Evaluation and impact assessment

Conviction

While Socio-Economic Assessment is most often intended to estimate the impacts upstream of investment decisions in order to make a decision, impact assessment is a monitoring approach throughout the project.

It is used to :

• know the effect of an activity on its stakeholders
• monitor an activity, adjusting itself, using the impact compass
• communicate on the added value of a project
• promote the obtaining of funding

Method

More than a one-off study, it is a global approach in which organizations engage.

Several steps are necessary:

1. Present the organization’s vision, in the form of a “theory of change “, which represents the transformations between situation A and situation B, by linking the actions carried out by the organization, the direct results and the broader impacts for society and the planet. Workshop interviews are usually required to develop the theory of change.
2. Develop activity, outcome and impact indicators, based on the theory of change. These are quantitative or qualitative in nature and are measured factually or through questionnaires.
3. Determine quantified targets for these indicators. Having a trajectory allows you to monitor their effective achievement (see step 6).
4. Set up a data collection system that feeds the indicators. Citizing has partnered with [Impact Track] (https://impacttrack.org/fr/), which offers a platform for monitoring impact assessment indicators. This simple and intuitive platform allows for the administration of questionnaires, the creation of databases, the calculation of indicators and the creation of real-time dashboards.
5. 5. Monitor data and indicators, as they happen. For this step, it is the clients’ autonomy that is sought, thanks to Impact Track. We are convinced that commitment to impact requires sharing knowledge and spreading good practices. Impact Track](/img/expertise/image12.png)
6. Regularly review the actual trajectory of the indicators (vs. the target trajectory, see step 3) and ask what is working and what could be improved. This is impact-based management.
7. If relevant for the search for funding, possibility of calculating a Socio-Economic Return on Investment, or SROI based on the observed data.

Benefits for our clients

• A new way to manage activities with the impact compass
• Elements of reassurance and conviction for the associations’ funders

Impact assessment is commonly deployed by associations, foundations, SSE companies, but also increasingly by the public sector, to monitor achievements (impact reporting) and justify the proper use of public funds.

It will allow us to go faster to present our activities and to be more convincing to find premises, partners, and to trigger subsidies.

I am very interested in this approach, especially because I want to monitor the impact of my activities. At the beginning, it was difficult to project ourselves, but your work helped us a lot.