Results-focused Impact Bonds Can Improve Development Outcomes by Involving the Private Sector

Between $3.3 to $4.5 trillion in investments each year will be needed to fund the Sustainable Development Goals, according to UN estimates. As one way to meet these staggering needs, the international development community is developing new results-focused financing instruments, some of which seek to mobilize untapped private sector capital and knowledge, while repositioning global economic and social challenges into investible opportunities. Impact bonds aren’t bonds in the traditional sense. Instead, they should be considered more as equity-like instruments that offer repayment to investors on the basis of results achieved.