Profile of The Social Investment Fund

The Social Investment Fund (SIF) was set up in 1998 under the Companies Code 1963 (ACT 179) by the Government of the Republic of Ghana, African Development Bank (AfDB) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as a rapid, reliable and flexible mechanism for channeling resources to deliver
targeted assistance to both Ghana’s urban and rural impoverished communities. SIF is governed by Board of Directors. SIF employs effective institutional collaboration and cooperation coupled with the right targeting of beneficiaries and gender mainstreaming to create opportunities for the poor and vulnerable. SIF also collaborates with Private and Government institutions to provide Consultancy services .

As a pro-poor institution, our goal is to contribute effectively to reducing rural and urban poverty in Ghana . Since its incorporation as a company limited by guarantee, SIF has attained the confidence of multilateral institutions, private business entities and the Government of Ghana. It has implemented projectsfunded by the:

•  African Development Bank (AfDB);
•  OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID);
•  United Nations Development Programme (UNDP);
•  Government of Ghana;
•  Private Business Entities.

Further, SIF has provided several Consultancy services to Local and international institutions or organizations. Between 1998 and 2012, the SIF successfully completed the implementation of four (4) projects, namely, Ghana Poverty Reduction Project I (GPRP 1); Ghana Poverty Reduction Project II (also known as poverty II or OFID II); HIPC Poverty Reduction Project (HIPC); and Urban Poverty Reduction Project (UPRP), aimed at reducing Urban and Rural Poverty in Ghana.

Currently, SIF is implementing Integrated Rural Development Project (IRDP) being funded by the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA) and the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID). IRDP aims at promoting integrated rural local development by increasing socio-economic infrastructure and household incomes through enhanced agriculture production, marketing and distribution chain. Also, SIF is providing consultancy services for private and public institutions in Ghana. 

SIF operates in all the 10 regions of Ghana. Our operation areas are
categorized into zones as follows:

• Zone 1: Upper East, Upper West and Northern Regions;
• Zone 2: Ashanti and Brong Ahafo Regions;
• Zone 3: Central and Western Regions;
• Zone 4: Eastern, Volta, and Greater Accra Regions.

The Social Investment Fund has achieved a number of successes since its inception in 1998 in the areas of Sub-projects implementation; Capacity Building and Institutional Strengthening; Micro Finance and Small Scale Enterprises Development; Project Monitoring and Evaluation; and provision of Consultancy services.

The fund successfully implemented a US$ 14.9 million Ghana Poverty Reduction Project (GPRP) from 1998-2004 with funding from AfDB, UNDP and GoG. During the same period, the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) contributed US$ 2.3 million to expand activities of GPRP under the same project. The GoG also provided US$1.0 million out of the HIPC Fund to provide socio-economic infrastructure to participating Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) countrywide in 2004. The OFID further contributed US$7.0 million to fund GPRP II from 2005 to 2009. Following the successful implementation of GPRP and efficient utilization of funds, AfDB and GoG provided US$ 41.0 million and US$ 3.42 million respectfully for the implementation of Urban Poverty Reduction Project (UPRP) from 2006-2011. Currently SIF is implementing the Integrated Rural Development Project which is being funded by the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA), the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) and the Government of Ghana (GoG) at a cost of US$ 22.92 million.

The SIF has to date supported the provision of 1,563 sub-projects which are mainly classroom blocks, teachers’ quarters, early childhood development centers, rural clinics, nurses’ quarters, sustainable livelihoods, water and sanitation facilities. The sub-projects have benefited about 1,600,000 people which constitute about 10% of the poor in Ghana. The implementation of the sub-projects created jobs for over 400 small-scale contractors who employed about 5,000 artisans and 10,000 unskilled labour to construct the sub-projects from 2002 to date.

As part of the sub-project implementation process, about 5,200 community leaders who were representatives of CBOs, NGOs, have been empowered through the provision of skills in problem analysis and project identification,  project management, community governance, public-private partnership, and the use of Community Score Cards in Project Monitoring. The capacities of local government decision makers were built in financial management, pro-poor planning, monitoring and evaluation (M&E), use of urban planning and monitoring software, among others.

The SIF micro finance program has recorded modest successes in terms of disbursement, coverage, targeting and capacity enhancement. Since the inception of the programme in January 2003, SIF has transferred a total of US $ 1,150,000 to the ARB/Apex Bank to establish the Loan Fund Account.  A total of 59 indigenous MFIs have been identified, pre-qualified and trained to participate in the program. Currently, 48 MFIs are actively participating in the program out of which 32 have received funds to the tune of GH¢4.4 million from the SIF Loan Fund and who have in turn disbursed  the amount to 6,500 clients as micro loans, about 55% of which are women. Aside the micro finance, 220 Small/Medium Scale Enterprises have been provided with a total of GH¢1,925,936.00 as medium term loan. The capacity of Partner Financial Institutions was also built to enhance their effectiveness and quality of services rendered.

In 2013, SIF expanded its mandate to cover the provision of consultancy services and has since provided consultancy services to a number of organizations including the Ministry of Water Resources Works and Housing and USAID FinGAP. Currently, SIF has been pre-qualified as a potential National Implementing Entity (NIE) of the Green Climate Fund.
 

• Our Achievements