Can the World Bank Build Social Capital? The Experience of Social Funds in Malawi and Zambia

Social funds have been one of the main manifestations of the World Bank's move toward promoting projects with a participatory orientation. Supporters of social funds argue that participation in social fund activities builds community social capital. Critics of the Bank's use of social capi...

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Main Authors:	Vajja, Anju, White, Howard
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	EN
Published:	2012
Subjects:	International Monetary Arrangements and Institutions F330 Economic Development: Human Resources Human Development Income Distribution Migration O150 Formal and Informal Sectors Shadow Economy Institutional Arrangements O170 International Linkages to Development Role of International Organizations O190 Economic Sociology Economic Anthropology Social and Economic Stratification Z130
Online Access:	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/4988

id	okr-10986-4988
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-49882021-04-23T14:02:20Z Can the World Bank Build Social Capital? The Experience of Social Funds in Malawi and Zambia Vajja, Anju White, Howard International Monetary Arrangements and Institutions F330 Economic Development: Human Resources Human Development Income Distribution Migration O150 Formal and Informal Sectors Shadow Economy Institutional Arrangements O170 International Linkages to Development Role of International Organizations O190 Economic Sociology Economic Anthropology Social and Economic Stratification Z130 Social funds have been one of the main manifestations of the World Bank's move toward promoting projects with a participatory orientation. Supporters of social funds argue that participation in social fund activities builds community social capital. Critics of the Bank's use of social capital argue that it ignores power structures but these critics have focused on the Bank's research rather than its operations. This paper examines 'social capital' in a project context: social funds in Malawi and Zambia. In contrast to the model of collective action suggested by proponents of social funds, it is shown that the nature of community participation is indeed shaped by existing power and social relations. Project identification and execution is led by a small number of people in the community, usually the head teacher in cooperation with the PTA and traditional authorities. The community is then mobilised using the traditional structures of village headmen. Most community members participate actively in making bricks, but passively in decision making. However, this process should be seen as an institutional adaptation to what social funds offer, not elite capture. Most community members are satisfied with the outcome, although the chosen project is not what they would have chosen themselves. Given these processes, social funds do little to build social capital but instead, appear to be users of existing social capital. 2012-03-30T07:30:43Z 2012-03-30T07:30:43Z 2008 Journal Article Journal of Development Studies 00220388 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/4988 EN http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo World Bank Journal Article Malawi Zambia
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
language	EN
topic	International Monetary Arrangements and Institutions F330 Economic Development: Human Resources Human Development Income Distribution Migration O150 Formal and Informal Sectors Shadow Economy Institutional Arrangements O170 International Linkages to Development Role of International Organizations O190 Economic Sociology Economic Anthropology Social and Economic Stratification Z130
spellingShingle	International Monetary Arrangements and Institutions F330 Economic Development: Human Resources Human Development Income Distribution Migration O150 Formal and Informal Sectors Shadow Economy Institutional Arrangements O170 International Linkages to Development Role of International Organizations O190 Economic Sociology Economic Anthropology Social and Economic Stratification Z130 Vajja, Anju White, Howard Can the World Bank Build Social Capital? The Experience of Social Funds in Malawi and Zambia
geographic_facet	Malawi Zambia
relation	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo
description	Social funds have been one of the main manifestations of the World Bank's move toward promoting projects with a participatory orientation. Supporters of social funds argue that participation in social fund activities builds community social capital. Critics of the Bank's use of social capital argue that it ignores power structures but these critics have focused on the Bank's research rather than its operations. This paper examines 'social capital' in a project context: social funds in Malawi and Zambia. In contrast to the model of collective action suggested by proponents of social funds, it is shown that the nature of community participation is indeed shaped by existing power and social relations. Project identification and execution is led by a small number of people in the community, usually the head teacher in cooperation with the PTA and traditional authorities. The community is then mobilised using the traditional structures of village headmen. Most community members participate actively in making bricks, but passively in decision making. However, this process should be seen as an institutional adaptation to what social funds offer, not elite capture. Most community members are satisfied with the outcome, although the chosen project is not what they would have chosen themselves. Given these processes, social funds do little to build social capital but instead, appear to be users of existing social capital.
format	Journal Article
author	Vajja, Anju White, Howard
author_facet	Vajja, Anju White, Howard
author_sort	Vajja, Anju
title	Can the World Bank Build Social Capital? The Experience of Social Funds in Malawi and Zambia
title_short	Can the World Bank Build Social Capital? The Experience of Social Funds in Malawi and Zambia
title_full	Can the World Bank Build Social Capital? The Experience of Social Funds in Malawi and Zambia
title_fullStr	Can the World Bank Build Social Capital? The Experience of Social Funds in Malawi and Zambia
title_full_unstemmed	Can the World Bank Build Social Capital? The Experience of Social Funds in Malawi and Zambia
title_sort	can the world bank build social capital? the experience of social funds in malawi and zambia
publishDate	2012
url	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/4988
_version_	1764393509948751872

Can the World Bank Build Social Capital? The Experience of Social Funds in Malawi and Zambia

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