An Experiment in Health Financing and Social Enterprise

Photo Credit: Paul Morse / Clinton Global Initiative

Commitment to Action

An Experiment in Health Financing and Social Enterprise

Commitment by

International Planned Parenthood Federation

In 2015, the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) committed to pilot a three-year program to support its member associations to develop innovative social enterprise approaches to enable health service delivery. With support from partners, IPPF will offer grants to member associations to fund the internal capacity building and technical assistance required to build sound business plans. Further, IPPF and its partners will structure, raise, and manage a $3.7 million fund that will offer member associations preferential loans to initiate their social enterprises. By the end of the pilot, IPPF aims to have enhanced the financial resilience of 30 member associations from diverse geographical regions and increased its funding from social enterprise by 5%.

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Overview

Summary

Commitment

An Experiment in Health Financing and Social Enterprise

Launched

2015

Est. Duration

3 years

Estimated Total Value

$9,800,000

Region

Latin America & Caribbean, Africa, Middle East & North Africa, Asia

Countries

BOLIVIA, COLOMBIA, ETHIOPIA, MOROCCO, PAKISTAN

Commitment by

International Planned Parenthood Federation

Partner(s) of the Commitment Maker(s)

Acumen, EY, Investing for Good

Details

IPPF commits to pilot a three-year program to support its MAs to increase their financial resilience. The program will enable MAs to explore how social enterprise approaches can be used as a means of financing health service delivery. By the end of the pilot, IPPF hopes to increase its funding from social enterprises by 5%.
The program has three components:
Component One will support MAs to strengthen the commitment of their boards, staff, and volunteers to adopt innovative financing models and ensure they have the institutional, organizational, and human capacity to diversify their income sources through social enterprise. This component will include a comprehensive self-assessment process that will allow MAs to determine their commitment to making the requisite cultural and operational changes. To ensure MAs can build the commitment and buy-in needed, the program will provide grants for capacity building and South-South exchanges between MAs. The program will ensure that MAs are aware of the requirements, risks, and opportunities associated with implementing social enterprise approaches and support the sharing of knowledge, tools, and resources using an online platform.
Component Two will support MAs to become investment-ready by providing them with training on business idea generation and grants to fund the technical assistance needed to build sound business plans. To implement this component, IPPF will partner with Acumen and EY. Acumen will contribute its technical expertise and experience for the design of the social enterprise training program, focused on idea generation and business modeling. The training will be structured as a five-module, six week long course, providing participants with the opportunity to complete hands-on, step-by-step exercises that help them generate early stage ideas for social enterprises and gain awareness of key considerations and target milestones they should hope to reach. All individuals that complete the full course will receive a Statement of Accomplishment from Acumen. EY will contribute technical assistance in investment readiness and business development, including support for conducting market assessments.
Component Three will allow IPPF, with support from partners, to structure, raise, and manage a $3.7 million fund that will support MAs to secure preferential loans that will match their own investments in establishing social enterprises. Investing for Good will contribute its technical expertise for the initial feasibility assessment of an IPPF social enterprise investment fund.
IPPF will contribute a leadership team, drawn from staff and volunteers and will fund the program design phase and initial activities (documentation of lessons learned through early experiences with social enterprises, testing the technical assistance approach for investment readiness, testing the use of grants for enterprise growth) for a group of five MAs in Bolivia, Colombia, Morocco, Ethiopia, and Pakistan. As additional funding becomes available, IPPF will support at least 25 more MAs from diverse geographical regions with technical assistance, grants, and loans by the end of year three, with a view to expanding access to the program to all MAs in the Federation.

The action plan and milestones for each component will include the following:

PROGRAM DESIGN/INCEPTION
(A) Raise awareness / launch the Social Enterprise Acceleration Program for target beneficiaries (158 MAs).
-Communication program ready to launch by January 20, 2016

(B) Broker key partnerships for program implementation, including funding and service providers for fund management, communications, and online knowledge sharing platform.
-Key technical partnerships in place and TORs under discussion and commitments for 60% of program value by December 31, 2015.
-All technical partnerships in place and TORs under discussion by June 30, 2016. Commitments for 100% of program value by June 30, 2016.

COMPONENT ONE
(1.1.) Online sharing platform is launched by October 2016.

