Social Finance took part in the first of three meetings with, among others, the US government’s development finance institution, DFID and the World Bank, to explore the use of social impact bonds in international development.

Social Finance, architect of the UK’s first social impact bond at Peterborough Prison, joined forces with the Center for Global Development to convene a working group to consider how social impact bonds might improve international development outcomes.

The working group also comprises representatives from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, USAID, SIDA, the Omidyar Network, and others.

Over the course of three meetings, the working group will devise a number of pilot development impact bonds that could be implemented around the world next year. It will also assess whether social impact bond models can help address some of the challenges created by current approaches to aid and enable successful programmes to be scaled up and rolled out.

The group's first meeting took place on Tuesday.

David Hutchison, chief executive of Social Finance, said: “There appears considerable potential to apply the same thinking to the development arena and we are delighted to be contributing to such a strong working group brought together to explore this.”

International director appointed

Social Finance has also announced the appointment of an international director to build the network of impact investment intermediaries needed to develop social impact bonds worldwide. Jane Newman will join in June from the Social Investment Business, where she was director of governance and company secretary.

Since the Peterborough bond launched two years ago, Social Finance has had enquiries from governments and intermediaries around the world to establish social impact bonds in their respective countries. And earlier this month, the Omidyar Network granted Social Finance $800,000 to support the expansion of social impact bonds around the world.