Seoul City Ends 1st Social Impact Bond Project...Improvement in Cognitive and Social Skills of Children with Borderline Intelligence

3-Year Study on Borderline Intellectual Functioning Children
52.7% of 74 Participants Showed Improvement in Cognitive Ability and Social Skills

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunju Lee] Approximately half of the children participating in the Social Impact Bond (SIB) project conducted by Seoul City to enhance the cognitive functions and social skills of borderline intellectual functioning children and support their independence showed improvements in both cognition and sociality.

Seoul City announced on the 6th that it successfully concluded Asia's first Social Impact Bond (SIB) project, which was launched three years ago.

The Social Impact Bond is a new type of project where private companies invest in public projects, and the government pays the project costs and performance rewards only if the project goals are achieved. Since the budget is only used when results are achieved, public institutions can reduce administrative cost waste, and investors can fulfill social responsibility while receiving performance rewards upon project success.

This project was conducted over three years targeting borderline intellectual functioning children residing in child welfare facilities within Seoul. Initially, 101 children participated, but after excluding those who returned to their families or dropped out, the final number of participants was 74.

Education was conducted one-on-one by 15 mentor teachers majoring in psychology, special education, and social welfare. First, the causes of the children's cognitive and social skill decline were identified, and then personalized education tailored to individual levels was provided once or twice a week. As a result, 52.7% of the 74 students showed improvements in both cognitive ability and social skills, exceeding the initial performance target of 42%.

Evaluation was conducted using internationally certified cognitive ability assessment tools, the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-IV), and the Teacher's Report Form (TRF) for social skills assessment. Success (a total of 52.7%) was classified only when both cognitive ability and social skills improved simultaneously.

Based on the evaluation results of this project, Seoul City paid a total of 1.34 billion KRW in performance rewards to the operating institutions, including 1.03 billion KRW in project costs and 310 million KRW (30%) in incentives.

The second SIB project is part of a youth employment initiative that supports over 500 vulnerable young people residing in Seoul who are unemployed, providing domestic and international employment and entrepreneurship support over three years. The total project cost is 3 billion KRW, of which 2.9 billion KRW, excluding evaluation costs, will be raised by the selected operating institutions through private investment.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.