Agreed, but I´m afraid that is quite challenging given the different types of countries, maturity of the institution, data quality, etc…
We have a standard set of social outcomes metrics and it is hard work!
absolutely - go to www.impactmanagementproject.com and find the section on the 5 dimensions and enterprise impact
The plus point of regulation is that it becomes a compliance issue and ‘ta da’ there seems to be resources for additional disclosure. And I’d argue that this shouldn’t be about what companies do have, but what they should have in terms of articulating their social impact and their role in society.
Measuring social impact is GREAT for business. Companies want to do business in stable countries, to provide great products and services, for customers AND for employees. More and more CEOs (and CMOs) are crying out against the short term focus on short term revenue. And business publications like HBR and MIT Sloan Review have also written extensively about this issue. Long term views on profitability let leaders be leaders - and develop strategies that support the communities they serve.
This isn’t to say that ALL business has this in mind, but if a public company’s stock value included a social impact index, we should see dramatic shift in approach. Those companies that already have social value incorporated into their business mission are seeing strong support.
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Haha. I absolutely agree. We are so far from having a useful infrastructure to estimate counterfactuals at scale that to move to real maximisation, or really I think more appropriately, optimization, is still quite a ways away.
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Totally agreed! We have seen this over and over again. There is also a lot of “yeah, no kidding. We live with this every day” when local stakeholders see the results. One has to be prepared for this and not present “results” statically but rather workshop around the results to lead to action.
I agree that you need to integrate what has traditional been known as M&E throughout the process. Impact measurement does not start after a program has been implemented. And increasingly, as programs don’t have starts and stops, it should be a continuous learning and improvement process.
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Hi, Natasha here! Just catching up…
A2a) We are trying to work out ways to measure social impact effectively (which for me means measuring impacts on individual well-being from a rights perspective). We started with defining some sustainability aspirations for the business, our operations and community engagement. Now looking at taking a couple of the business aspirations and understanding the positive and negative impacts by analysing loan data and combining that with case studies
A2b) It can only be increased or maximised by knowing where you are now and having a measurement framework, then having obtaining the will and moral courage to use the data to make changes to business activities, even where they could have a short-term impact on financial value
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So sorry I have to jump off. I’ll check on the whole discuyssion later! Great stuff!
Please make the metrics “readable” and understandable for your stakeholder/communities. Communities will certainly zone out when you try to explain the SROI…
Aww. I don’t think we need a single standard for the sector. I think standards will emerge in subsectors and regions. What are public health delivery orgs in East Africa measuring? What are literacy programs in the urban south of the US measuring? Right now we have standards of 1. Every organization does it differently. So how do we increase that number? I don’t think it starts with a top-down command and control way of creating standards but by promoting collaboration in the field.
Agreed - especially for instance if a business did not establish a baseline before does not preclude it from starting to understand and manage its impact today!
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David, this is such an important point. Understanding results and being able to leverage them is critical. And this “common language” across stakeholders is so important. We’re working through this at Business Partners for Sustainable Development and how we can create this “common language” during the planning process to be successful. https://www.businesspartners4sdgs.org/
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[Q2. a) How do you measure social impact efficiently / effectively for business and it’s stakeholders?
I think the main point is to identify your key stakeholder – for us it is our end user. That does not mean the other stakeholders are not key, it´s just the starting point as you evolve in your thinking, methodology, infrasture.
In the end, we need to IMPROVE impact, not only measure.
Q2. b) How can a business increase or maximise its social impact?
The main point here is to find some correlation, because attribution is often impossible. We have found for example that our entrepreneurs (latinamerica) in rural areas perform significantly better over time. Perhaps due to reduced costs or competition, better living conditions, community support, etc. We are now targeting rural clients more effectively and looking at ways to go deeper (i.e. further away).
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A thought @meansandrew - if it’s external stakeholders (shareholders, consumers etc) who are trying to utilise the impact measurement information to compare one company against another, would you still advocate for subsection / regional approaches?
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Would add that measurement is not the end but a means to an end - thinking about what to measure, measuring what matters is key. From UNEP FI’s perspective business/finance needs to determine that on the basis of the specific positive and negative impact associations of their sectors of activity and the equally specific impact needs of their countries of operation (sourcing, production and sales). Caring and bearing in mind stakeholder needs not always achievable via “stakeholder engagement” - we need baseline and relevant data on population’s needs.
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is SROI so important? what do you use it for? We have not found it very helpful…
We are looking to develop a common approach for ICMM member companies to measuring and reporting socio-economic benefit – will include creating common definitions/ language to help us be clearer on what we are counting and a common set of indicators. Can also help to compare across companies. Hope this will help members to better deliver on ICMM’s Mining Principles on continuous improvement on social performance, and to better communicate the contribution of the industry.
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This would be great!
I would say you can still have regional / subsection approaches, but you need to be able to aggregate the overall data in such a way that people / investors can get a high level understanding.