UK development bonds will combat global poverty
16 Apr 2014 03:43 PM
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
-
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.
-
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.