2018年经济学人资助慈善事业:高成本发展影响力债券的利与弊(1)（打印版）

If a girl in a poor country goes to school, she will probably have a more comfortable life than if she stays at home.

如果欠发达国家的女孩去上学，那么相比待在家中，她的未来或许更加轻松。

She will be less likely to marry while still a child, and therefore less likely to die in childbirth.

她遭遇童婚的几率更小，在分娩过程中死亡的概率也更小。

So, not surprisingly, there is an Indian charity that tries to get girls into school and ensure they learn something,

因此，有那么一家印度慈善机构想要送这些女孩们去学校读书，让她们学知识；

and there are Western philanthropists willing to pay for its work. What is noteworthy is how they have gone about this transaction.

有一些西方慈善家愿意为这个项目出资也就不奇怪了。值得注意的是，他们将如何开展该交易。

On July 13th the Brookings Institution, a think-tank, presents the results of the world's first large development-impact bond,

7月13日，智库布鲁金斯学会公布了世界首个大型发展影响力债券的成果，

which paid for girls' education in the northern Indian state of Rajasthan.

该债券为印度北部拉贾斯坦邦的女孩们支付教育费用。

In this novel way of funding charitable work, a financial institution gives money to a charity, which tries to achieve various specified outcomes.

这是资助慈善事业的新方式，在该项目中，一家金融机构把钱交给一家慈善机构，该机构试图获得各种特定的成果。

If a neutral arbiter rules that it has succeeded, a donor or philanthropist repays the investor, plus a bonus.

如果中立仲裁人判定该工作取得了成功，那么该项目捐赠人或慈善家就能回报投资者，还能获得分红。

If it fails, the investor loses some or all of its money.

如果失败，投资者就会失去部分或所有钱。

This is more convoluted than the usual way of funding charitable projects,

这种方法比常规的资助慈善事业的方法更加复杂，

in which a donor gives money to a charity, which spends it according to a pre-agreed plan.

常规方法是捐赠者把钱交给慈善机构，这家慈善机构根据预先商定的方案使用这笔钱。

The donor tries to ensure the money is not wasted by keeping track of inputs-the number of solar panels installed or vaccinations given, say.

捐赠者试图通过追踪这笔钱的投入使用，比如安装太阳能板的数目或是发放疫苗的数量，来确保这笔钱不被浪费。

Often, no one knows whether the intervention did much good.

通常，没人知道这种干预能否起到好的作用。

In this case, the more complicated approach did achieve something.

在这种情况下，这种更加复杂的方法确实取得了成效。

Educate Girls, the charity, identified 837 out-of-school girls aged 7-14 in the villages where it was active, and enrolled 768 of them.

在各村庄中，慈善机构‘女孩教育行动’确定有837名年龄在7到14岁的女孩辍学了，并将其中768名送入学校。

By using volunteers to teach both boys and girls in village schools for a few hours a week,

该机构请志愿者每周为村庄学校的男孩和女孩们上几个小时的课，

it managed to raise test scores substantially relative to a control group.

他们想要让这些孩子的考试分数有所提升。

So the investor, UBS Optimus Foundation, will be repaid by the Children's Investment Fund Foundation.

该项目投资方瑞银慈善基金会，将从儿童投资基金会获得回报。