“Now more than ever…”
How often have we not heard that phrase? But in a geopolitical storm where not only USAID was gutted and UKAID cut a chance of their international development funding, but many other (developed) countries are following suit focusing their resources on domestic challenges – can we really motivate to allocate our resources elsewhere? And what is an efficient use of our money?
These are the decisions that ‘up to date’ impact assessment – and not just counting the donation (input) or ‘bums on seats’ (output) can help. But let’s break this down.
What impact is not.
It is NOT simply the £, $ or € donation we made.
It is NOT simply the number of people whose lives we touched or the number of environmental champions we recruited. Those parts are important and can show intention, but intention in a climate of increased resource scarcity is simply not enough. Knowing that ‘we’ve done stuff’ does not show us HOW we changed people’s lives and the environment.
What impact is.
Impact is the CHANGE to people or environment that resulted from my intervention, programme or organisation. When it comes to social impact, this can be outcomes finally experienced by individuals or communities like change in self-esteem, change in connections or change in sense of happiness. Environmental impact, it can be how changes in natural capital stocks and flows affects people. For both cases, it’s real changes experienced that are important to those people’s lives that matters.
The calculation.
When we estimate impact, we need to first understand the main changes that happened to understand their amount and depth whilst also deducting for other actors’/factors’ contribution. Why? Because not all change is down to me. We live in a world where things are complicated and interlinked, so let’s not pretend that our organisation’s initiative was a straight beautiful theory of change where all our efforts lead to 100% positive impact. Things interfere and it’s our job here at Pax Tecum Global to help you understand how this may or can affect your work – so that you know how to position yourself.
We also believe in honesty.
When it comes to impact, not all our impacts are positive. And recognising the negatives we also create, puts us in a better place to respond to these. For example, who of you have got a job that only creates positive outcomes for you? Never felt stressed? Never felt anxious? I love my job, but juggling multiple clients’ expectations and work streams means that I sometimes experience negative outcomes. When we assess impact, let’s not pretend they are not there, because we’re missing a huge opportunity to improve.
Putting it into context.
Impact assessment and evaluation give us a clearer, holistic view, helping us adapt faster to shifting priorities. Take a recent project with a UK-based organisation donating bikes in Africa: when UK foreign aid was cut, private partners scaled back their contributions, redirecting resources to UK-focused initiatives they saw as better aligned with their public-sector clients. Like ripples from a thrown stone, one shift can cascade far. But what our impact assessment showed, was that the UK-based organisation was having important impact far further than in Africa and with already existing exercise/bike initiatives in local British communities and hiring people of disabilities, there was a huge opportunity to not only promote the organisation’s hearthwarming work in the African country, but also align with UK Government procurement priorities around physical health and breaking down barrier to employment for under-represented groups.
In short.
In this stormy geopolitical context we find ourselves in, we now more than ever, need to understand our real impact through obtaining those golden nudges of information that can help us improve to maximise positive impact whilst truthfully evidence how we are making a difference. Holistic impact assessment lets us spot opportunities, adapt strategies and communicate results effectively, even in a world where resources are scarce and priorities change like the wind.
Charlotte Österman
Partner of Pax Tecum Global Consultancy and Accredited Social Value and SROI Practitioner
