NEW YORK—The Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) announced today that the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) will provide GBP 10.5 million to support the GIIN’s role in developing and growing the impact investing market in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. The funding is part of DFID’s new Impact Programme, which will also establish a DFID Impact Fund that will be managed by CDC Group, the UK’s development finance institution. The DFID Impact Fund will invest in impact investment intermediaries providing capital to businesses and projects improving the lives of poor people. Backed by expert technical assistance, the DFID Impact Fund is designed to attract new investors to promising impact investment intermediaries.
“The launch of the DFID Impact Programme is an important milestone for the growing impact investment industry, especially in its tremendous support for field-building work,” said Luther M. Ragin, Jr., chief executive officer of the GIIN. “The DFID Impact Programme is well positioned to catalyze effective impact investing markets in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, and it complements the GIIN’s commitment to grow the field worldwide.”
“Investors are starting to wake up to the benefits of working in the poorest countries,” said UK International Development Secretary Justine Greening. “We can help by removing some of the barriers to investing and by directing investment to where it can make a huge difference to the lives of poor people. Britain will use its first class development expertise in partnership with the Global Impact Investment Network and CDC to kick-start private investment and help the poorest on their path out of poverty.”
Funding for the GIIN will help develop the enabling environment for impact investments that deliver basic services such as healthcare, education, clean water, sanitation, and clean energy or provide good employment to poor people in developing countries. Activities supported will include: an expanded research and outreach agenda to increase awareness and market intelligence; investor education and collaboration for impact investors directing funds to support the world’s poorest populations; expanded market coverage of ImpactBase, the online global directory of impact investment funds, products, and investment vehicles; increased technical training for emerging market fund managers investing to achieve social impact alongside financial returns; and, development and adoption support for standardized impact measurement practices
DFID’s support for the GIIN complements additional funding from Omidyar Network, The Rockefeller Foundation, and the United States Agency for International Development announced earlier this fall. Funding from DFID will be distributed to the GIIN over three years. The GIIN will further engage stakeholders to identify and address additional industry needs within the scope of DFID’s Impact Programme during this time.
About the GIIN
The Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing the scale and effectiveness of impact investing. Impact investments are investments made into companies, organizations, and funds with the intention to generate measurable social and environmental impact alongside a financial return. Impact investments can be made in both emerging and developed markets, and target a range of returns from below market to market rate, depending upon the circumstances. The GIIN builds critical infrastructure and supports activities, education, and research that help accelerate the development of a coherent impact investing industry. For more information, please visit www.thegiin.org.