Impact Policy Tracker Policy

Plan your Future SIB (Proyectá tu Futuro)



Proyectá Tu Futuro was Argentina’s first SIB, aiming to tackle youth unemployment and low secondary education completion rates, two persistent challenges in the city’s southern boroughs. The programme sought to improve the employability of vulnerable young people aged 17–24 by providing targeted support to help them access and retain formal jobs.

The SIB model aligned the efforts of public, private, and civil society actors through an outcomes-based contract. Four private investors provided upfront capital, with lending support from the Inter-American Development Bank. The city government acted as the outcomes funder, committing to repay the investment with a return only if measurable employment outcomes were achieved.  The programme supported 1,000 participants through training in soft and technical skills over 4 to 6 months, followed by mentoring for at least 6 more. By the end of 2021, the programme met or exceeded most of its targets, with results significantly outperforming comparable government programmes, building a strong case for outcomes-based innovation in Argentina.

Highlights

  • A first mover in the country and region: Proyectá Tu Futuro marked a pioneering step for outcomes-based financing in Argentina and served as one of the first in Latin America as well. As the first government-led SIB in the country, it set a precedent for applying a new contractual and budgetary logic, allowing for multi-year budgeting and removing the usual penalties for under-execution of public funds. This breakthrough enabled the Government of Buenos Aires to align incentives across sectors while testing an innovative approach to solving complex social challenges.

  • Reframing a Global North innovation. The project also represents a case of "travelling policy": a model originally developed in the financial sector and the Global North, adapted to the education and employment context in the Global South. The learnings and experience gained through this programme have laid the groundwork for scaling outcomes-based models to address other pressing issues, beyond youth unemployment, across Argentina and the region.

  • Thriving in a challenging context: This SIB operated in an exceptionally volatile environment, navigating more than 100% currency devaluation, the global COVID-19 pandemic, recruitment difficulties, and a shrinking labour market, all within a country facing an ongoing economic crisis. Despite these challenges, the SIB structure enabled risk-sharing across stakeholders, protecting public funds when targets weren’t fully met. Proyectá Tu Futuro not only delivered results in line with expectations but also demonstrated how outcomes-based instruments can adapt and succeed in complex, rapidly changing environments.

Government’s Role:
Market Participant


Country:
Argentina

Policy Type:
Outcomes partnerships

Year: 2018

Responsible Institution:
Buenos Aires City Government

Outcomes partnerships

What are outcomes partnerships?

Outcomes partnerships are innovative funding mechanisms that link payments to the achievement of measurable social or environmental outcomes, rather than to the delivery of predefined services. They typically involve three core parties: a government or public entity acting as the outcome payer, a service provider delivering the intervention, and a third-party investor supplying upfront repayable finance. The investor is repaid, partially or fully, only if the agreed outcomes are achieved. This structure shifts financial risk away from the public sector, encourages performance-based service delivery, and enables more flexible, adaptive approaches to addressing complex social challenges. It underpins instruments such as Social Impact Bonds (SIBs), Development Impact Bonds (DIBs), Career Impact Bonds, and outcome funds.

Outcomes partnerships have emerged from pioneering efforts in the UK and were developed in response to the limits of traditional, one-size-fits-all service delivery, especially in sectors like health, education, and employment. They have helped improve public sector effectiveness (delivering up to 9x of public value for every $1 invested), mobilise private investment for the public good, and strengthen performance management through learning and adaptation. Outcomes partnerships rest on three key principles: 1) collaborative design, where stakeholders co-create shared goals; 2) flexible delivery, allowing for real-time learning and local adaptation; and 3) clear accountability, with transparent reporting on tangible, person-centred outcomes.

For more information, visit GSG Impact’s reports, Shifting Gears - Challenges in scaling outcomes partnerships in government and strategies for success and Tying funding to results, and Oxford University’s Government Outcomes Lab website and its latest report “The evolution of social outcomes partnerships in the UK”.