The newly revisited concept of social capital is now prominent in several fields of social science. For Next Generation Consultants, the concept became important with the introduction of the integrated reporting framework that requires companies and organisations to report on how their activities either contribute to or diminish capital formation. The International Integrated Reporting Council’s guidance suggests that a company’s …
Definition: Socio-economics is the study of the relationship between economic activity and social life. In many cases, however, socio-economists focus on the social impact of a specific kind of economic change. Such changes might include displacement of people due to a closing factory, village-to-city migration, market manipulation and even the signing of trade treaties, etc. Value: The goal of a socio-economic study …
Assessing the impact of sustainable development programmes, especially ongoing performance measurement and management, has gained momentum in recent years. The interest and growth in numerous approaches, technologies, processes and systems that aim to understand the difference a development intervention can make can be attributed to impact investors’ and other stakeholders’ expectations. But determining impact and return on investment can at …
Questions about whether development programmes “work” have preoccupied the development sector for a long time. In today’s reality of continued economic hardship, coupled by diminishing resources and mounting sector scepticism, development practitioners face even more pressure to demonstrate the results, change and impact of their activities. Management consulting in this field therefore has to include monitoring and evaluation. Measurement practices …
Performance measurement is at the heart of all efforts by social investors and grantmakers to make social/community investment and development more effective. Philanthropists, donors, social and impact investors, governments and development agencies alike need more credible and timely evidence about their performance. While acknowledging that financial resources alone cannot drive sustainable development, the industry must strive to better understand how different types of development and …
Social and developmental enterprises like NGOs are increasingly struggling to get funding for their projects and programmes – and with good reason. While everything else in the world – also in the social investment arena – is changing, too many NGOs are still stuck in their old ways, expecting better and different results while doing the same things for years. …
We’ve had news to this effect from various fronts, but we now have good reason to believe that 2018 – and beyond – will be Africa’s time. Globally, the disruptions, challenges and tensions of the past few years will continue, but there is hope for better economic growth worldwide. Even more so in Africa, where exponential growth is expected in …
2 April 2018 Social and impact investors no longer just want to know that they’ve attempted to change the world for the better. They want to know if their investment meant something. They want detailed evidence that their investment led to large-scale, significant impact, whether it contributed to sustainable change, and if there was significant return on their investment. They …
12 April 2018 Today’s philanthropists, grantmakers, social and impact investors want more control over their giving and they want evidence of the scale and sustainability of the impact they make. They demand greater transparency and accountability from the organisations they invest in and hold them to account. They want quick results and return on their investment, and therefore prefer to …
12 April 2018 Investing in social and developmental causes has become increasingly innovative lately, moving away from one-directional donations and suchlike. Social investors now use a mix of finance models to put their money where it has the potential to grow substantially. They are looking for opportunities where their investment will have considerable long-term impact, while contributing to sustainable, meaningful …