Social Value Blog
Effektfullt Leads The Work On Developing The First Swedish Standard For Impact Measurement
The Swedish Institute for Standards (SIS) is now launching a new committee that will lead the work of developing a Swedish Standard for Impact Measurement, in order to increase the quality of impact measurement in Sweden. At the committee’s first meeting the Executive Director of Effektfullt, Annica Johansson, was elected chairperson of the committee for the next three years.
World Refugee Day: How Can The Social Value Movement Help Tackle The Issues Of Forced Displacement?
World Refugee Day falls each year on 20th June and is dedicated to refugees around the globe. It is an international day designated by the UN to celebrate the strength and courage of those who have been forced to leave their homes behind, to build empathy and understanding for their plight, and to recognise their resilience in rebuilding their lives.
CEO Report – June 2021
I am delighted to confirm that after much discussion we have made the decision to introduce an eighth principle. The Principles of Social Value are the foundations of our work and so this decision was not taken lightly. I am grateful for the members who have proposed this significant development and grateful to you all for your feedback and comments on the forthcoming guidance and standard that will soon be out for consultation with our members.
Child Labour Is On The Rise: How Can SROI Help Us Measure Impact And Tackle Child Labour?
For the first time in two decades, the number of children being put to work has risen – to 160 million worldwide, representing an increase of 8.4 million over four years – while millions of other are at risk due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
World Environment Day: Recognising The Value Of Nature To Save Our Planet
“Truly sustainable economic growth and development means recognising that our long-term prosperity relies on rebalancing our demand of nature’s goods and services with its capacity to supply them. It also means accounting fully for the impact of our interactions with nature.” ….In other words, environmental impact belongs on the balance sheet.
World Bee Day: How Does It Relate To The SDGs And The Social Value Movement?
“Biodiversity is the food we eat, the water we drink, and it is also the air we breathe. More than that, biodiversity is part of us, as we humans are part of nature,” said Dr. Cristiana Paşca-Palmer, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). “The truth is that without healthy nature and biodiversity, we cannot have quality nutrition, and without quality nutrition we cannot have good health – as simple as that.”
CEO Report – May 2021
Perhaps the volume of zoom calls is making me dizzy but it feels like the world is spinning faster than ever before. I am fortunate to work as part of a thriving network, a community of incredible people passionate about changing the way the world accounts for value. The last month has been no exception and I’m delighted to share with you some exciting updates and observations.
International Day Of Living Together In Peace: Building A Sustainable World Of Peace, Solidarity And Harmony
16th May marks the UN’s International Day of Living Together in Peace – a day dedicated to the promotion of peace, tolerance, inclusion, understanding and solidarity. The Day “aims to uphold the desire to live and act together, united in differences and diversity, in order to build a sustainable world of peace, solidarity and harmony.”
But how do we realise this vision? And how can the social value movement support this utopian objective?
Congratulations To Sophia Robinson For Her A4MH Report Assurance Achievement.
Recently, consultant Sophia Robinson submitted her SROI Evaluation report for Artists for Mental Health (A4MH) to Social Value UK for Report Assurance checking alignment to the SVI Report Assurance Standard. It was found the report demonstrated a satisfactory understanding of, and consistency with, the Seven Principles of Social Value – as a result it was assured.
Equality, Wellbeing, And The SDGs: How Can We Address The Issues Of Covid-19 And Achieve The SDGs By 2030?
While overcoming the pandemic will certainly be an impressive feat and a demonstration of what we can achieve together if we set our priorities straight, it will not be the time to fall back into complacency. Continuing our work is not only vital to tackling the large-scale challenges of climate change and inequality but also to avoiding another devastating virus outbreak in the future. No country is on track to achieve the SDGs by 2030 and the pandemic has made the prospect of this even less likely. Although the future may currently seem bleak, we must hold firm in our convictions and not let the pandemic derail our vision of a more equitable and sustainable world for all. If we stop now, at defeating Covid-19, it is merely the equivalent of fixing a leaky faucet in a burning building.
