LAUSR

This paper attempts to evaluate the governance capabilities of Lifebuoy Friendship Hospital (LFH), a corporate social responsibility project in Bangladesh, in terms of significant long-term social impact, operationally defined as sustainability for the present study. Drawing on the SCALERS model proposed by Bloom and Chatterji (2009), under their proposed seven “capabilities” which determine the extent to which a project is able to scale “wide” and “deep,” the paper assesses the prospect of “scaling up” the project to create significant long-term social impact. The study used focus group discussions and interviews to collect data in four villages of remote chars (island bars in the river beds) located in the Jamuna River at Gaibandha district in the northern part of Bangladesh. In total, four FGDs were conducted. Managers from the corporation (Unilever Bangladesh Limited) and the non-governmental organization (Friendship)—who were directly assigned to the project—were interviewed. Some of the key findings of the paper include the following: (i) LFH’s governance capabilities are limited; (ii) although the initiative provides vital healthcare services to some of the most vulnerable and desperately poor communities, management of the project in terms of stakeholder participation—has been marginal; and (iii) the extent to which the project is able to scale—“wide” and “deep” was found to be low. To the question—“What does the project ultimately result in?”—the result found was that—the project did not bring about any significant participation of the community, except being mere recipients of health care service; no significant effort toward income generation for long-term sustainability of LFH; commitment of Unilever Bangladesh Limited (UBL), in this case, was limited mainly to financial resources; entire dependence on a single source of fund (UBL in this case) was identified as another cause of vulnerability for this project. Some of the major lessons arising out of the study may have relevance for other studies. The study suggests issues that need to be considered for significant long-term social impact of other similar initiatives.