“Most people would agree that it is important for organizations – and those who invest in them – to listen to the voices of those affected by their activities. However, not many are doing this consistently or comprehensively enough. Good stakeholder engagement practice remains surprisingly rare. Many investors and organizations believe stakeholder engagement would take too much time and resources to be worthwhile. Some take a narrow view of who their stakeholders are and engage only with intended beneficiaries or end-users, ignoring other affected groups. And there are many who would like to do it, but don’t know where to start. But empirical evidence from the impact investing community shows that there is a strong cost/benefit case for stakeholder engagement. In fact, it is becoming increasingly central to impact and risk management, and an increasingly rich source of innovation. How can we really understand and be accountable for the effects of an investment/organizations’ activities, without understanding the experience of those affected by it? From the many conversations we have had on this subject in 2016 and 2017, it is clear that stakeholders in the impact investing community – and, increasingly, in traditional investment sectors and industries – want and need some guidance on appropriate (practical, credible/robust, low-cost, responsible and ethical) ways to incorporate the voices of affected stakeholders into their impact investments or organizational activities; and, importantly, on how they should respond to these voices. This document is a collaborative effort by several individuals and organizations, who came together to help provide guidance on how and where stakeholder engagement practice should evolve. It suggests some of the many ways in which the voices of all affected stakeholders can be gathered – and then used to draw lessons, inform decisions, and develop strong relationships with those affected. This document references existing tools, resources, and examples of practice as of 2017 about engaging all affected stakeholders, bringing them all together into one document.”
Document Keyword: accountability
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Quantifying the Impact of Investment in Education
There is plenty of research which argues that, overall, education leads to better outcomes for individuals and society. However, accounting for the specific social, economic and environmental outcomes from an investment in education remains a challenge, not only for governments, but also for any organisation which runs or invests in education programmes or initiatives. Without this information, it is difficult to make choices between different ways in which these outcomes can be achieved, and how best to design and deliver education activities.The objective of this paper is to review some of the available research and provide guidance on how it can be used. -
Getting To Outcomes 2004
Promoting Accountability Through Methods and Tools for Planning, Implementation, and Evaluation.The primary purpose of this manual is to help communities improve the quality of their programs aimed at preventing or reducing drug use among youth. Funders are increasingly mandating “accountability” for the public or private funds they provide by demanding high-quality outcome data to determine the success of programs. This manual describes a community planning, implementation, and evaluation model—organized as ten accountability questions—to help your agency, school, or community coalition conduct needs assessments, select best practice programs that fit your community, and to effectively plan, implement, and evaluate those programs. With high-quality process and outcome data, your group will be more likely to get long-term funding for these approaches.
Although this manual was originally developed to help communities plan and carry out programs and policies aimed at preventing youth drug use, it may also be useful for prevention efforts targeted at other youth behavior problems such as crime, teen pregnancy, or delinquency.
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Making Investment Grade: The Future of Corporate Reporting
A report jointly published by the United Nations Environment Programme, Deloitte and the Centre for Corporate Governance in Africa.
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The Principles of Social Value and why they are important
Please note that this document was first published in 2016. Current guidance and standards for the Principles of Social Value can be found here.
The Seven Principles of Social Value are a principle-based framework for accounting for, measuring and managing social value. The Principles were originally developed in 2009 and were updated in 2015 following the merger of the SROI Network and the Social Impact Analysts Association to form Social Value UK and Social Value International. This report explains the thinking that underpins these Principles.