UK development bonds will combat global poverty
The UK will launch its first ever development impact bond to improve healthcare in Africa by bringing together private and public investment.
Global cooperation: the new bond will help to prevent sleeping sickness Picture: DFID
The UK will launch its first ever development impact bond to improve healthcare in Africa by bringing together private and public investment, International Development Secretary Justine Greening has announced.
Ms Greening will launch the new bond to invest in the prevention of sleeping sickness in Uganda while attending the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation summit in Mexico.
The UK will also launch a new “roadmap” for increasing further private investment into frontier developing economies. In addition new development cooperation hubs in Nigeria, Mozambique and Kenya will bring together governments, aid agencies and businesses on the ground.
Justine Greening said:
We must agree a new partnership between emerging nations, aid donors and private investors to make sure every penny spent on development has the greatest possible impact. The Global Partnership provides the right platform to bring these partners together and ensure we are ready to deliver the UN’s new development goals from 2015.
Development bonds are a tremendous opportunity to quickly get the finance and investment needed to make development work. This is vital if we are to create the growth and jobs needed to end poverty.
We are determined to innovate and make our aid more efficient. It is right that donors like Britain ensure new private investment benefits the poorest and boosts growth in frontier economies.
Britain will call for greater cooperation with the private sector, governments and civil society organisations to make aid more effective ahead of next year’s deadline for reaching the UN’s poverty goals. The UK outlined the following practical measures to ensure private businesses, emerging nations, foundations and others coordinate their development plans:
Development Impact Bonds:
The UK will launch its first ever development bond to invest in preventing the deadly but neglected sleeping sickness in Uganda. An estimated 9 million people are at risk in the country but despite tried and tested prevention methods, previous investments were unable to deliver the scale of drugs needed to stop the disease.
A new £1.5 million inception project will research and design a bond to purchase drugs to treat infected cattle before the disease spreads. A bond has the potential to drive much more investment into developing countries. New private investment in development projects would be followed by further ‘top up’ investment by aid donors after specific results have been achieved.
Create a new market for similar development bonds:
DFID will also support the development of new bonds by bringing together investors, Governments and aid agencies to design new investments in the coming months. The UK will also set up a new online ‘open source’ knowledge platform to share our findings to inform further investment.
Establish new “Development Cooperation Hubs” in developing countries:
Working with world-class businesses ensures frontier developing economies get the best support, advice and expertise they need to grow. The UK will help convene new “Development Cooperation Hubs” in Nigeria, Mozambique and Kenya where private companies, governments, international organisations and civil society organisations are able collaborate on joint development projects.
A new “Roadmap” for Public Private Partnerships:
Following a broad consultation with developing countries, aid agencies and businesses around the world, the UK has developed a new “roadmap” for working with the private sector. It will set out practical actions that governments and businesses can take to build more effective partnerships and drive more investment into the developing world.
Notes to editors
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The Global Partnership helps nations, business and organisations work better together to end poverty. It brings governments, the private sector, civil society and others together to ensure funding, knowledge and policy produce maximum impact for development. It is a forum for shared advice, shared learning and shared action to support the implementation of principles that form the foundation of effective development co-operation.
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Justine Greening is the UK’s international Development Secretary and co-chair of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Co-operation (GPEDC). The GPEDC is also co-chaired by Indonesia’s Minister for National Development Planning Armida Alisjahbana and Nigeria’s Minister of Finance Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.
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