Social impact bonds: promises and pitfalls

As part of the “Tackling Disadvantage at a time of Limited Resources” project, the OECD LEED Programme organised an expert seminar in collaboration with the Development Centre’s Global Network of Foundations Working for Development (netFWD) on 15 April 2015 in Paris. The title of this seminar was “Social Impact Bonds: Promises and Pitfalls”. The aim was to develop a better understanding of the features, limitations and preliminary findings from the use of Social Impact Bonds (SIBs), and to a lesser extent, of Development Impact Bonds (DIBs) from a multidimensional and multi-stakeholder perspective. The structure of SIBs was presented through the in-depth analysis of a case study, while other examples covered topics such as how DIBs have been rolled out in developing countries by building on the features of SIBs. The key question of the impact of such innovative financial tools on the provision of the social services was addressed and debated.