At Pact, we strive to make people’s lives measurably better through programs that improve access to quality health care, build better livelihoods opportunities, and ensure the sustainable use of natural resources. While it is easy to count the number of people who have participated in our programming, it is harder to comprehensively capture the benefits they realize as a result, as well as the relative value of those outcomes in their lives. The Social Return on Investment (SROI) methodology is one way to do this: It is a stakeholder-driven, principles based analytical framework that captures and communicates the value of outcomes, both intended and unintended, for direct participants as well as those who benefit indirectly. Beneficiaries are at the center of this approach and they are asked to describe the outcomes they have experienced and the relative value of those outcomes in their lives. Comparing this value against program inputs (or investment) yields the SROI ratio. The in-depth qualitative feedback gathered during stakeholder consultations is also used to improve programming.
PACT in Ukraine already has the experience of conducting two SROI evaluations:
- Evaluation study of the “Seven Steps” behavioral intervention for people who inject drugs (based on the results of the assessment, a Certificate was received from the Social Value International organization).
- Forecast evaluation of the pilot project “Promprylad. Renovation”, a social enterprise in Ivano-Frankivsk (Western Ukraine) set-up revitalize a Soviet-times industrial plant Promprylad, and to convert it into an innovation platform, with new economy, modern art, non-formal education and urban development as pillars.