HRH The Prince of Wales supports the British Asian Trust’s Education Development Impact Bond for India
HRH The Prince of Wales – Royal Founding Patron of the British Asian Trust – gave his support for social finance as a transformational tool for philanthropy, and welcomed the Trust’s Education Development Impact Bond (DIB) for India, during a reception at St James’s Palace.
Speaking to the audience, His Royal Highness praised the work of the British Asian Trust and highlighted the transformative potential of social impact investing.
The Trust’s $11m Development Impact Bond is designed to improve learning outcomes for over 200,000 marginalised children in India.
The reception at St James's Palace brought together trustees, investors, experts and leading philanthropists including champion of global impact investing Sir Ronald Cohen, to raise awareness of innovative social impact investing as a transformational tool for tackling social issues.
Addressing the audience, Sir Ronald Cohen championed social impact investing as an evolution of more traditional forms of philanthropy, which could revolutionise the lives of millions. He said:
“What the British Asian Trust is doing in social finance is truly ground-breaking: it is capable of delivering vital social improvement at scale.”
Richard Hawkes, Chief Executive of the British Asian Trust said: “At the heart of our programme strategy is a real determination to continue applying business principles to the work. We are convinced that only by applying these to philanthropy and to development are you really able to meet the needs of the greatest number of people. That is why we are incredibly excited about social impact investing and the DIB that we have been working on”
The $11m Education Development Impact Bond has been developed by the British Asian Trust together with UBS Optimus Foundation. The British Asian Trust is also delighted to be working in partnership with DFID (now called the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) as of 2 September 2020), who will contribute technical assistance and insights to the project.
[Former] International Development Secretary Priti Patel said: “DFID (now called the FCDO as of 2 September 2020) is exploring new and innovative ways to finance programmes which will transform the lives of some of the world’s poorest people. We are proud to support the British Asian Trust as they develop their Development Impact Bond, which will provide access to quality education for hundreds of thousands of children.”
Watch the highlights from the philanthropy and social impact investing session recently held at St James’s Palace with Sir Ronald Cohen and attended by HRH The Prince of Wales.
