The Sector

Towards SDG aligned impact measurement of a Fair and Transparent Value Chain – NELLINE ROEST

Truvalu.enterprises actively participates in local small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Asia, Africa and Latin-America. Its mission is to create local jobs, global networks and a sustainable impact combined with economic returns. Truvalu.enterprises aims to achieve this by building fair and transparent value chains, in which all parties are equal partners: the producers in emerging countries, the impact investor (Truvalu.enterprises), the retailer and consumers have mutually inclusive interests and share profits equally. Truvalu.enterprises cooperates with WAAR, a retailer who sells fair trade-certified products from emerging countries in the Netherlands and other European countries and who shares the vision of transparency and equality.

Sinzer has supported Truvalu.enterprises in developing a Theory of Change (ToC) that reflects an equal share of growth for all partners as well as highlights some of the conditions that need to be in place in order to achieve this goal.

Theory of Change narrative and visual Truvalu.enterprises works as a co-entrepreneur with small and medium-sized enterprises (producers) in emerging countries and hence offers capital, access to markets and brand development. Through capital and training provided, producers will be able to increase the quantity and quality of the products, leading to sustained income growth through sales. Producers can either sell their products with profit to the local markets, or at cost price to WAAR.

Consequently, WAAR will sell the products to consumers in western markets, which is likely to generate a higher profit than selling at local markets. In order to ensure this value-add is equally and fairly distributed, the profit generated by selling through WAAR will be shared among all partners of the value chain in proportion to their contribution. The figure below illustrates the ToC.

Sustainable development goals

Truvalu.Enterprises and WAAR aim to contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as is reflected in the Theory of Change where specific SDGs have been linked to certain activities or steps in the value chain. For example, the training provided by Truvalu.enterprises (or their partners) contributes to ‘ensuring sustainable food production system and implementing resilient agricultural practices (SDG 2; Target 2.4).

In order to be able to measure and maximize the envisioned impact, Sinzer has developed an operable SDG impact management framework with indicators that can be used to track performance and impact of each investee. The framework is geared towards providing management information related to each investee as well as the portfolio as a whole: where are we now and on which aspects can we improve?

Interested in how you can manage the impact of your investments related to the SDGs?

#socialimpact #sustainability #csr #ESG #sdgs #mba #wbs #thesectorinc #peace #love #toronto #uwo #impactinvesting #socialfinance #consulting #strategy #fundraising #sinzer

The Sector

Embed impact management at Windesheim Honors College – MALOU FROM NIEUWKOOP

An explanation of this assignment

Windesheim Honors College (WHC) approached Sinzer with three questions: How can we better understand the social value we create? How can we communicate this better? And, how can we ensure the impact expertise of the teachers and management and make it part of the curriculum? In short, we organized a masterclass series of three interactive workshops with an alternation of theory and practical exercises. The WHC program itself served as a case, which ensured an efficient and varied co-creation. Thus, in addition to developing a Theory of Change as a strategy document, a framework has been set up that provides insight into the process of impact management and what can be used in the future as management information.

ProcessSession one was an introduction to social impact and impact management; what is it, what variants are there, what are the trends and where do you start. Session two focused on the impact map, with associated indicators and the important step of validation. Do the effects occur or are the right things asked for? Finally, session three focused on data collection, analysis and reporting. With these three full days, the full circle of impact management has been brought to the attention. The WHC team then practically started working on it by working out the WHC case itself.

Theory of Change WHCWHC is a four-year course that results in a Bachelor of Business Administration. Students take courses in project and change management and in addition to theoretical courses, they work on projects and internships. There is also a semester called Value Creators. Within Value Creators, students work on a practical assignment for an (international or local) organization or conduct scientific research. These projects always have a strong link to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

WHC wants to be a forerunner in the field of SDG education and is therefore working on an international and innovative SDG Campus. Sinzer has helped by structuring these objectives and activities into long-term, short-term outcomes (effects) and outputs with associated indicators. The Theory of Change was designed based on this structure. By approaching impact management from a clear case, many theoretical concepts become more concrete and you can apply impact theory directly in practice. This results in a visually attractive one-pager:

Another part of Sinzer’s assignment is to help assure impact management – not only within WHC as a program – but also in the curriculum for students. Together we are now working on a data collection strategy including an analysis of current measuring instruments and a division of tasks in terms of responsibilities in the entire process of data collection, analysis and improvement. In the context of embedding , Sinzer has developed a workshop template; in the form of a crash course for students, to be used by all teachers. In this crash course, impact management with practical Do’s and Dont’s is explained, after which the students will mainly get to work themselves.