(1.2.) Select and contract with MAs (total of 15) to receive grants under Component One.
-Applications from MAs for first round of grants received by June 15, 2016 and selection confirmed by August 1, 2016. Seven MAs sign grant agreements and begin work by signed by September 30, 2016
-Applications from MAs for second round of grants received by June 15, 2017 and selection confirmed by August 1, 2017. Eight MAs sign grant agreements and begin work by signed by September 30, 2017

COMPONENT TWO
(2.1) Launch training program on social enterprise.
-Program is launched for registration by February15, 2016.

(2.2) Monitor progress of online training program registration.
-Total of 1,000 MA staff and volunteers registered for the course by June 30, 2016.
-Total of 2,000 MA staff and volunteers registered for the course by March 31, 2017
-Total of 3,300 MA staff and volunteers registered for the course by April 30, 2018.

(2.3) Select and contract with MAs (total of 20) to receive grants under Component 2.
-Pilot Group: Selection confirmed and pilot group of five MAs are invited to negotiate grant agreement by October 30, 2015. Five MAs sign grant agreements and begin work by November 30, 2015
-Round One: Applications from MAs for first round of grants received by June 15, 2016 and selection confirmed by August 1, 2016. Seven MAs sign grant agreements and begin work by signed by September 30, 2016.
-Round Two: Applications from MAs for second round of grants received by June 15, 2017 and selection confirmed by August 1, 2017. Eight MAs sign grant agreements and begin work by signed by September 30, 2017

COMPONENT THREE
(3.1) Select and contract with MAs (total of 15) to receive loans under Component 3.
-Applications from MAs for first round of loans received by March 1, 2017 and selection confirmed by July 1, 2017. 15 MAs sign loan agreements and begin work by signed by September 30, 2017

Background

Health service delivery for millions around the world is in jeopardy due to increasingly unpredictable and insecure global health financing. According to recent studies, official development aid is falling, there is a trend away from traditional donor-funded models of health service financing, and providers increasingly need to raise funds to ensure continued delivery of essential services. In addition to these changes in the financing structures, the demand for many health services, including family planning, is growing due to the largest-ever youth population the world has seen. To address the demand for services from these hundreds of millions of new users, IPPF must continue to generate funds through its traditional donor base (governments, bilateral donors, and foundations) and find new and different types of funding.
International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) is the worlds largest sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) provider. Since 1958, IPPF has served the poorest and most vulnerable, delivering health services that empower women and girls, including 149.3 million services to 61.8 million people in 2014. This CGI Commitment comes in direct response to a demand for capacity to use social enterprise as a model for future growth from the Executive Directors of IPPF Member Associations (MAs) around the world. The Program will enable IPPF, as a global provider operating through members and associates in 158 countries, to develop social entrepreneurship as an innovative financing option in the face of increasing needs and a rapidly changing funding environment.

Partnership Opportunities

A concept note to expand the number of countries to fifty where social enterprise is a new or enhanced financial sustainability approach has been developed and is available for potential donors.

IPPF will offer potential partners access to its global network of members and associates in 158 countries: locally owned, locally run, and independent health service providers, with which to develop partnerships, joint projects, and business opportunities. In addition, IPPF will offer partners:
Opportunities to invest in the IPPF Social Enterprise Fund.
Opportunities to share knowledge, products and services that support enterprise development and business management and growth.
Opportunities to share leading practices and information on social enterprise development and health financing.
Opportunities to conduct action research on health service delivery and innovative financing.
Opportunities to participate in an annual sharing workshop on program achievements, failures, and lessons learned.
Invitations to key program events and activities in pilot countries.

Progress Reports

May 2016

Firstly, the key activities have focused on development of the training program, and this has been facilitated through the social enterprise group and Acumen. The initial module design was completed at the end of January 2016 and is currently being pilot tested, ready for roll-out. To assist engagement and enhance sign-up of participants for the course, eight case studies of successful social enterprises from across the Federation have been developed. These will also be utilized to engage with donors and partners to provide financial and technical support to the program. Key recruitment to support this program was undertaken in quarter four of 2015 but was unsuccessful and continues into quarter one of 2016. Exchange visits have been facilitated to enhance learning between currently successful social enterprises and the five countries seeking to establish or expand their current enterprises. EY Enterprise Growth Services have been assisting three countries (Pakistan, Morocco, and Nigeria) in developin their business plans in relation to social enterprise.