ATTAINING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OUTCOMES THROUGH BLENDED FINANCING OF SOCIAL ENTERPRISES: A CASE STUDY OF BLENDED FINANCE FACILITY FOR COVID-19 RESPONSE IN INDIA

Abstract

Social enterprises address sustainable development goals as their core reason to exist but face peculiar financing challenges given the risky nature of their development business. Lately, blended finance has been emerging as a unique way of mobilizing private resources for social good, by using public resources to catalyse these private funds. Using a case study method, the authors analyse a recently launched healthcare blended finance facility, supported by USAID, to address COVID-19 pandemic response in India. Through extensive analysis of the project and financial documents, the authors present a framework linking blended finance and social businesses to sustainable development outcomes, indicating how the philanthropic and grant funding enables the “extra” actions needed for social and development outcomes. The applicability and robustness of this framework can be explored through further research in future.