The ACSEP Training Programme: Social Impact Measurement is a series of workshops for practitioners who are interested to learn new methods of measuring their social impact.
A guide for organisations to measure their social impact
The first session was held on 25 September at the NUSS Kent Ridge Guild House, where ACSEP Research Fellow Dr Frank Hubers demonstrated the Logical Framework Approach (LFA). The LFA is an instrument for programme design and monitoring of social programmes.
For a full afternoon, 24 participants – social entrepreneurs, impact investors and practitioners from government agencies – were guided through the steps of developing a framework, starting from a problem analysis, developing a programme, to selecting the right indicators.
The participants worked in groups work on four case studies from Singapore that were prepared by ACSEP. The objective was to conduct a proper analysis of the social problem, find a solution, and then design a programme plan of with a measurable social impact.
“This first session was very successful, thanks to the effort and active participation of our 24 participants,” said Dr Hubers. “ The participants, who all work in the social sector, were given only one afternoon to find solutions to some complicated social problems using the Logical Framework Approach. I am amazed by the solutions they came up with.”
Participants were positive about the course, as one participant stated: “The experience of conducting a problem analysis and programme design while thinking through and identifying assumptions was for me very useful. This session taught me to think beyond indicators only. ”
The second session, to be held on 27 November 2018, will focus on the Theory of Change approach. ToC is a specific type of methodology used in monitoring and evaluation that starts by identifying long-term goals before mapping out the necessary preconditions.