Cameron will tie his political credibility to the flagship scheme, declaring it a mission he will fight for every day.
The program builds on his Conservative party’s belief in smaller government by devolving power to local people.
But Cameron’s eight-month-old coalition with the smaller Liberal Democrats has struggled to explain the strategy to the public, undermining his authority and exposing it to ridicule.
“I’m not going to back down from what I believe in just because of a few bad headlines,” Cameron will say at an event on Monday according to speech extracts released in advance.
“The Big Society is my mission in politics. It’s what I want us, as a country, to build together. And I’m going to fight for it every day, because the Big Society is here to stay,” he will say.
The public still has little understanding of the policy, which aims to encourage communities and voluntary groups to take over the running of services such as park maintenance or failing local pubs and post offices.
An opinion poll at the weekend found that half thought it was a gimmick and 40 percent believed it was cover for the coalition’s steep spending cuts to tackle a record budget deficit.
To add substance to the program, ministers on Monday will also detail the initial funding for a “Big Society Bank,” which will lend, via intermediaries, to social enterprises run by charities and community groups.
Britain’s largest banks have already agreed to commit 200 million pounds ($320 million) to the bank, and ministers will announce that up to a further 400 million pounds in funding will come from dormant savings accounts, the Cabinet Office said.
The Big Society policy has suffered a series of recent blows, with Liverpool City Council quitting as a pilot area for the program and the head of Britain’s largest volunteering charity saying spending cuts were undermining the strategy.
Criticism has come from within Cameron’s party as well as from the Labour opposition. Former Conservative minister David Mellor said on Sunday the policy had become a liability for Cameron.
“I don’t know why he keeps on about it. This big society is a big distraction, and of course he plays into Labour’s hands because they say the big society is just a justification for making cuts,” Mellor told Sky News.
