SOCIAL INVESTMENT FUNDS AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY: DO INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS DESERVE SPECIAL TREATMENT?

Abstract

The instrumental value of Social Investment Funds (SIFs) in areas such as health, education, power, road, water, sanitation, transport, communication, in promoting growth and alleviating poverty is widely documented in academic and policy circles. International Financial Institutions (IFIs), particularly the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), are the most prominent IFIs that provide SIFs and technical assistance for the reconstruction and development of the territories of their member states. However, the mixed results of SIFs suggest a causal analysis of the situation based on legal standards of responsibility. This study explores the case of KALAHI-CIDSS in the Philippines; a community-driven development project funded through World Bank’s loans. The fact that the million US Dollars being contracted have so far brought little change on the official data on poverty incidence in the country, suggests that a gel to hold together SIFs and institutional and normative strategies for a successful development outcome may be missing. To be sure, this study employed a content analysis of policy documents and review of literature of relevant studies. The bulk of related studies generated from the World Bank experts and consultants, economic legal practitioners, and the academe, provides substantive insights to one of the major findings of this intellectual inquiry, which is that social responsibility is the missing ingredient for the achievement of the KALAHI-CIDSS’s development objective of poverty reduction through participatory governance.