The Sector
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A Sinzer Case: Outcome evaluation of Women Inc, Ministry of Education, Culture and Science

The impact analysis Sinzer conducted consisted of an evaluation that looked back on five years of activities by all 50 consortium members. With this assignment, Sinzer examined and assess the impact of all the crucial pillars (awareness, research, education) of the alliance.

The firm’s conclusion was that the alliance has contributed to significantly more political attention for the importance of gender-sensitive health. It also made knowledge on gender-sensitive care more accessible, and spurred more research into the unique health issues for women.

Through this impact analysis, WOMEN Inc and the consortium have gained crucial insight into the effects of their activities. As a result, the work of the consortium is continued into a new multi-year program, in which Sinzer is involved as an impact partner.

Surprise was great when Women’s Inc heard years ago that a woman’s heart attack is recognized less well than a man, simply because there is still much ignorance about the female body in medical science. The issue was nowhere high on the agenda. Individual medical professionals demanded fervent attention within their own field, but it was not a subject of social and political debate. We thought this had to be done differently. A matter of life and death.

That is why they took the initiative in 2012 to start an interdisciplinary collaboration, the Gender & Health Alliance, with support from the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. The aim of this Gender & Health Alliance was to improve the quality of care and achieve health benefits for everyone by paying more attention to gender aspects.

WOMEN Inc. then asked Sinzer research agency to map out the results and effects of the activities of the Gender & Health Alliance, which ceases to exist in this form at the end of this year. This has resulted in this effect analysis.

#sinzer #wbs #socialinnovation #impactinvesting #mars #thesectorinc #ESG #toronto

The Sector

A Sinzer Case: Europeana Foundation: The Social Impact of (digital) Cultural Heritage

Europeana Foundation is the institute for digital cultural heritage in Europe.

Sinzer initially helped Europeana with a small-scale impact assessment for 3 of their digital collections. This process commenced with drawing out a Theory of Change in several multi-stakeholder workshops, by answering questions like: who experiences change as a result of accessing or sharing information? What changes do stakeholders experience? How can these changes be influenced by tweaking activities, products and services? Once the Theory of Change was developed, data was collected to test exactly how much change was created for whom by sending surveys to various stakeholder groups.

Besides gaining insights for their own organization, Europeana got increasingly motivated to share the gained impact expertise and theory with others in the sector. Hence, as a second deliverable the ‘Impact Playbook’ has been developed: a guide meant for (digital) culture and cultural heritage organizations, like galleries, libraries, museums and archives, with theory as well as practical step-by-step instruction and tools to help these organizations better understand, manage, and demonstrate the social impact they create – which is becoming increasingly important in a time where funding for such organizations is under pressure.

Currently the firm is collaborating with Europeana to create a ‘Playbook part II’, which focuses on using elements of ‘economic’ impact assessment in context of (digital) culture and cultural heritage.

The Sector

Purposing the Mining LPRM to Develop Supporting Industries in Pursuing NCA

Porter identifies “related and supporting industries” as a factor to investment-driven NCA; Behre Dolbear groups “connectedness of local supply networks to global value chains,” within a counties “economic system” and a most important factor in attracting mining FDI.

Brazil has a “relatively developed industrial base, with a number of well-established firms” which have the “capacity to procure a relatively large number of goods and services to the mining sector.” Recently a study showed that “in the region of Southeast Para, Vale procured 75% of its inputs from Brazilian sources” which is “22% from the region, 48% from providers outside the region but from Brazil and 4% from the State.” This is very “significant compared to other developing economies.”

The LPRM “offers a value proposition for companies looking to inform local government investment in programs that support capacity-building for suppliers.”30 Currently in Brazil, there is “no monitoring mechanism in place” to “objectively assess to what extent certain policies have worked.”

In Australia, “State Agreements, developed for particular large extractive projects, between the State Government and the “developer”. State Agreements set out the rights and obligations of both parties throughout the life of a significant development project. These may include, among others, “obligations for the miner to include a requirement to submit detailed development proposals including how they intend to source goods and services from local suppliers and employ local workforce.”

Sources:

Geipel J, Nickerson E, Kietly J, Regenstrief T, 2017, Mining Local Procurement Reporting Mechanism, German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development & Engineers Without Borders Canada.

