The Alpina Foundation is a non-profit organization, its mission is based on promoting sustainable processes of economic and social inclusion, for this reason, one of its objectives has to do with the contribution to rural development in Colombia, therefore it participates and leads various projects that are implemented in different regions of the country aimed at producers, families, organizations and associations. The projects take into account the participation of actors and beneficiaries belonging to different social groups, gender, ethnicity and race. These projects are based on three key guidelines for the organization, namely: “sustainable production and income generation through agroecological practices; strengthening of social and community organizations for social and productive inclusion; and promotion of healthy living practices ”(Fundación Alpina / Proyectos, s. f.). Through these projects the Foundation acts as a social innovation laboratory that promotes economic and social inclusion and encourages entrepreneurship. The different projects are evaluated and systematized, so that the learning obtained can be replicated, scaled and contribute to improvements and as a basis for the implementation of public policies, as well as generating a greater impact and coverage to the rural community. The objective of this consultancy seeks to define the guidelines and roadmaps based on the methodology of social return on investment RSI or in English Social Return of investment - SROI, which is based on principles for the quantification of non-financial value, is that is, the environmental, social and economic value obtained from a project or organization. For its calculation there are different methodologies and tools: Poverty Footprint, SIA (Social Impact Assessment), Global economic accounting, Marco SROI, SROI Lite Global Social Benefit Incubator, Socio-Economic Assessment Toolbox (SEAT), Measuring impact Framework, Total Societal Impact (TSI) and Social and Human Capital Protocol («Methodologies for the measurement of SROI», 2018) by means of which it is sought that the Alpina Foundation can have an applied guide and approaches that allow them, in in the future, quantify the social return on investment generated by said Foundation. 5 The SROI (Social Return on Investment) framework is the most appropriate method for measuring social effects, since it allows collecting the information necessary for their calculation, in addition, it helps to quantify monetary and measure qualitative and quantitative effects . Additionally, it offers a set of guidelines based on ethical principles that tries to cover impartial aspects, which involve the foundation, the community and the different groups. The method establishes an analysis that is structured in stages, not necessarily in a linear order, which allow the measurement of the social impact of the investment that has been recognized internationally by different companies and investors, non-profit organizations, government entities, among other interest groups. Some of the benefits of the method are the possibility of generating awareness, reflection and learning, improving the communication of social actors with the community and developing collective commitments, directing resources towards activities with greater social impact, in addition, it supports strategic planning. A limitation of the SROI approach is that the results are not comparable across entities. (Tulla Antoni F. et al., 2018) This document is divided into the following sections: in the first part, a review of the conceptual framework about the method of social return on investment is made; in the second, following the SROI methodology, the information from the Alpina Foundation was analyzed from stages 1 to 4; and finally, some recommendations and conclusions are made for their implementation and calculation of the social return on investment generated by the Foundation. This corresponds to the second installment of the three agreed with the entity.
publication date
January 28, 2021 3:34 AM
Research
keywords
Alpina Foundation
Business support for social and community organizations
Corporate social responsibility
Evaluation of the Social Return of investment - SROI