What A Journey: A Decade With Social Value International
We would like to express our deepest gratitude to Andrea, who after 10 years of dedicated service, is stepping down from the SVI Board of Trustees
World Health Day 2021: Building A Fairer, Healthier World
April 7 of each year marks the celebration of World Health Day. From its inception at the First Health Assembly in 1948, the celebration has aimed to create awareness of a specific health theme to highlight a priority area of concern for the World Health Organization. This year, World Health Day is focussing on “Building a fairer, healthier world”.
Social Value Matters 2021: Leading Our Transition To A Sustainable World
Social Value Matters conferences, shaped and delivered by the global community of members and wider networks in which Social Value International are connected, provide a combination of world-class thought-leadership content and highly interactive workshops to create the standards and practice that can help to create a more sustainable, equitable and positive future.
Building on the success of conferences held in London, Milan, Istanbul, Taipei and Toronto (virtually in 2020), the SVM2021 conference will be held from Bangkok, Thailand on the 20th and 21st October 2021.
We Can’t Achieve Social Value Without Achieving Social Justice
Social justice is central to the social value movement, and now more than ever it’s vital that we as a community stand up for social justice, equality and human rights.
To say the last few weeks have been difficult for our planet would be an understatement, to be honest, stating the last year’s been difficult would be too. Social justice has come into the spotlight, as it has many times before in human history, and we owe it to us and all future generations to not let this moment escape from us.
World Water Day 2021: Valuing Water
Water is the basis for all life, and without it, we cannot survive. It’s found everywhere on Earth, from the polar ice caps to steamy geysers. And wherever water flows on this planet, you can be sure to find life.
Yet despite the importance of water to sustain all living things, water is under extreme threat from a growing population, increasing demands of agriculture and industry, and the worsening impacts of climate change.
International Day Of Happiness: Towards A World Where Human Well-Being Takes Center Stage
When you ask people what they want most in life, a very common answer is “I just want myself and my loved ones to be happy.” Happiness is a feeling and therefore subjective but it is clear that with it, we tend to mean more than just a fleeting pleasurable emotion. Usually what we mean with it is “a deep[er] sense of flourishing” – a life of meaning, fulfilment, and stability.
Given that happiness seems to be something that most people ultimately want in life, and its benefits to society, one would expect it to be a central consideration in policy-making and increased human well-being to be a key indicator of progress. Instead, for too long, our understanding of development has been limited to the narrow concept of economic growth. Although a strictly economic tool, GDP per capita continues to be our main metric for measuring well-being.
Announcing Social Value Ireland As An Associate Network
This St Patrick’s Day, we at Social Value International are delighted to announce our newest Associate Network: Social Value Ireland. We recently caught up with the team behind this new network to understand more about Social Value Ireland, the social value landscape across Ireland and their plans for the future.
CEO Report – March 2021
The first 2 and a half months of 2021 have been a whirlwind for the global community of Social Value International. Across the world, interest in social value and meaningful social impact measurement and management continues to increase, with more and more sectors, industries and individuals seeing the need to expand our global definition of value and protect people and the planet.
In this month’s report, I dive deeper into ESG – a concept we cannot move without hearing right now – as well as highlighting to you a couple of important global developments that highlight that ever so critical principle of materiality:
Reducing Income Inequality
Valuation, especially of social and environmental outcomes is always guaranteed to elicit strong opinions from the “you can’t put a monetary value on everything” to the “you cannot make good decisions unless you know how important things are to people”. But either way, interest is growing….
World Wildlife Day: Can Putting A Value On Nature That Goes Far Beyond Money Protect People And Planet?
The natural world around us underpins our economy, our society, our very existence. It provides us with the water we drink, the food we eat, the air we breathe, and forms the basis of goods and services we depend on for our health, happiness and wellbeing.
The world’s natural assets or ‘natural capital’ are also hugely important to the economy – if you add them all up, the total economic value of these benefits is phenomenal, at least US$125 trillion every year. Yet to truly understand the value of nature we need to look beyond the economic value, and consider the intrinsic value of nature under a broader definition of social and environmental value…