EVALUATING SOCIAL IMPACT : WHY ? HOW ?

On the 23rd of November, more than 200 people from all backgrounds and nationalities participated in the first meeting on social
impact that took place at the XV International Annual Conference of the network INTI (International Network of Territorial Intelligence) at Bois du Cazier in Charleroi. These included researchers, scientists, actors of the Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE), and federations from Belgium, France, Morocco and Spain.

Focus of the day was the question of the reason behind Social Impact Assessment

Why evaluate ?

Because we have always done it and the human being will always do it ...but especially to reclaim ownership on this question : to build a culture and a common approach in the evaluation and valorisation of the social impact ... and to co-crate in a cross-border fashion, by going beyond our national and regional boundaries, a framework by and for the actors of the SSE.

How to evaluate ?

Through the VISES project and the tool that will be developed, we want to :

- Demonstrate the added value of the Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE) and understand its specificities

Our added value lies first in our practices and processes.

The challenge is therefore to "open the black box of the SSE", to "promote both practices and results" as "creators of wealth" and to recall that the "how and why" (production, management, governance and goals) "are as important as the results.

The valorisation of the social impact must contribute to tout the logic of investment in activities of social utility and general interest carried out by non-profit actors and to highlight that SSE are « creators of wealth” before being "cost drivers". Through our tool, we want to valorise what the SSE does and not just to measure its results with a measurement tool.

- be concrete

It is a project that starts from the field and therefore from companies. It is a real re-appropriation of the stakes of the valorisation
of the social impact by the enterprises themselves. The tool developed in the context of VISES will be tested in enterprises to meet their expectations.

- make the tools accessible

Through this European project, we want to test various tools that are useful and effective for the actors of the SSE. It is not a question of developing evaluation tools for control and measurement that would focus on quantitative aspects, but to develop tools to valorise and highlight results, practices and processes of the SSE, and to evaluate them.

In order to do so, we need to achieve something simple and agile, to be used and understood by any organisation, including those that do not consider the evaluation of the impact as a core activity...

In other words, a tool :

- adaptable to the means, needs and constraints of the enterprises of the SSE ;

- easily manageable ;

- whose data are easily exploitable and exportable ;

- able to evolve over time ;

- usable internally and externally ;

- able to be integrated within those of the investors.

- share our reflections and works

The VISES project aims first and foremost to allow the various partners to share their experiences in assessing and valorising social impact, but the goal is to propose a method that would be mutually recognised by any stakeholder of the impact. Therefore, it does not have an isolated approach, disconnected from what is developing elsewhere, and it fosters a process of co-creation and a dialogue with the financial and institutional partners of the Social and Solidarity Economy and with other stakeholders. The tools developed will have to be useful for everyone.

To find out more, read the various PDF presentations from the speakers :

RIS presentation

Presentation INTI (International Network of Territorial Intelligence)

Valorising the Social Impact of Social Enterprises

The issues of social impact

Socio-political and economic issues of social impact assessment

Evaluate Social Impact : Issues and Methodological Challenges, Sharing a Concrete Experience

EVALUATION MUSEO + : Some ideas for evaluating the social impact of projects

Practical summary

Evaluate the transformative potential of social innovations : how to break free from results-based management ?

Assessing social impact : utopia, opportunity or threat for social enterprises ?

Also, discover the video clips that were taken that day by the Provincial High School of Hainaut Condorcet ==> link to the video.

We also communicate the date of our next meetings. The 2nd Social Impact Meetings will be held on November 23rd, 2017 and will focus on : "the reciprocal contributions of field actors and university". If you wish to be invited, do not hesitate to let us know by email.

We remain at your disposal should you have any questions.

Looking forward to meeting again soon.

The VISES project team