Zimbabwe

In the face of the catastrophe that is Zimbabwe today, the west appears impotent. Our governments and large corporations stand aloof, unconcerned, or convinced that whatever they do will be futile or counter-productive. Only the non-governmental organizations on the ground do what they can to mitigate economic and social collapse. One of the virtues of outcome-based policy like Social Policy Bonds is that it could channel people's compassion and resources into solving problems previously thought to be beyond our control. No-one knows how best to help Zimbabweans, but then no western government has yet actually specified that as a goal and rewarded people for achieving it. But the long-term welfare of Zimbabweans could be the specified target of Social Policy Bond issue backed by western governments or philanthropic organisations. With the right incentives, some of the ingenuity and resources now devoted to enriching corporations and individuals would flow into projects and programmes that we cannot yet specify, into improving the wellbeing of the Zimbabwean. Just because we don't know what best mix of projects will be doesn't mean we should stand by and do nothing.

Another advantage of Social Policy Bonds is that they enlarge the range of large-scale projects that can be considered. Western government intervention in Africa in general, and Zimbabwe in particular, is open to (deliberate) misinterpretation and the charge of neo-colonialism. For instance, the long-term prospects for peaceful development in Zimbabwe, or elsewhere, might best be enhanced by reducing inter-communal strife, which might conceivably be minimised by the encouragement of intermarriage between different communities. Western governments could not themselves sponsor such intermarriages: that would be political dynamite. But holders of Social Policy Bonds that have as their explicit objective the long-term improvement of the welfare of African citizens, would probably find fewer barriers in the way of that sort of project: it would be clear to everyone that their motivation is entirely mercenary, rather than anything more sinister.