Ford Feasibility Study for an Indonesian Orange Bond Archives - IIX

Convergence in Action 2025: An Overview of Vietnam’s Impact Investment Ecosystem

August 5, 2025 Blog, Publication

Convergence in Action 2025:
An Overview of Vietnam’s Impact Investment Ecosystem

In March 2025, the Global Impact Chapter (GIC) conference in Ho Chi Minh City convened more than 60 Vietnamese and Korean investors, entrepreneurs, and policy-makers to explore how blended finance can accelerate social innovation. The energy and insights from Impact Investment Exchange (IIX), venture capital firms, impact funds, and partners such as the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), and the Dutch Fund for Climate & Development (DFCD), AVPN became the foundation for Convergence in Action 2025: An Overview of Vietnam’s Impact-Investment Ecosystem, a report co-authored by MYSC and IIX with support from KOICA.

The report offers a comprehensive look into Vietnam’s thriving impact investing space, key trends shaping the nation’s future ecosystem, and case studies on impact enterprises that are shaping a more inclusive and sustainable future.

Vietnam is fast emerging as one of Asia’s innovation hubs, especially in the social impact space, where we see impact investing communities such as the Vietnam Impact Investing Network (VIIN) set up in the past few years. A UNDP-supported study counts over 27,000 social impact enterprises nationwide, reflecting strong momentum and interest in inclusive and sustainable transformation–especially driven from the grassroots level.
The World Bank estimates that Vietnam will require at least US$368 billion in financing by 2045 to achieve net-zero emissions and climate resilience. To fund change requires diverse supporters and types of capital, including venture capital, gender-lens finance, and blended finance.
Blended finance in particular is increasingly recognized as a mechanism to bridge the persistent financing gap in Vietnam. Such finance improves the risk-return profile of impact-oriented ventures by using concessional funding such as government or donor grants or soft loans to de-risk transactions and catalyze additional private sector investment in projects that may otherwise remain underserved.
The report also shares case studies of how local impact enterprises such as agri-fintech platform TechCoop and climate-smart farming venture Con Trâu Eco, were able to benefit from blended finance in Vietnam’s rapidly maturing impact-investment ecosystem.

Convergence in Action 2025

An Overview of Vietnam’s Impact-Investment Ecosystem

Kết Nối Để Tạo Tác Động 2025

Tổng Quan Hệ Sinh Thái Đầu Tư Tác Động Tại Việt Nam

Issuance Framework for Indonesia Orange Bond and Sukuk (2025)

July 25, 2025 Publication

Orange Bonds and Orange Sukuk introduce a unified, gender-intentional approach to thematic bond issuance in Indonesia. These frameworks are designed to align with international sustainable finance standards—including the ICMA Green, Social, Sustainability, and Sustainability-Linked Bond Principles (GSSS)—while integrating seamlessly with Indonesia’s national regulatory landscape, such as POJK regulations and the OJK Sustainable Finance Roadmap. At their core, they embed gender considerations across the entire capital market lifecycle, from design to impact reporting.

The Orange Bond Framework offers practical guidance for structuring, issuing, and verifying gender-smart fixed-income instruments. Built around the Orange Bond Principles™—Gender-Positive Capital Allocation, Gender-Lens Capacity and Leadership, and Transparency in Process and Reporting—this framework shows how Orange Bonds can enhance the impact of existing green, social, or sustainability bonds, without adding market complexity.

The Orange Sukuk Framework adapts these same principles for Shariah-compliant finance. It maps the Orange Bond approach onto sukuk structures in line with Maqasid al-Shariah, asset-backing requirements, and Indonesia’s Islamic finance regulations. The framework provides issuers with clear guidance on embedding gender and inclusion objectives into sukuk structuring, governance, and impact measurement.

