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The Impact Bond Innovation Fund (IBIF) was a pioneering Social Impact Bond (SIB) focused on Early Childhood Development (ECD) in South Africa, operational from September 2018 to November 2020. This three-year pilot initiative aimed to improve cognitive and socio-emotional development outcomes for over 2,000 children aged 3-5 in the low-income communities of Atlantis and Delft in the Western Cape province.

The Impact Bond Innovation Fund (IBIF) demonstrated mixed results during its three-year implementation from 2018 to 2020. The program successfully met its enrolment, retention, and attendance targets, engaging over 2,000 children in early childhood development activities. However, it fell short of fully achieving its primary development assessment target, measured by the Early Learning Outcomes Measure (ELOM) for 4 to 5-year-old children. In response to initial shortcomings, the program implemented improvements including enhanced training, digital data collection, and additional skill development activities. Despite not meeting all targets, the IBIF provided valuable insights into home-based early education in South Africa. Financially, the bond delivered a 14% annualized return to investors, slightly below the potential maximum of 16%.

The initiative's final assessment was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but overall, the IBIF offered important learnings for future social impact bonds in early childhood education, particularly in terms of operational success and the challenges of achieving measurable developmental outcomes in low-income communities.