Elma Saiz defends public-private partnership in the face of social and environmental challenges, "as we are doing with the Social Impact Fund"

The Minister for Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, Elma Saiz, in the group photo of the event (Pool Moncloa)

The Minister for Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, Elma Saiz, highlighted the importance of public-private partnerships to address social and environmental challenges and meet the Sustainable Development Goals. In this regard, she framed the launch a year ago of the Social Impact Fund (SIF) as an instrument to articulate this collaboration.

"The Social Impact Fund, led by the Ministry of Inclusion and managed by COFIDES", explained Saiz, "will end the year with an investment of 255 million euros, of which 40 million will go to projects focused on one of the main problems facing citizens in Spain today: housing". In the last twelve months, 13 operations worth 40% of the fund (€155 million) have already been completed, allocating catalytic capital for social impact to organisations throughout the country.

This was announced by the minister at the closing ceremony of the side event at the 4th International Conference on Financing for Development, organised by the Ministry under the title "Public-private participation in the impact economy: a global challenge", which was opened by the Minister for Economy, Trade and Business, Carlos Cuerpo.

The seminar addressed the impact economy as a cornerstone for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, and experiences developed in Spain and abroad were shared.

"We need unity and firm resolutions to fight inequalities, climate change, poverty, hunger, homelessness and, of course, to secure financing for development," said Elma Saiz.

"It is important to have taken a step forward at a time of regression, when policies of equality or sustainability are being rejected. It is a priority to join forces between the public and private sectors and demonstrate that this is a successful win-win formula," she says. In this context, she added, "public administrations must serve as a catalyst for the creation of initiatives and policies to achieve a sustainable future, and encourage their financing by the private sector. "This is what the Government of Spain has done, creating the Social Impact Fund," she said.

The importance of the impact economy

Minister Cuerpo, for his part, was emphatic in his speech in defending public-private partnership in the impact economy: "Without meaningful private sector involvement, the Sustainable Development Goals will remain unattainable," he said. "It has never been more urgent to transform the coordinated action of financial contributors to truly serve sustainable and inclusive development," he said.

Carlos Cuerpo highlighted the Social Impact Fund (SIF) as a successful practice. "It is a highly innovative financial instrument, the only one its kind in Spain and with few precedents at international level," he explained. "Spain has shown bold leadership. The impact economy is no longer seen as peripheral; it is establishing itself as a key driver of innovation and resilience," he said.

Elena Rodríguez, Secretary General for Inclusion, said at the event that "we are at a good time to promote economic and social change. Addressing the challenges of the future requires a collective commitment, where the public and private sector work together in the same direction. We must bring the private sector into the Sustainable Development Goals because by acting in this way, through the impact economy, we will be able to meet these challenges sooner and better and we will be able to design their impact".

Social Impact Fund

The Social Impact Fund, created a year ago, is endowed with 400 million euros of public funding from the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan to support Spanish and European social impact enterprises: "The approval of this Fund has been, so far, the largest public investment made to investment funds of this type, which means that Spain has become the fourth country in the world and the second in the European Union in public-private partnership initiatives for social impact and entrepreneurship".

The SIF is an open-ended instrument that supports both impact investment funds and social economy enterprises and entities through equity and debt instruments. With 13 operations already approved, it is helping to address social challenges such as the employability of people with disabilities, women and young people, migrants or the long-term unemployed, access to decent housing, the promotion of equal opportunities, support for inclusion, the sustainable use of local resources and social cohesion.

One of the main commitments is social investment in housing to improve access conditions for vulnerable people. In this area, there is a commitment to allocate 40 million to social impact housing, particularly for the homeless. The first operation in this line has been signed with tuTECHÔ, a company that buys homes and makes them available to social organisations so that they can rent them to homeless and low-income people at below market rates.

"The loan will enable tuTECHÔ to acquire new housing for more than 2,000 people and strengthen its operational capacity. It is a need that must be urgently addressed," he said.

Non official translation