Monami recap (?)

Quick recap

Antonio and Constança discussed the Monali intervention, a mobile-based health program aimed at improving maternal health literacy in Angola, and the challenges faced in securing funding for its expansion. They also reflected on the learnings from the project, emphasizing the importance of leveraging expertise, maintaining good external relationships, and aligning expectations. The discussion also touched on the challenges of scaling up the intervention, the role of investors and outcome payers in the context of impact bonds, and the potential of expanding the project to other regions.

Next steps

• Margrida to continue following up on existing leads and responding to inquiries about the Monami project reactively.
• Maize team to close the KRs (key results) for the Monami project.
• Maize team to remain open to future opportunities to structure outcome-based financing for scaling Monami if they arise.
• Maize team to leverage learnings from the Monami project for future work in the development context.
• Appi to continue their own fundraising efforts for Monami, potentially incorporating outcomes-based elements with Maize's expertise.


Summary

Scaling Monali Intervention and Impact Bond Proposal
Antonio discussed the Monali intervention, a mobile-based health program funded by Outcome Accelerator, UBS Optimus Foundation, and FCDL Industries. The program, initially funded by Ranking and implemented by Happy People, provides weekly health messages to pregnant women and new mothers in Rwanda. Antonio's team aims to scale the intervention to other parts of Angola and increase user numbers. They plan to evaluate the program's impact on maternal health literacy, which they believe will lead to increased attendance at antenatal and postnatal care, and skilled birth attendance, ultimately reducing maternal and neonatal mortality. Antonio also mentioned a feasibility work conducted in Miami, which involved a small evaluation exercise with a beneficiary, over 90 in-depth interviews, and desk-based research on other mobile-based interventions. The work led to a 50-page feasibility report, an evaluation model, and a financial model that predicted costs and adaptations. Antonio concluded that it was feasible to launch a 4-year impact bond to fund and scale Monami, aiming to reach 400,000 women in Angola over four years and increase maternal health literacy by 20 points. The initial proposal was to be iterated through conversations with potential funders or investors.

Monami Project Outcomes and Future Opportunities
Antonio and Constança discussed the outcomes of their project Monami, which aimed to introduce outcomes-based financing for maternal health literacy in Angola. Despite extensive fundraising efforts, they faced challenges due to the slow progress of the outcomes-based commissioning market and Angola not being a priority country for many development organizations. They decided to adopt a reactive approach and organized a successful Monami webinar. The 12-month project has concluded, but they plan to leverage the connections made and remain open to future opportunities to implement Monami through outcomes-based contracts. Constança emphasized the importance of the Monami project and the need to learn from it for future projects.

Project Learnings and Fundraising Strategies
Constança discussed the team's experiences and learnings from a project, emphasizing the importance of leveraging expertise, particularly in research and fundraising, and the need for accurate adjustments in project management. She highlighted the importance of maintaining good external relationships and suggested a change in the research approach, proposing to start with expert interviews and then use desk-based research to fill in the gaps. Constança also discussed the team's experiences and learnings from their fundraising efforts, emphasizing the importance of trusting experienced individuals, starting fundraising efforts early, and aligning expectations. She suggested that the team could have leveraged partners' networks more effectively and addressed misalignment within the team. Lastly, she noted the skepticism of major investors towards Angola due to corruption issues and the country's low-income status.

Securing Funding for Disruptive Projects
Constança and Antonio discussed the challenges they faced in securing funding for their project from multilateral and bilateral agencies. Antonio explained that these agencies typically don't finance projects directly, but rather work with specific providers. He also noted that their proposal was disruptive to the usual financing methods and that they lacked strong positioning in this space. Antonio mentioned that they had been trying to reach out to these agencies for several months with no success. He also mentioned that a potential investor, Google, was no longer able to support the project due to a change in strategy. Antonio concluded by expressing optimism about some positive developments, but acknowledged that the project's size was a significant factor in its rejection.

Securing Funding for Intervention Project Challenges
Antonio discussed the challenges faced in securing funding for their project. He noted that some investors found the intervention model too superficial and not impactful enough, especially for more complex cases. Additionally, many potential funders fell out of scope due to geographical or thematic reasons. The biggest challenge, according to Antonio, was securing commitments from both investors and an African payer, a task complicated by the Angolan government's lack of trust in international players. He suggested that a more likely outcome would be Abby's efforts to bring outcomes into grant funding negotiations, rather than structuring a new deal.

Scaling Intervention Challenges and Impact Bonds
Antonio and Constança discussed the challenges of scaling up their intervention in Angola, particularly in relation to the cost per beneficiary. Constança explained that due to a limited population size and the need to accept new beneficiaries only in the first two years of intervention, the number of beneficiaries they can accommodate is quite ambitious. Antonio then shifted the discussion to the role of investors and outcome payers in the context of impact bonds. He noted that it can be confusing to determine who should play which role, and that some big players are considering becoming outcome payers instead of investors. Antonio also mentioned that the ecosystem for impact bonds is slowing down, and that they need to wait for the right opportunity to invest.

Expanding Project to Other Regions Challenges
Antonio and Constança discussed the challenges and potential of expanding their project to other regions. Constança suggested that while it's an ambitious goal, it's too much to ask for in a short period and they need to test and gather evidence first. Antonio expressed frustration about the slow pace of mainstreaming outcomes-based projects, but also acknowledged the need for patience and persistence. They also discussed the importance of focusing on outcome payers and the need to say no to projects without clear outcomes. The conversation ended with plans for a farewell lunch and a recording session for social media content.