8. Social Investment Funds: Creating Social Value in the Swedish Public Sector

This chapter delves into the evaluation of Social Investment Funds (SIFs) in the Swedish public sector, focusing on the challenges and paradoxes that arise from the pursuit of objective, impartial truth-telling in social interventions. The text explores the argumentation behind SIF evaluation, highlighting the tension between the desire for certain knowledge and the moral obligation to address social problems. It also examines the paradoxes of SIF evaluation, such as the conflict between top-down experiments and bottom-up initiatives, and the struggle to balance summative and formative evaluation. The chapter concludes by discussing the constitutive effects of SIF evaluation, emphasizing how evaluation processes can shape social realities and influence decision-making. Readers will gain a deeper understanding of the complexities involved in evaluating social interventions and the ethical considerations that underpin these processes. The chapter provides a comprehensive overview of the current state of SIF evaluation in Sweden, offering valuable insights for professionals seeking to enhance their understanding of social impact measurement and evidence-based policy-making.