This paper aims to answer two research questions: First, what are the sources of weaknesses found in current CSO-government relationships? Second, how could these weaknesses be remedied to bring better efficiency in social development assistance programs? Applying the Complexity Science framework and Brinkerhoff’s related theoretical model to the field of social finance for the first time to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this article argues that the implementation of social finance, generally, and social impact bonds (SIBs), specifically, can combine to create “smart social capital”—a new model in which trust is furthered and arguably maximized between relevant public and/or private sector networks in the form of stakeholders, through the efficient combination of shared interests in the form of financial as well as societal beneficial gains by related stakeholders and the community at large.
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