Project: ECCE Rwanda Outcomes Fund
State of development: Current
Type of instrument — Impact Bond: ; Outcomes Fund: Yes; Social Impact Incentives (SIINC): ; Social Impact Guarantee: ; Payment-by-results (no pre-financing): ; Technical Assistance and Market-building program: ; Other: 
Expected length of project (years): 4
Project design process began: 2023
Rationale for using outcome-based finance: In Outcomes Funds, payments are made upon the achievement of pre-specified results measured by a third-party evaluator. This ensures that funding is spent to finance measurable results, improving the value-for-money offer and the effectiveness of ECCE spending, and unifying the evidence towards which ECCE programmes in the country oriented. The programme will have a wider set of indirect impact as well, strenghtening the available evidence and capacities of now only GoR, but the wider ECCE ecosystem. 
Role of the domestic government — Outcomes funder: Yes; Service provider: ; Member of project committee: Yes; No formal role: ; Other: 
Service providers identified and selected — Request-for-proposals: Yes; Direct contracting by outcome funder/investor/intermediary: ; Provider-led deal development: ; Other: Upcoming call for request of Proposals.
Feasibility study: Yes
Proposed financing instruments — Debt: ; Equity: ; Guarantee: ; Grant: Yes; Other: 
Technical assistance grant: Yes — 
Social/developmental challenge: This programme aims to create incentives to grantees to develop adequate and sustainable support strategies for the inclusion of children with developmental delays or disabilities (including improving access and developing caregivers’ and parents’ capacities), a challenge identified as the primary issue in the ECCE in Rwanda
Expected intervention model: The programme aims to improve the quality of existing community-based ECDs in rural areas, serving as a crucial stopgap to bridge the gap in ECE provision for underserved and poorer communitie while new pre-primary schools are being constructed. Being mindful of limited budgets, the programme adopts a cost effective approach that can be later scaled to other settings and adopted by the government, ensuring a far-reaching impact. Additionally, using existing community structures allows for early learning opportunities for those not easily served by pre-primary classrooms attached to a primary school. 

The OBF mechanism will ensure that government and donor money is spent on what works and will encourage results-driven innovation. By focusing on outcomes, OBF programmes are a value-for-money option that ensures every dollar spent to improve children's holistic skills is maximised.
Policy sectors — Employment and private sector development: ; Education: Yes; Social protection: ; Criminal justice: ; Health: ; Agriculture: ; Environment and climate change: ; Water, Sanitation and Hygiene: ; Energy: ; Humanitarian: ; Early Childhood Education: Yes; Other: 
Primary SDG goal: 4
Target population: The direct participants of this programme are children in the 3-5 years levels, with an additional focus on children with developmental delays, who attend informal community-based ECD centers in rural areas, where access to existing pre-primary classrooms is most challenging.
Country income classification of beneficiaries — Low-income: Yes; Lower-middle-income: ; Upper-middle-income: ; High-income: 
Beneficiary notes: The rationale for focusing on this age range responds primarily to the Government priority to promote a strong foundation in the three years before primary school. Additionally, programmes targeted at children ages zero to two call for more multisectoral interventions that in turn can dramatically increase cost, and therefore the level of complexity of the Outcomes Fund design
Notes: Data for this pipeline instrument was last updated in November 2024. 
Delivery location: Rwanda