Background

Kenya experiences significant challenges with teen pregnancy and HIV infections, which have severe consequences on the health and future opportunities of adolescents, particularly girls. One in six adolescent girls between 15 and 19 years old either becomes pregnant or is already a mother, resulting in over 260,000 pregnancies annually. In 2022, an estimated 7,307 new HIV infections occurred among adolescents and young people aged 15-24, accounting for 41% of all new infections in the country. Adolescent girls and young women are particularly vulnerable, accounting for 78% of new HIV infections (2023 estimates).

According to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022, slightly more than half of young people (54% of women and 55% of men) know about HIV prevention methods. Adolescents face multiple barriers to accessing sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and HIV services, including limited access to correct information, financial obstacles, long distances to health facilities, socio-cultural factors, and legal and policy-related challenges. Even when services are available, concerns about provider biases, privacy, and confidentiality discourage adolescents from seeking help. This situation highlights the urgent need to address the underserved and under-equipped state of adolescents in terms of their sexual and reproductive rights.

The Adolescent Sexual & Reproductive Health Development Impact Bond

A collaborative United Nations team, comprising UNFPA, WHO, UNAIDS, the UN Resident Coordinator's Office, and the UN SDG Partnership Platform (SDG PP), has partnered with Triggerise, a nonprofit implementing organisation, to address the challenges of adolescent pregnancy, new HIV infections, and AIDS-related deaths among adolescent girls in high-burden counties in Kenya. This initiative aims to mobilise private and public sector financing through the use of a development impact bond (DIB) to improve adolescent health outcomes.

Bridges Outcomes Partnerships is providing upfront funding and support to Triggerise to enable the delivery of high-quality, youth-friendly SRH services, including HIV testing and treatment, to adolescent girls aged 15-19. The Pooling Facility has raised $9.9m to repay the upfront funding only when specific outcomes linked to the improvement of adolescent health are achieved. The project will be implemented in ten counties across Kenya: Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, Homa Bay, Bungoma, Migori, Kisii, Nyamira, Kakamega, and Busia, all of which experience a significant burden of adolescent pregnancy and HIV.

Overview

This concept builds on a successful DIB model previously implemented by the Children's Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), FCDO, and Triggerise over an 18-month period from 2020 to 2022. During this first phase, the availability and uptake of SRH services among adolescents in Kenya were expanded, reaching a total of 362,000 girls with SRH services, far surpassing the target of 244,445. Notably, the number of repeat service visits exceeded the initial target by 262%, with a total of 118,058 girls receiving repeat visits against an initial target of 45,000.

Results Recommendations

2

years

Results Recommendations

300,000

girls reached

Results Recommendations

$10.1m

budget

TIKO PLATFORM

This DIB will be implemented using the Tiko platform, a free digital platform that connects adolescents to existing local private and public service providers. Through Tiko, adolescents gain access to free, youth-friendly SRH and HIV-related services.

 

Expected Impact

Results Recommendations

Increased agency of adolescent girls to exercise their SRH rights

Results Recommendations

Increased uptake of quality SRH and HIV information and services in the public sector

Results Recommendations

Increased resources for SRH and HIV services

Results Recommendations

Reduction in new adolescent HIV infections

Results Recommendations

Reduction in adolescent AIDS-related deaths

Results Recommendations

Reduction in adolescent pregnancies

Latest News

  • Groundbreaking $10.1 Million Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health Development Impact Bond launches in Kenya

    Nairobi, 21st September, 2023 – The UN in Kenya, led by UNFPA, UNAIDS, WHO, and the SDG Partnership Platform, in collaboration with the Government of Kenya, a global non-profit organization Triggerise, the Children's Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), and Bridges Outcomes Partnerships today announced the roll-out of a new Development Impact Bond (DIB) for adolescent sexual and reproductive health (ASRH) in Kenya.

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  • Reaching teenage girls in low-income settings with sexual and reproductive health & HIV services backed by outcome-based funding

    With her mobile phone in hand, 24-year-old community health volunteer Phylis Mwangi sets out every morning, visiting neighboring homes in Mabatini, an area of the expansive Mathare informal settlement in Nairobi. She spends the day speaking to teenage girls, many of whom are first-time young mothers, introducing them to Tiko, a digital platform on her phone that connects girls between the ages of 15-19 with free sexual and reproductive health supplies and services.

    Read more

  • Kenya’s Adolescents the Winners as United Nations Joint SDG Fund Doubles its Portfolio to $114 Million in Catalytic Impact Investments

    Today, the United Nations Joint Sustainable Development Goals Fund (JSDGF) in New York announced a historic expansion of its portfolio to five new markets across the globe with US $54.5 million in additional investments to rescue the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Selected from a global pool of submissions from over 100 countries, the proposals submitted by Kenya, Madagascar, North Macedonia, Suriname, and Zimbabwe emerged as the strongest, most impactful, and investment-ready to take public.

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  • Unveiling the World’s first Adolescent Sexual Reproductive Health Development Impact Bond in Kenya

    The SDGs for Africa Investment Mobilization Summit was held in Nairobi from 24-26 May, providing a platform to showcase SDG investment opportunities, as well as trends across various players in the wider investment ecosystem. During the summit, a Joint United Nations team in Kenya comprising of the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office, SDG Partnership Platform, UNFPA, WHO, UNAIDS showcased the Adolescent Sexual Reproductive Health Development Impact Bond (DIB), an innovative financing vehicle aimed at transforming adolescent health outcomes in Kenya by tackling the challenges of teen pregnancy and HIV infections among adolescent girls.

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  • How real-time data spurred success in world-first adolescent sexual reproductive health development impact bond

    Development impact bonds (DIBs) are increasingly appealing alternative funding models for social interventions, as funders only pay for outcomes, not inputs or activities. This characteristic ensures value for money for funders, as capital is invested into achieving goals in the most efficient way. This flexibility allows implementers, such as Triggerise, to adapt projects according to what’s working, making sure that money is only spent where it makes sense. This makes room for context-specific solutions and innovation. For example, in the implementation of this bond, real-time data collection and evaluation were employed to great success in reaching targets months ahead of schedule.

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  • Putting healthcare in their hands: our development impact bond case study

    From September 2020 to February 2022, the world’s first adolescent sexual and reproductive health (SRH) development impact bond (DIB) was implemented in Kenya. In partnership with the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office and the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, we contributed to the reduction of unintended pregnancies among Kenyan adolescent girls by increasing their access to and uptake of SRH services and products.

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"This project will foster collaboration among stakeholders across the spectrum including the government, donor agencies, and the private sector and unlock additional external resources and financing that are critical to not only improving adolescent health outcomes but also the attainment of the sustainable development goals."

—Dr Stephen Jackson, UN Resident Coordinator in Kenya

Structuring of the Development Impact Bond

  • 1- Design a programme model which is innovative, scalable and measurable
  • 2A - Obtain an Outcome Funder, who provides funding to Pooling Facility
  • 2B - Obtain a Social Investor, who prefinances the programme by providing funding to the Service Provider
  • 3 - The Service Provider delivers interventions and is assessed by the Independent Evaluator, based on pre-assigned targets defined in an M&E framework
  • 4 - The Independent Evaluator provides feedback to the Pooling Facility
  • 5 - The Pooling Facility pays the premium to the Social Investor, based on the results and using the outcome funding
Our Partners

Our Partners

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Partner with us

For partnership inquiries, contact:
Kigen Korir, Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health Specialist, UNFPA
Email: kkorir@unfpa.org

For media inquiries, contact:
Irene Wangui, Communications and Advocacy Specialist, UNFPA
Email: wangui@unfpa.org