In conclusion, this assignment included many aspects of Sinzer’s services: advising and helping with an impact strategy, co-creating a data collection and reporting structure. The fact that all these means will be used immediately in practice makes it even more interesting for us. We are working towards a complete package that will ensure that impact management within WHC is firmly on the map.

Interested in such an impact management master class, or series?

The Sector

Embedding SDGs in your organization: an impact strategy – EMMA VERHEIJKE

More and more organizations are working on sustainability and social impact, and link this to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): the 17 sustainable development goals that were launched by the UN in 2015 as an action agenda up to 2030. The SDGs provide a good starting point for sustainable strategy, measuring results and reporting: but where do you start? In this blog series, we share some examples of our customers and how we support them to anchor SDGs more firmly in their organizations.

In this blog: an SDG strategy and Theory of Change for Oneplanetcrowd and StartGreen Capital. About Oneplanetcrowd and StartGreen CapitalOneplanetcrowd and StartGreen Capital stimulate the transition to a sustainable and inclusive economy by financing innovative entrepreneurs and facilitating investors. They offer ‘more than money’ (in addition to financing, including business support, network and strategic advice), helping entrepreneurs to contribute to the creation of a sustainable society for people and the environment and, more specifically, to one or more of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Theory of Change as an SDG strategyThe wish of Oneplanetcrowd and StartGreen was to make more explicit how the investments and activities of both organizations contribute to the SDGs. The reasons? On the one hand to clarify the strategy and vision internally and to link objectives to this, but also to communicate clearly to external stakeholders who Oneplanetcrowd and StartGreen Capital are there for and how they create social value.

Sinzer thus helped StartGreen and Oneplanetcrowd to draw up a Theory of Change at the organizational level: a visual description of the activities that the organization undertakes, and how these lead to certain effects (outcomes) and social objectives in the short and longer term.

Strategy and then? The next step is to translate the strategy and Theory of Change into measurable indicators and targets to monitor and report on the realization of the social objectives, more about this in the next blog of this series. Knowing more? Would you like to know more about Oneplanetcrowd’s vision on SDGs, and the reasons and the process surrounding strategy and measuring the SDGs? Then read Oneplanetcrowd’s blog, including an interview with Sinzer, here: https://www.oneplanetcrowd.com/nl/blog/zo- Maken-we-uw-en-onze-impact-meetbaar

#socialinnovation #peace #love #consulting #sdgs #mba #wbs #bradfordturner #thesectorinc #uwo #toronto #thesix #impactinvesting #socialfinance #SROI #fundraising

The Sector

Impact study Fund 21: Helping young people with their financial development – JONATHAN BROEKHUIZENA

Financial literacy is a vital life skill for citizenship in the 21st century. Children grow up in an increasingly complex world in which, as they grow older, they have to learn to stand on their own two feet. However, research shows that many Dutch young people do not handle money well and that they have payment arrears or debts at an early age. It is estimated that about half of young people between the ages of 18 and 27 have been in debt in the past year. This is a social concern, partly due to the lack of financial education in the curriculum of primary and secondary education.

Impact study young people and money

Fund 21 – a socially engaged fund focused on idealistic goals around art, culture and young people – supports a series of initiatives that aim to fill this gap and teach young people financial knowledge and skills.

The question with which Fund 21 approached Sinzer is to gain clarity. Fund 21 is effective in filling this gap: how much social impact is created by financially supporting these projects? As a result, Sinzer, together with Fund 21 and the projects involved, conducted a study with the aim of learning together about impact measurement and about the working elements of the participating projects.

By means of a ‘before and after measurement’ evaluation design and a questionnaire drawn up in collaboration with Nibud, the effects of the projects on the financial knowledge and skills of young people were identified. In addition, the research provided a source of knowledge about the financial literacy of young people in the Netherlands and the challenges they face.

What have we learned?