Korinek J, 2014, Local Content Policies in Minerals-exporting countries, Case Studies, Working Party of the Trade Committee, TAD/TC/WP(2016)3/PART2/FINAL.

Porter M, The Competitive Advantage of Nations, Harvard Business Review, March-April 1990, pp. 74-91.

Behre Dolbear, 2014, Ranking of Countries for Mining Investment: Where Not to Invest.

#LPRM #mining #socialinnovation #impactinvesting #wbs #toronto #mba #socialinnovation #bradfordturner

The Sector

National Competitive Advantage through the LPRM – A Human Resources Lens

Porter stipulates that human resources i.e. the local labour force and supply of skilled labor, are key components to developing an investment-driven national competitive advantage. Similarly, Behre Dolbear considers this a key component to a country “economic system,” which the firm categorizes within the most important factor as listed, toward attracting mining FDI.

The lack of a skilled workforce in supporting industries is a bottle-neck to productivity in Brazil; “regularly highlighted as a recurrent challenge faced by mining firms.”25 The “average educational attainment in Brazil is 7.2 years, which ranks quite low compared to other economies at similar levels of development.” Challenges related to the quality of public education, equity and the level of resources invested in the education system and ultimately, the lack of a workforce, with industry-relevant skills and education, are a clear barrier to developing investment-driven mining NCA.

LPRM-generated mine-site-level data enables host governments to, “tailor their education programs so that they help develop the skills required for the creation of particular goods and services.”27 In the case of Australia, the government develops data-driven “policies to foster the sector” “by ensuring alignment of its education system with the demands of the industry through public-private partnerships.”

Sources:

  • Korinek J, 2014, Local Content Policies in Minerals-exporting countries, Case Studies, Working Party of the Trade Committee, TAD/TC/WP(2016)3/PART2/FINAL.
  • Geipel J, Nickerson E, Kietly J, Regenstrief T, 2017, Mining Local Procurement Reporting Mechanism, German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development & Engineers Without Borders Canada.
  • Porter M, The Competitive Advantage of Nations, Harvard Business Review, March-April 1990, pp. 74-91.
  • Behre Dolbear, 2014, Ranking of Countries for Mining Investment: Where Not to Invest.

#corporatesocialresponsibility #socialinnovation #wbs #bradfordturner #toronto #ESG #mining #LPRM #mba

The Sector

The Importance of Mine-site-level-data to National Competitive Advantage

A comparison of Porter’s factors toward NCA; the LPRM’s recommended applications of its mine-site-level-generated data and Behre Dolbear’s identified most important factors to attract country-level and firm-level mining FDI, provide the lens for this case-study (MSV; Porter M, The Competitive Advantage of Nations).

While each mentioned source provides a set of factors or recommendations, respectively, broader than the scope of this analysis, there is clear alignment between, to the factors which are priority, as weighted between the three sources: infrastructure, human resources, development of supporting industries, firm strategy and rivalry, and government.

Both Porter and Behre Dolbear highlight efficient infrastructure as a key factor toward developing or maintaining, investment-driven competitive advantage and FDI respectively. Infrastructure is a clear bottle-neck to efficiency in Brazil and insufficient to develop investment-driven NCA.

Brazil’s “investment in infrastructure has fallen from 5.4% of GDP in the 1970s to 2.1% in 2000s.” Transport “infrastructure as a share of GDP has fallen from 2% in the 1970s to 0.5% in the 2000s” and “14% of its roads are paved and rail links remain limited”(Korinek J, 2014).

Local Content Policies in Minerals-exporting countries generated mine-site level data enables host governments to “target infrastructure spending to facilitate more competitive suppliers” ((Geipel J, Nickerson E, Kietly J, Regenstrief T, 2017). This may involve “building new transportation links where shipping costs are preventing competitive prices from suppliers” and therefore inhibiting a flow of FDI into supporting industries.

In the case of Finland, investment-driven FDI is supported by government, notably through an “agreement between mining firms and government for the support of infrastructure development, once parties agree on investments and production levels are realized.”

#sustainability #corporateresponsibility #ESG #mining #internationaldevelopment #wbs #bradfordturner #toronto #socialinnovation #michaelporter