Checklist for Social Value in Development and Humanitarian Assistance
This checklist is intended to support people who are seeking to apply the social value approach in the international development and humanitarian assistance sectors.
It is designed for project managers or project funders, and should be read in conjunction with the wider guidance on social value. In particular, it should be used in conjunction with SVI’s Guide to Social Return on Investment, and the stages below reflect the stages of SROI as outlined in the guide.
If you have any comments on the checklist, or any resources to suggest, please contact us.
stage 0. organisational planning and preparation
For many organisations working in international development and humanitarian assistance, a social value approach can represent a significant change from existing practice. Focusing on planning for social value within the organisation can help ensure that a social value analysis proceeds more smoothly, that results are more widely understood, and that findings can be acted on. This is particularly true when organisations are spread across different countries, or drawing on funding from different organisations with different expectations.
- Build a shared understanding of what social value is, and the benefits it can bring to your organisation and its stakeholders. (Stakeholders should include all those groups directly or indirectly affected by the organisation or programme, not just those who influence an organisation or programme)
- Ensure that the people involved in the various aspects of the social value analysis (e.g. those conducting research, those designing surveys, project funders) have a shared understanding around social value terminology, (e.g. stakeholders, outcomes, materiality). This is especially important when those people are based in different locations
- Identify an internal champion(s) to promote and support social value
- Be clear on the requirements that a social value approach will place on your organisation (e.g. engaging with stakeholders, publishing data). Ensure you have buy-in from the organisational leadership, and commitment to use the result to improve your social impact
- Consider options for knowledge sharing with other organisations – helping you to combine expertise of your sector with social value expertise
- Build social value monitoring and evaluation needs into your regular project planning cycle
- Consider your organisation's research ethics practice, and how this might affect social value research
Resources
stage 1. Establishing scope and identifying stakeholders
Planning a social value analysis presents a different set of challenges to a typical evaluation of an international development or humanitarian assistance project. Social value’s focus on actual outcomes, rather than intended outcomes, means that a greater range of stakeholders typically needs to be involved. Likewise, the focus on measuring outcomes – rather than just outputs – means that social research with stakeholders becomes more important. This will have implications on resourcing, particularly on how you resource the primary research that a social value analysis needs.
- Consider options for running a pilot project, and for piloting research approaches
- Map out your existing data, and be clear on its strengths and limitations. In particular, ensure that the identification of outcomes (stage 2) and indicators (stage 3) is not unduly influenced by existing data
- Map out your resourcing requirements, particularly around research fieldwork, data capture and transcription, and translation
- Map out obstacles to stakeholders participating in decision making process and having their voice heard
- Ensure you have clarity over funding timescales, particularly when funding is affected by currency fluctuations
- Establish the level of research that is possible with stakeholders, especially when project is delivered in emergency situations
Stage 2. Mapping outcomes
A social value study will typically differ from other evaluations in its focus on both intended and unintended outcomes, and on involving stakeholders to identify those outcomes. Mapping outcomes and conducting high-quality qualitative research presents both an operational and logistical challenge for organisations. It also presents an opportunity to give power to stakeholders by ensuring their views and experiences are placed at the heart of a social value analysis.
- Ensure you understand how cultural factors affect stakeholders' response to qualitative research
- Ensure you understand how power dynamics (between funders, delivery organisations, local partners, government, evaluators, beneficiaries) affect stakeholders' response to qualitative research
- Consider whether your research design needs to account for low literacy and numeracy levels. This might include building the capacity of stakeholders to engage, and adapting your research tools to ensure they are accessible
- Explore opportunities to use the qualitative research as an opportunity to build local research and evaluation capacity
- Consider how concepts such as 'well-being' are understood locally, and be careful of losing nuance in translation
- Ensure the assumptions within your Theory of Change reflect the local situation, rather than being imported from elsewhere (e.g. log frames created during project planning)
- When stakeholder engagement is affected by external factors (e.g. emergency situations), consider putting in place infrastructure for future engagement, rather than conducting engagement immediately
Resources
Webinar from Bond: Assessing real impact beyond Western models (external content)
Stage 3. Evidencing outcomes and giving them a value
A social value study will often require the collection of more, and different types, of quantitative data than is typical for an evaluation. This may include collecting subjective data directly from participants on how much change they have experienced and the relative value of that change. As with qualitative research, conducting high quality quantitative research presents both an operational and logistical challenge for organisations. It also presents an opportunity to give power to stakeholders by ensuring their views and experiences are placed at the heart of a social value analysis.
- Ensure you understand how cultural factors affect stakeholders' response to quantitative research
- Ensure you understand how power dynamics (between funders, delivery organisations, local partners, government, evaluators, beneficiaries) affect stakeholders' response to quantitative research
- Consider whether your research design needs to account for low literacy and numeracy levels. This might include building the capacity of stakeholders to engage, and adapting your research tools to ensure they are accessible
- Explore opportunities to use the quantitative research as an opportunity to build local research and evaluation capacity
- Test wording of quantitative questions and answer options (e.g. "wellbeing“) to ensure consistent understanding of meaning across language and culture
- Consider using different types of indicators, including self-reported data and observations. Consider risks of different types of indicators (e.g. how need for post-rationalisation, or power dynamics, can affect responses to survey questions) and how this varies in different situations
- Consider international sources of data for valuations (e.g. WHO, World Bank), especially when there are few national sources
Resources
Stage 4. Establishing impact
Establishing impact requires an understanding of how long outcomes last, and what would have happened in the absence of a programme or project. Both of these become more challenging when the local evidence base is more limited.
- Consider international sources for deadweight considerations, especially when national sources are light, e.g. World Bank
- Consider whether the benefit period will be shorter and more unpredictable in unstable/fluctuating/dangerous contexts
Stage 5. Calculate the SROI
Much of the guidance on calculating social value is based on using just one currency. Calculations become more complicated when projects are funded in one country and delivered in another, with exchange rates that can fluctuate dramatically – especially in emergency situations. This becomes even more important when outcomes are given a monetary value.
- When using different currencies, consider the best option for translations. Purchasing Power Parity might give a better representation of value than market exchange rates
- Consider using an existing social value calculator, to support the calculations and to help avoid errors
Resources
Stage 6. Reporting, using and embedding
Social value studies in the international development and humanitarian assistance fields can lead to changes in programme design, increases in funding, and greater accountability to stakeholders. Undertaking a social value study will usually lead to learnings for your organisation about applying the social value approach, and how this can be strengthened in the future.
- Be transparent about assumptions, including around allocation of funds and currency conversions
- Consider aligning results with external frameworks, e.g. SDGs. The SDGs can also be used in the design stage of programmes
- Consider different types of verification: that the evaluation reflects the local reality, that the evaluation reflects sector norms and ethics, that the evaluation reflects social value principles
- Share your findings and learnings with groups such as Social Value in Development and Humanitarian Assistance (SVDHA) and Social Value International (SVI)