In addition to helping answer the above questions, these types of research also provide insights that are relevant to anyone involved in youth financial education. The main insights are:

(1) Parental involvement is crucial for the financial development of young people

Perhaps the most important insight of this research is the central role that parents play in the financial development of their children. It is not only important for children that it is part of their upbringing, but also young people need a conversation with their parents about money. The study showed that young people who were initially able to talk to their parents about money matters were often better off – for example, these young people save more – but also that these young people made a greater leap in financial literacy through the projects than young people who cannot turn to their parents to discuss this. The latter is probably the result that young people can discuss ambiguities afterwards and what the learned means for their own situation with their parents.

(2) Project duration and intensity determine effectiveness

Many projects attempt to fill a gap in the standard school curriculum with mostly short-term interventions (on average a number of lessons over a number of weeks). This leads to versatile but also small effects. This makes it unrealistic to expect significant behavioral changes in young people.

(3) Extracurricular projects seem more effective than projects during teaching hours

This difference is most likely related to the motivation of young people to participate in the projects. Extracurricular projects are usually voluntary while projects in the classroom are mandatory. In addition, due to the extracurricular design, the scale of these projects is often smaller and more personal, because it requires that young people must be recruited on an individual basis. Finally, projects within the classroom often focus on the general youth population, while extracurricular projects focus more on young people with a specific risk profile. This clear demarcation allows these projects to make their teaching materials and methodology more personal and more tailored to the needs of a particular group of young people.

What can Fund 21 as an ideal fund do with the results of this study?

When financiers draw up criteria that projects must meet on the basis of the above insights, this helps to increase the effectiveness of the portfolio. The research results can help Fund 21 in the selection of effective projects, but also contribute to improving the projects themselves.

A special result of the research project was a meeting in which Sinzer shared the research results with the participating projects. This resulted in a substantive exchange in which the projects substantiated their learning points from the research and gave each other tips on how to improve their programs.

In this way, a fund can not only be an important lender, but also a facilitator of a learning process with its grantees. One in which they increase their social impact together.

The full research report can be found here.

The Sector

Sinzer launches the Impact Guide: impact-oriented work for charity organizations – NINA KOOPMAN

For charities to better support organizations impact oriented work has Sinzer in partnership with Charity Netherlands and Partos and with input from CBF and other organizations united in the Impact Challenge online Impact Guide developed. The Impact Indicator is a practical guide for charity organizations to help them better understand their impact, increase that impact and make it more visible. In short: to work more impact-oriented.

Impact-oriented work

Impact-oriented working is different from measuring impact, it is a continuous growth process in which you continue to learn and improve based on previous findings. The focus of the Impact Indicator is therefore less on ‘proving impact’ as in traditional monitoring & evaluation, but more on ‘improving impact’ within the entire organization. It is about continuous learning and improvement based on best practices and best failures. This affects your strategy, how and what data you use and your organizational culture and systems. The Impact Indicator distinguishes between four pillars in this cycle: Strategy , Monitoring and Evaluation , Learning and Reporting and Cultureand offers information per pillar at different levels, from basic principles to deepening. At each level, theoretical knowledge is linked to practical information (such as worksheets, tools, templates).

The launch of Impactwijzer by Emma Verheijke, Partner at Sinzer. Photo: Jostijn Ligtvoet ©

The Impact Indicator

The Impact Indicator shows the breadth of what is possible in terms of impact, but also provides insight into what is ‘good enough’, what is ‘impact maturity’, per organization and the phase in which that organization is different, and that growth and development is possible in this. Some organizations start out small and continue to expand; some are already further and want to deepen that even more; the point is that it is appropriate and usable and that it provides insights that increase impact. The Impact Indicator is designed in such a way that it can be used for organizations that start with impact, but also for organizations that want to further expand their impact management.

The idea is that the Impact Indicator will be further supplemented in the future with new knowledge and with case studies and from organizations in the sector. So a double invitation: take a look, and share with us your case studies that are a nice addition to this.

View the Impact Indicator at www.impactwijzer.nl and read more about the initiative of the Impact Challenge at www.impact-challenge.nl .

#socialinnovation #sdgs #thesectorinc #toronto #love #peace #wbs #mba #sustainability #impactinvesting #consulting #charity #fundraising #bradfordturner