The OECD, together with the Outcomes Finance Alliance (OFA), is co-developing shared guidance on outcomes-based financing (OBF). We invite governments, development partners, the private sector, civil society organisations and other stakeholders to help shape it through public consultations.
What we are developing
Outcomes-based financing is understood as a family of approaches, not a single instrument. The guidance does not promote OBF as a universal solution. Its purpose is to provide a shared language around OBF and help define when OBF is useful and when it is not, what minimum standards and safeguards should apply, and how institutions can move from pilots to responsible, scalable practice.
Drawing on the OECD evidence base (OECD Working Paper No. 119), OBF is defined by three core features:
The results to be achieved are specified and agreed before delivery begins.
At least part of the funding is conditional on achieving the agreed outcomes.
Results are independently verified before the related funding is disbursed.
A short, stand-alone document for ministers, directors-general, funders and agency leadership, setting out the value proposition of OBF and the core principles of good practice.
A practical “how-to” manual for outcome funders, technical teams and practitioners, covering both institutional adoption and mainstreaming, and operational design and delivery, with supporting annexes.
How the guidance is being developed
The guidance is being co-created through a consultative process running through 2026, with a first edition expected by the end of 2026. Consultation is considered just as important as the final product: those who will use the Principles and Playbook are centrally involved in shaping them.
The guidance draws on several complementary channels. Most bring together invited partners at different points in the process; the open public consultation is the channel through which anyone can contribute.
Senior steer on direction and priorities at each milestone.
Practical scrutiny by development partners and partner governments.
Input from the wider practitioner community convened through the OFA.
Testing draft sections with stakeholders, including at events such as the OFA Summit in Cape Town and in bilateral and group sessions.
Written feedback open to all interested individuals and organisations. The first round, on the annotated outline, is complete. A summary of what we heard is available below, and a second round, on the draft Guidance, will open soon.
What we heard
The first round of public consultation, on the annotated outline of the Principles Brief and Playbook, ran from mid-June and closed in August 2026. Every submission was reviewed in full, including tracked changes and margin comments, and coded against each section of the outline.
National and subnational, several commissioning OBF in their own right
Bilateral agencies, multilateral development banks, UN entities, pooled funds, foundations, private investors
International and community-based CSOs, outcome funds, intermediaries and advisors
Academic researchers and independent evaluators
Across Latin America, Southern and West Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, Oceania and the Gulf. Many submissions arrived with internal guidance, tools, datasets and case material.
The range of contributions is itself a finding.
Respondents gave senior time, institutional candour and hard-won delivery experience, and shared what has failed as well as what has worked. Thank you.
The process matters as much as the product. The Guidance will continue to be developed in that co-creational spirit, with the people who will use it.
A note to consultation contributors setting out where respondents endorsed the proposed approach, what they asked us to strengthen, and where their advice points in different directions.
Open the executive summary →The Secretariat teams are now preparing the full draft of the Principles Brief and Playbook. A second public consultation, on that draft, will open soon; contributors from the first round and new contributors alike will be able to engage with it directly.
Contact the teams →Respondents across every constituency confirmed the demand for shared OECD guidance, and endorsed the two-part architecture of a short Principles Brief alongside a practical Playbook. Two positions drew particular approval: framing OBF as one approach within a broader financing toolkit rather than a universal solution, and treating readiness as something that can be built rather than a precondition. Beneath that endorsement sits a set of constructive and substantive suggestions on how to strengthen the Guidance — eight themes recurring across the consultation, set out in full in the executive summary.
Questions
Who is involved
The Advisory Council brings together governments, development partners, multilateral institutions and foundations that provide strategic steering of the process.