Together, these frameworks offer a powerful tool to mobilize inclusive, gender-smart capital across a range of thematic priorities—from climate resilience and sustainable infrastructure to ocean health. Rather than replacing existing instruments, Orange Bonds and Sukuk complement and strengthen Indonesia’s broader thematic finance ecosystem, including green, blue, and SDG-linked bonds and sukuk.

Indonesia Orange Bond Framework

Comprehensive Guidelines for Orange Bonds in Indonesia for Inclusive, Climate-Resilient Sustainable Development

Indonesia Orange Sukuk Framework

Orange Sukuk Framework: Comprehensive Guidelines for Issuing Gender-Inclusive GSSS+ Shariah Finance Instruments in Indonesia

Want to learn how to apply the frameworks in practice?

Join the Indonesia Orange Bond Ecosystem Readiness Training — free for all participants, supported by IIX and the Ford Foundation.

Unlocking Private Capital at Scale: Can Sovereign Thematic Bonds Solve the Financing Gap for the SDGs?

July 2, 2025 Catalogue

Amid a global financing landscape where low- and lower-middle-income countries (L-LMICs) face an annual funding gap of approximately US$3.9 trillion to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), sovereign thematic bonds have emerged as a transformative instrument. In an environment of fiscal constraints and evolving development priorities, sovereign thematic bonds offer a dual advantage: they enable sovereign issuers to tap into private capital at scale and help embed sustainability objectives into national fiscal strategies.

This report, funded by the Open Society Foundations, was commissioned by the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP) and developed by Impact Investment Exchange (IIX), discusses how these innovative debt instruments can mobilize private capital at scale and accelerate sustainable development. It examines market dynamics, structural barriers, and the critical role of de-risking mechanisms, technical assistance (TA) programs, and multilateral development banks (MDBs) in scaling the bond.

The report also provides several recommendations for policymakers, MDBs, investors, and development agencies to accelerate the expansion of sovereign thematic bond market in L-LMICs. The study highlights the critical need for innovative financial instruments, regulatory harmonization, and institutional capacity-building to ensure that sovereign issuers can effectively leverage thematic bonds to finance sustainable development at scale. Discover how sovereign thematic bonds can solve the financing gap for the UN SDGs and download the full report below.

Sector Brief | Bangladesh’s RMG Sector: A Catalyst for Inclusive Growth and Economic Resilience

Asian worker sewing clothing in garment factory

May 28, 2025 Catalogue

As Bangladesh prepares for least-developed country (LDC) graduation and new global trade realities, its Ready-Made Garment (RMG) sector must evolve not just to compete, but to lead. This transformation will depend on its ability to make SME empowerment, gender inclusion, innovation, and sustainability the cornerstones of future strategy.

In our sector brief, we explore how SMEs and women are at the heart of this sector and how they can shift from being volume-driven to value-driven. Discove more insights in our full brief.

Impact Investing Quarterly: Emerging Trends and Implications for Investors and Impact Enterprises in Q2

April 14, 2025 Catalogue

As we enter the second quarter of 2025, CEO and IIX Founder Prof. Durreen Shahnaz takes a moment to look at the rapidly evolving impact investing landscape. In her exclusive blog, she highlights emerging trends for investors and impact enterprises—particularly around current global market challenges. While impact investment trajectories remain steady for now, there is high likelihood that US tariffs will have far-reaching downside effects.

Read more about the current impact investing landscape by downloading the full blog.

Ford Feasibility Study for an Indonesian Orange Bond (2024)

June 11, 2024 Catalogue

This report, developed in collaboration with the Ford Foundation, provides a detailed assessment of Indonesia’s capital markets and investment landscape, focusing on the financing needs of MSMEs to support sustainable development. It delves into the impact-oriented capital demand and supply dynamics, examining the financing needs essential to bridge the gaps for sustainable development, which lay the groundwork for assessing the potential issuance of an Orange Bond in Indonesia. By aligning financial mechanisms with social impacts, Indonesia can achieve inclusive and sustainable economic growth, demonstrating the potential of Orange Bonds for sustainable development in emerging markets.