Solving Social Issues Using Social Impact Bonds, with Participation from Public Officials and Citizens Together
[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Hyung-kwon] Gwangyang City announced that it held a special lecture on "Understanding Social Impact Bond (SIB) Projects" by inviting Kwak Je-hoon, CEO of Fan Impact Korea, at the city hall's main conference room the day before. The lecture focused on solving social issues using Social Impact Bonds.
The "Social Impact Bond Project" is a method where private investment is used to carry out public projects, and if performance targets are achieved, the government and local governments execute budgets to repay investors both principal and interest.
This innovative idea is being rapidly adopted worldwide as it simultaneously addresses the government's fiscal shortage problem and the increasing demand for public and welfare projects.
CEO Kwak Je-hoon explained, "The social impact bond project targeting children with borderline intelligence and mild intellectual disabilities, promoted by Seoul City in 2016, is cited as the first successful case in Asia. Currently, Seoul City is pursuing a second project aimed at resolving youth unemployment, and at the basic local government level, Buyeo County is preparing a project to reduce dementia diagnosis rates among people with mild cognitive impairment."
Bang Ki-tae, Director of Planning and Budget Office, stated, "This year, we plan to focus on building consensus among public officials and citizens for promoting social impact bond projects, and next year, we plan to push forward with enacting ordinances to establish operational grounds and hold staff workshops to discover project proposals."
Meanwhile, to prevent COVID-19, the number of participants in the training was minimized, and the video was broadcast within the office so that all employees could watch it.
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