Strengthening Effective Partnerships to Address SDG 4: The Role of Impact Bonds in Education

The proposed workshop is based on a multi-partner collaborative research project “Innovative Financing for Education to Leave No One Behind” which aims to assess the contribution of innovation in education financing to bringing in more and better financing to educate the most disadvantaged and marginalized ma groups towards achieving SDG 4. The Project is co-funded by the TRANSFORM research initiative of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). The workshop focuses on the impact bonds in education, such as the Quality Education India Development Impact Bond (QEI), Sierra Leone Education Innovation Challenge (SLEIC), Ghana Education Outcomes Project (GEOP), and Haryana Early Literacy Development Impact Bond. The collaboration between research partners, NORRAG, Graduate Institute Geneva, Switzerland, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, India, and University of Cape Town, South Africa, fosters knowledge exchange and capacity building of experts in both the Global North and the Global South. It also promotes South-South collaboration by engaging TISS-CETE and UCT-GSB, who have expertise in research, innovative financing and education in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.

The proposed workshop will enable an evidence-based policy dialogue among the participants on the innovation of impact bonds in education to reach vulnerable and marginalized groups in low, lower-middle income, as well as Fragile and Conflict Affected Countries. The research partners conducting the workshop will also reflect on the need to explore more effective collaborations across the globe to extend support to SDG 4: Quality Education for All. This workshop aims to ensure that the learnings of this evaluation project are not only shared internally among the consortium, but externally with the education and development community to reflect on the replicability and scalability of such partnerships to address global challenges in education.

Workshop Format (120 mins)
Session I: Introduction (20+10 Minutes)

Session I
Introduction to Impact Bonds in Education (20 mins)
Role of effective research partnerships in addressing SDG 4 (10 mins)

Session II:
Introduction to three innovative financing mechanisms (10 mins)

i. Quality Education India Development Impact Bond (QEI)
ii. Sierra Leone Education Innovation Challenge (SLEIC) and Ghana Education Outcomes Project (GEOP)
iii. Haryana Early Literacy Development Impact Bond

Breakout sessions: Case summaries (30 minutes)

We will divide the group into 3 and let the participants discuss one case study on their own. Reading materials will be shared beforehand.

Discussion in the large group (20 Minutes)
Session III: Reflections and learnings from the research partnership (30 minutes)

• Key-takeaways from the research collaboration
• Addressing limitations and challenges of the research studies
• Exploring options for more effective partnerships to support SDG 4

Please register for the workshop at least 5 days before the workshop starts.