NEW DELHI: The world’s first domestically funded Sustainable Development Goals Bond (SDG Bond) was announced today by ChildFund India (ChildFund) and Grameen Impact Investments India (Grameen Impact). The Women Holistic Empowerment and Enhanced Livelihood (WHEEL) Impact Bond has been launched under the Grameen Outcome Accelerated Lending (G.O.A.L) Impact Bond Series.
The WHEEL Impact Bond would work towards helping 2000 marginalized tribal women in Maharashtra & Madhya Pradesh to become self-reliant and empowered by training them to become poultry farmers (micro-entrepreneurs), with a specific outcome target of an average annual net income of INR30,000 through this intervention.
The social outcomes of the Bond directly align with the SDGs: Goal #1 No Poverty, Goal #5 Gender Equality, Goal #8 Decent Work and Economic Growth, and Goal #10 Reduced Inequalities. ChildFund (the implementing agency) will execute the project with the funds Grameen Impact has committed, i.e. INR 7.5 Cr (as the upfront investor). Grameen Impact has additionally taken on the role of identifying outcome funders for the Bond.
“ChildFund India has always believed that strategic Public- Private Partnerships are essential to achieving the outcomes as in the SDGs. 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 & Country Director, ChildFund India, on the launch of this Bond.
Royston Braganza, CEO of Grameen Impact, while announcing the SDG Bond said “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. 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.”
The WHEEL Impact Bond, the first in the G.O.A.L series, 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. By launching the G.O.A.L series, Grameen Impact presents a new model for financing social outcomes in the international SDG and impact sector; the WHEEL Impact Bond has emerged as the fastest implemented SDG Impact Bond – closed within 3 months as compared to the traditional 2–3 years to close – creating a new global paradigm of innovative ways of financing the SDGs.
