund is indeed privileged and proud to launch the first domestically funded SDG Bond focused on women empowerment and livelihood. I am grateful to Grameen Impact for its partnership and resources that they bring to the table,” said Neelam Makhijani, CEO and Country Director, ChildFund India, on the recent launch of this Bond.
She added, “ChildFund India has always believed that strategic Public-Private Partnerships are essential to achieving the outcomes as in the SDGs.”
The first in the G.O.A.L series, The WHEEL Impact Bond “aims to present a successful workable structure to private investors, corporates as well as the government, creating a mindset shift from input/output funding models to outcomes-based financing”, which could be pivotal in achieving the SDGs by 2030.
The implementing agency, which is ChildFund, will execute the project with the funds Grameen Impact has committed, i.e. Rs. 7.5 Cr as the upfront investor. Grameen Impact has additionally taken on the role of identifying outcome funders for the Bond.
“It is estimated that over $30 trillion is needed to meet the global SDGs target. We believe this can only happen when government, corporate funding, capital markets and philanthropy join hands. The world is looking at India which is now a global leader in social innovation and impact investing,” said Royston Braganza, CEO of Grameen Impact.
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Emphasising that through G.O.A.L series, Grameen Impact presents a “new model for financing social outcomes” in the international SDG and impact sector, Braganza further added, “We at Grameen Impact are delighted to come up with an innovative financing instrument, focused on the SDGs, which uniquely combines impact investing, CSR and social enterprises.”
Notably, the WHEEL Impact Bond has emerged as the fastest implemented SDG Impact Bond – closed within three months as compared to the traditional two-three years to close – creating a new global paradigm of innovative ways of financing the SDGs.
