Funds for Peace? Examining the Transformative Potential of Social Funds

Richard Mallett ,Rachel Slater

doi:10.5334/sta.cj

Abstract

<p class="REPBODY">Social funds and large-scale community driven development (CDD) programmes are a popular policy instrument in post-conflict situations. This is partly because they are seen to alleviate pressure on governments to deliver development and reconstruction outcomes by transferring resources and responsibilities to community actors. However, part of their popularity can also be explained by claims that social funds and CDD programmes have the (transformative) potential to generate impacts beyond meeting basic needs, such as creating more peaceful societies at the local level and promoting trust in government. Drawing on a rigorous, evidence focused literature review, which began with researchers following a formal systematic review protocol, this practice note assesses the performance of 13 programmes against three distinct sets of impact indicators: (i) incomes, enterprise and access to services; (ii) social cohesion, stability and violence; and (iii) state-society relations. It is concluded that, although our understanding of the effectiveness of social funds and CDD in conflict-affected environments is limited by a low number of rigorous evaluations across a diverse range of contexts, as well as by an insufficient investigation of the relevant causal mechanisms, the findings so far suggest cause for cautious optimism.

Highlights

Over the past decade or so, social funds and large-scale community driven development (CDD) programmes have become an increasingly common policy choice in conflict-affected settings (World Bank 2006a)
With enormous support and backing from the World Bank, social funds and large-scale CDD programmes are seen to constitute an important approach to development in conflict-affected contexts, partly because they are ‘designed to place less stress on government line agencies by optimizing the use of community actors’ (Wong 2012: iv), and partly because of their widely assumed ‘transformative potential’ to reconstruct societies through the creation of new local institutions (Fearon et al 2009)
The structure of the note unfolds as follows. After describing both the methods underpinning the production of this note, as well as the kinds of interventions covered, we present evidence on the performance of social funds and CDD programmes against the first area of impact – incomes, enterprise and access to services

Summary

Introduction

Over the past decade or so, social funds and large-scale community driven development (CDD) programmes have become an increasingly common policy choice in conflict-affected settings (World Bank 2006a).

Results

Conclusion