About the Social Responsibility Program at IFC

The Social Responsibility Program is responsible for:

• developing projects in the areas of corporate social responsibility to help IFC clients and the wider private sector mitigate social impacts, realize opportunities, and reduce risks of market exclusion
• identifying and defining the business case for responsible business practices
• actively disseminating and replicating those practices and findings throughout the private sector in emerging markets

Social Responsibility delivers these objectives through three program areas:

• The Local Community Development and Stakeholder Engagement Program
• The Sustainability Strategy and Communications Program
• The Labour Practices and Human Rights Program

The Social Responsibility Program is potentially available to all IFC clients who see – and want to realize – opportunities to grow their business through enhanced social performance. The Social Responsibility Program encourages social innovation – development of new processes, services, or markets that create value, but also solve specific social challenges with long-lasting impact on affected stakeholders. As a rule, the Program will share costs for services provided and recover costs wherever feasible.

The Program currently focuses its work on agroforestry, general manufacturing and the extractive sectors (where demand is particularly high), though it will still be available in other sectors. The Social Responsibility team also continues to explore ways in which it can work more proactively in Sub-Saharan Africa, South and East Asia, and the Middle East and North Africa region.

The Social Responsibility Program works closely with other IFC programs, such as IFC Against AIDS and Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) program, to achieve economies of scale and increase impact and consistency in our projects.