The social impact measurement activity is primarily carried out by the Competence Center, which aims to strengthen the culture and practices of evaluation through guidance, methodological support, training, updates, and alignment with international methodologies.
CeVIS - Centro di Competenze per la Valutazione e Misurazione dell'Impatto (Centre of Competence for Impact Assessment and Measurement) is part of the Turin Social Impact strategic plan and is promoted by the Social Entrepreneurship Committee of the Turin Chamber of Commerce. Launched in 2018, it is now based at the Cottino Social Impact Campus by virtue of an agreement between the Turin Chamber of Commerce and the Cottino Foundation and is available to all public and private, profit and non-profit organisations in the area.
Of significant importance is the Professional Development University Course (CUAP) in Social Impact Evaluation, aimed at those seeking to enhance their knowledge and skills in impact evaluation. This course is organized by the Department of Management at the University of Turin as part of the activities promoted by the Competence Center on Social Impact Evaluation.
Lastly, the public asset enhancement project for social impact aims to develop an impact measurement model for leveraging real estate assets and promoting urban renewal in the City of Turin. The goal is to establish a method for granting discounts to those who wish to purchase properties for socially valuable projects:
Designing the city by enhancing public assets for social impact
Insights
METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES
- Edward T. Jackson (2013) Interrogating the theory of change: evaluating impact investing where it matters most, Journal of Sustainable Finance & Investment, 3:2, 95-110
- James P. Connell and Anne C. Kubisch Applying a Theory of Change Approach to the Evaluation of Comprehensive Community Initiatives: Progress, Prospects, and Problems
Lombardo, Giovanni; Mazzocchetti, Andrea; Rapallo, Irene; Tayser, Nader; Cincotti, Silvano. 2019. Assessment of the Economic and Social Impact Using SROI: An Application to Sport Companies Sustainability 11, no. 13: 3612.
Banerjee Abhijit, Karlan Dean & Zinman Jonathan. (2015).). Six Randomized Evaluations of Microcredit: Introduction and Further Steps. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics. 7. 1-21
Luigi Corvo; Lavinia Pastore (2020). The Usefulness of Sharing Social Impact Data. Early Findings from an International Benchmarking on SROI Assessments
JEOD – Vol. 9, Issue 2, 2020
EVALUATION PRACTICES
Europeana (the european organization supporting the cultural heritage sector in its digital transformation) carried out a SROI analysis on its MOOC initiative. The programme empowers teachers to use digitised cultural heritage material in their classroom.
The INSPIRE project (Innovative Services for Fragile People in Rome) is a EU funded project aiming at supporting the reformation of the city’s social services tackling social fragility, by experimenting with innovative and participatory services (e.g tutoring, supportive housing, etc.). The project impact assessment was carried out using a counter-factual methodology
INSIGHTS AND DEBATE
Within the framework of the action plan Promoting Social and Solidarity Economy Ecosystems, the OECD published the report Social Impact measurement for the Social and Solidarity Economy. The report, while underlining the fragmentation and plurality of measurement options available to social and solidarity economy entities, underlines the communalities across the wide panorama of measurement methodologies. In fact, the social impact measurement practice of an organization is likely to include: indicators; tools; methods and frameworks. The report also includes a section on impact valuation; the approach effort is to translate a measured impact into a monetary value.
Concerning the necessity to support capacity building in impact measurement, the report lists different good practices including Torino Social Impact Competence Center for Impact Measurement.
The article Measuring Social Impact Can Help Foster a Stronger European Social Economy published by the Stanford Social Innovation Review shares the significance of impact measurement for social economy and its development. Measuring impact is beneficial for organization and enterprises from this sector, helping them improve their impacts and attracting resources from public institutions and financial markets. Nevertheless, impact measurement still faces several drawbacks, for example its cost or the lack of a shared methodology. Despite the current shortcomings in impact measurement, the authors explain that shifting from a proving impact approach to an improving impact approach entails great potential.
The report published by the independent research institute Brookings delves into the tool of SIBs (social impact bonds) and the effects of this tool on the ecosystem of services. The analysis focuses on a number of claims about the use of SIBs, in particular their contribution in:
- building a culture of evaluation and monitoring;
- encouraging a more flexible and iterative performance management approach;
- promoting innovation;
attracting private capital; - incentivizing collaborative processes and/or promoting sustainability of impact.
The evaluation activity of some experiences has highlighted how the importance of data and monitoring activity in the activation and management of this tool, represents an important mechanism to promote a culture of evaluation among public administrations, providers and investors.
WEBINAR, EVENTS, PODCASTS
The European Evaluation Society, a European society that promotes and guides evaluation theory and practice at an international level, has launched a podcast entitled EvalEdge dedicated to the theme of emerging technologies and their link to evaluation practice. Among the topics covered: blockchain, blended finance. The podcast is in English language.