MICHELLE YORKE MICHELLE@CSISOLUTIONS.CO.ZA

CSI SOLUTIONS.CO.ZAAND

CSR LIBRARY.CO.ZA

Measuring Impact In CSI

Why Measure Impact?

Impact is the new buzz word but what’s the relevance?

2004 – White elephant projects Multi national corporate projects Classrooms – used as storage – no teachers Computer centre – no skilled teacher or

electricityLarge commercial veg garden, funded by the

EU, goats grazing in the field

Research project :The CSI Toolkit

18 months of in-depth research Interviews with corporates & NGO’s Desktop research CSI dialogue sessions with practitioners Site visits Project evaluations

Which resulted in The CSI Toolkit http://www.csisolutions.co.za/csi-toolkit.php

CSI Process

CSI in SA: Making an Impact

SA has been active in CSI for 15 years

Estimated spend in SA in 2012 was about R6.5 billion

Biggest Spenders include (Trialogue 2011)

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

512

314

134 132119

10588 85 83 83

R(m)

CSI Reporting

But there is little evidence of impact, as most report on what they are spending and not what they have achieved.

Shift focus from reporting on inputs and outputs of spending, to impact.

Saying you spent R10 million does not instill confidence

in your shareholders.

Reporting that you up-skilled 100 people who are now in the job market and contributing to the economy is not only far more meaningful, but also more credible.

Understanding Impact

CSI is an investmentImpact

Community: clear, measurable changes in social issues being addressed;

Business: “bottom –line” E.g. client retention to ensure sustainable

commercial success

Selecting Projects

Often projects are undertaken due to: Great professional proposal Awesome marketing potential

Limited planning and thought about REAL impact

Short sighted, Leads to …

Implied Impact

Largely – Storytelling, PR May benefit in the short term but doubtful that

sustainable Little credibility – people starting to ask questions Doesn’t inform grant-maker Impact limited as you don’t know what you don’t know

(how to improve, lessons learnt, develop models) Leads to frustrated grant-maker & beneficiary Little support and understanding from board

Intended Impact

Everything your company does has an impact on: the environment, community, marketplace and workplace

Clearly identify WHAT you want to achieve? What do you intend the impact of the intervention to be:

i.e. how will your intervention make an impact.

e.g. Impact= To improve maths and english marks. Or

To train computer skills?

Who agrees that if you have done this you have made a sustainable impact? Yes/no

Impact is the ULTIMATE

IMPACT

However, we need to ask…

Why do you want people to have skills or have good Maths and English marks?

If that’s where it ends then all we have achieved is people sitting at home with computer skills, and great Maths marks….

Impact = END RESULT

Surely, you want people to be employed or start their own businesses to employ people?

Now that would be sustainable impact!

So once you know what the impact should be and what you need to measure, its easy…

What’s MY impact

You can’t measure your impact if you don’t know where it started…

Baseline Study Snapshot of the before…

Example: Baseline

No Baseline With Baseline

Input: R600 000 R600 000

Output after investment:

103 Bee Hives 103 Bee Hives

Base line: # prior to investment

???? 100 hives

Impact = 103 Bee Hives earning 103-100 = 3 Bee Hives earning

How SA companies are doing M&E? (Trialogue, 2011)

Impact Process

Step 1 - Set Goals: For business For community

Step 2 - Clarify your Intended ImpactStep 3 - Set indicators

Involve stakeholders Step 3 – Conduct baseline Step 4 - Value Inputs (cash, time, in-kind)Step 5 – Ongoing monitoring

Conduct site visits: collecting dataStep 6 - Measure outputs : # beneficiaries Step 7 - Measure impact

Keep it logical

INPUTINPUT If we use …. R224 000

ACTIVITIES To ….. train 40 learners on english and numeracy

OUTPUT Then … will result 40 illiterate youths develop their numerical and communication skills

IMPACT Which will change ……

40 youths’ prospects of employability and income generation

Case Study: Nkosinathi High School

Identifying a school within a 25 km radius of the business Criteria: a headmaster who is a good leader, and a well-managed

school. Nkosinathi High School, a well-established school located in

Inanda. 1,200 learners, severe overcrowding, not enough high schools in the area The smallest class had 41 learners and the largest 140 Matric pass rate was about 60%.

Partnership: Commitment from the Department of Education allocated more teachers and furniture would be provided for new classrooms.

Agreed to build three new classrooms and a toilet block

The project got started in 2010.

Nkosinathi– Impact Evaluation

Measuring Project Impact

Planning is the first step in the evaluation process.

We monitor and evaluate in order to ensure the project makes an impact.

Measuring impact is a process, which entails ongoing M&E.

It is not a push button exercise in which you will achieve 100% with your first attempt. Qualitative can become Quantitative

There is no one way, it can be as long or as in depth as you need it to be.

Example: Measuring Impact: Keep it simple!

Problem identified: Cholera outbreak every year in a community

Why (Analysis of problem): There is a lack of clean drinking water

What is the solution (Project): Provision of 10 boreholes to community

How will we know it’s a success (Indicators of achievement): There will be a 50% reduction in the number of cholera cases by year 3

Impact (Result): After year 3, there was a 65% reduction in cholera cases

M&E in summary

Do… Don’t… Be clear about your goals before you start measuring

Identify who will use the results and how

Involve your stakeholders

Use a robust methodology

Distinguish between inputs, outputs and impact

Don’t think measurement alone will improve results

Don’t over engineer the process

Don’t always do it alone - external evaluators

Don’t communicate only the positive aspects, share lessons

Don’t measure everything – be sure you are focused

To Maximise your Impact

Learn from SA & our MANY mistakes!

Meet & support your peers – it is a lonely road

Don’t see CSI as a purely branding platform where competitiveness takes over

Work together and don’t let corporate ego’s take over

More can be achieved through partnership

CSI

CSR

Responsibility

Outcomes

Community Benefits

Development

IMPACT Stakeholder

Transparent

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SR

OI

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Sustainability

Sustainable development

Exit strategy

EVALUATE

Strategy

Measures

Benchmark INDICATORS

INDICATORS

investment

Measure m

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IMPACT

capacity

Baseline

M&E

skills

Economic development CSI

Connect