Realizing the Potential of Development Impact Bonds: Is the Verdict Still Out?

Increasingly, donors, implementers and developing country governments are looking for innovative ways to catalyze private capital for development. A Development Impact Bond (DIB) is a financing model that has arguably received a disproportionate share of the spotlight in international development. While still relatively new, initial evidence is starting to emerge about what works, what value DIBs bring (or don’t), and whether they are scalable.

In this webinar, a diverse group of panelists representing donors, investors, service providers and industry experts, will reflect on their experience implementing impact bonds and will offer pros and cons about whether impact bonds have delivered on their promises and expected development outcomes.

Related Blogs

“Enhancing Government Effectiveness - DIBs, a Valuable  for a Much Broader Agenda,” Avnish Gungadurdoss and Ben Stephens of Instiglio discuss the potential of expanding adoption of development impact bonds (DIBs) for donors and development practitioners alike using an example from the Village Enterprise DIB. 

“Development Impact Bonds: Innovative new development finance tool ...or overly complicated shiny new instrument?” USAID’s Priya Sharma, Jonathan Ng, and Lawrence Camp explore the pros and cons of using development impact bonds (DIBs) and highlight lessons learned since the launch of the Agency’s first DIB in 2014.

Speakers

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 Elina Sarkisova
Senior Manager, Innovative Finance Lead, Resonance 

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Emily Gustafsson-Wright, PhD
Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution

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Priya Sharma
Managing Director of Scalable Innovations, USAID Private Sector Engagement Hub 

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Phyllis Kurlander Costanza
Head of Social Impact and CEO, UBS Optimus Foundation

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Rabih Yazbeck
Senior Programme Director, Near East Foundation UK

Biographies 

Elina Sarkisova
Senior Manager, Innovative Finance Lead, Resonance

Elina brings over a decade of experience working at the intersection of finance and global development. She has worked with a wide range of development actors, including donors, investors, NGOs and social enterprises, on developing innovative finance strategies, conducting on-the-ground feasibility studies, assessing investment readiness, and supporting access to finance. Elina is also an expert in results-based financing and is an early adopter and practitioner of DIBs. During the course of her career, she has also supported organizations in building the systems and processes required for implementing innovative finance mechanisms and has developed and delivered numerous trainings, webinars and publications that have contributed to strengthening the larger ecosystem. Elina earned a Master of Public Affairs (MPA) from the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs and a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University. She is fluent in Russian and Spanish and dabbles in Mandarin Chinese. 

Emily Gustafsson-Wright, PhD
Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution

Dr. Gustafsson-Wright is a Senior Fellow in the Global Economy and Development Program at the Brookings Institution. Her current focus on effective delivery of social services including education and health interventions in developing countries has consolidated her role as a global expert on innovative financing mechanisms including payment by results, public-private partnerships and impact investing. She is the premier thought-leader in the field of social and development impact bonds and has written over a dozen publications on this cutting-edge topic including a recent series of policy briefs, which examine the success of impact bonds over the past ten years. With over 20 years of experience in development, her previous professional experience includes working at the World Bank, the UNICEF Innocenti Research Center, and the Amsterdam Institute for International Development (AIID). Dr. Gustafsson-Wright holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the Tinbergen Institute at the University of Amsterdam, as well as a Master of Science in Applied Economics and Finance and Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of California at Santa Cruz.

Priya Sharma
Managing Director of Scalable Innovations, USAID Private Sector Engagement Hub 

Priya Sharma is the Managing Director of Scalable Innovations in the Private Sector Engagement Hub at USAID. In her current role, Priya provides support and assistance to USAID Missions and Operating Units interested in developing and testing innovative tools and approaches to engaging with the private sector. Priya previously worked as the Senior Policy and Innovative Financing Advisor in the Global Health Bureau’s Center for Innovation and Impact where she used innovative financing mechanisms and market shaping interventions to accelerate development, introduction and access to life-saving commodities, and leverage private sector funding to achieve global health goals. Priya managed USAID’s first global health development impact bond and helped design and launch USAID’s first advance purchase commitment for Zika diagnostics She has authored a number of resources including Investing for Impact and Greater than the Sum of its Parts: Blended Finance Roadmap for Global Health, educational resources for development practitioners interested in learning more about trends and non-traditional approaches to financing global health. Priya received her MSc in International Health Policy (with Health Economics) from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and she completed her undergraduate studies at Tufts University. 

Phyllis Kurlander Costanza
Head of Social Impact and CEO, UBS Optimus Foundation

Phyllis Kurlander Costanza is Head of Social Impact and the CEO of the UBS Optimus Foundation. As part of the Group Sustainability and Impact group, Phyllis oversees client and community philanthropy globally and social finance. Phyllis is also dedicated to finding innovative ways to use finance to  tackle some of the world's most pressing social and environmental issues. In her role as CEO UBS Optimus Foundation she applies an investment based approach, making it simpler for clients and their families to  manage their philanthropy and maximize their impact. Prior to UBS, Phyllis was a senior executive and board member of the  Children's Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF). She also has more than a  decade of experience as a management consultant, and has worked in the public sector for New York State Governor Mario Cuomo. Phyllis holds a Master of Public Policy from Harvard University's John F.  Kennedy School of Government.

Rabih Yazbeck
Senior Programme Director, Near East Foundation UK

Rabih Yazbeck has over twenty years of international development experience in complex and fragile settings in the Middle East, Africa and Caucasus; with a focus on inclusive economic development, civil society capacity, and market-based Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH). He has contributed to the development of several alternative financing models, including the first ever refugee development impact bond in Jordan and Lebanon, blending financing in support of business lending, market-based WASH, and micro-franchises.