Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-2013

Abstract

While the SIB structure is still in its infancy, there is momentum building to globalize this social finance innovation so that it can help scale development goals around the world. Taking the SIB global is not a simple matter, however. This article explores several of the more challenging issues that are likely to arise in applying a SIB or elements of the SIB structure to social problems and development goals in developing countries. The article begins with a summary review of the goals and structures used in the two earliest SIBs. It then discusses key challenges and opportunities that SIBs and SIB-like structures are likely to present to public and private stakeholders. Finally, the article focuses on what is needed to take SIBs to developing countries and discusses two modifications that could be made to the basic SIB structure to address possible political risks arising in a developing country context-eliminating the host country as the SIB payor and/or embedding credit enhancements into the SIB structure. It concludes with a discussion of a possible variation on the SIB structure, a new social finance innovation called the Social Impact Performance Guarantee ("SIP Guarantee"). The SIP Guarantee, as contemplated here, would realign SIB risks so that private investors/guarantors assume the performance risk of the key private actors, while public investors/lenders assume the performance and financial risk of the key public actors.


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