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Payment by Results – background
The SWIFT Consortium and PbR
Further information
Payment by Results – background
Payment by Results (PbR) programmes are based on the concept of sharing risk. Donors using PbR contracts are moving away from providing up-front grants, and towards a system of payment after the achievement of pre-agreed results. In this way, risk is increasingly being shared with those organisations and governments who are implementing development programmes. Results can be judged in terms of outputs (activities and processes which are delivered in the short-term) and outcomes (the medium-term effects of those processes and activities). The ultimate aim of meeting these output and outcome targets is to achieve impact: long-term, widespread change.
The SWIFT Consortium and PbR
The SWIFT programme is funded by UK aid from the UK government under a PbR contract. Instead of a grant, payment is tied to output and outcome targets that were identified and agreed by SWIFT’s partners and DFID.
The work undertaken to achieve these targets is monitored, verified and evaluated on DFID’s behalf by a third-party organisation: the e-Pact consortium, which is led by Itad, with OPM, IWEL and Ecorys.
SWIFT had to deliver the results agreed by its March 2016 deadline in order to receive payment. Results must also be sustainable if the consortium is to receive payment in full. Checks to verify whether this is the case will be carried out in 2017 and March 2018, and non-sustainability will result in reduced payment.
Further information
To find out more about DFID’s use of PbR contracts, read its Payment by Results Strategy: Sharpening incentives to perform To find out more about what PbR means for NGOs, read this report by Bond, a UK network of international NGOs: Payment by Results – What it means for UK NGOs To learn more about implementing a WASH programme in a PbR context, read the SWIFT learning brief ‘Implementing WASH programmes in a PbR context‘
