Social Development Civil Society Fund

Country ownership of the development agenda is a key principle of the World Bank's approach to reducing poverty and inequity for people in low and middle income countries.  This principle underpins the Bank's emphasis on broad-based stakeholder participation in development, as well as its recognition of civil society organizations as key partners in the development efforts. 

Created in 1983, the Social Development Civil Society Fund (CSF- formerly known as the Small Grants Program) is one of the few global programs of the World Bank that directly funds civil society organizations.  It is a concrete tool to aid in the advancement of the Bank’s social development agenda to empower poor and marginalized groups.  With funds from the Development Grants Facility, the program is administered through participating World Bank Country Offices reaching civil society organizations through transparent and competitive processes.

Purpose of the Social Development Civil Society Fund

The purpose of the CSF is to strengthen the voice and influence of poor and marginalized groups in the development processes, thereby making these processes more inclusive and equitable.  To this end, it supports activities of civil society organizations whose primary objective is encouraging and supporting civic engagement of these target populations.  By involving citizens who are often excluded from the public arena, and increasing their capacity to influence policy and program decisions, the CSF helps facilitate ownership of development initiatives by a broader sector of society.

	FY 2007 and 2008 Annual Reports                    Â	                                            Â
	In Fiscal Year 2007 (FY07), the SmGP       received $2.8 million from DGF and allocated approximately $2.3 million in grants with an average grant size of $6,400. SmGP activities covered 14 sectors and more than 10 thematic groups.                                                               Â	Full reportÂ
	In FY08 CSF funds served approximately 299,175 beneficiaries spending $6.30 of its own funds per beneficiary. The three most often targeted beneficiary groups were children and youth, rural communities, and girls and women.	Full ReportÂ

Tips for Civil Society Organizations

The tips cover seven areas that may be of interest to CSOs and that are key to organizational capacity. The audience is small NGOs and community based organizations who may have limited resources, but who have  strengths, such as enthusiasm and commitment for their mission to improve the lives of others. Overview Tips for Civil Society Organizations Budgeting a budget with an emphasis on purpose, steps,components Financial Systems establishing an accountable and transparent system  Grant Proposal writing proposal, including critical elements for project success Monitoring & Evaluation assessing progress towards objectives, identifying problems and strategies Project Development developing and implementing a project  Reporting to Funders strengthening your relationship with funders Resource Mobilization strengthen organizational capacity