Socio-Economic Evaluation Framework Working out who, why, how and where you should engage.
nef consulting is the ground-breaking advisor to public and private sector organisations, on integrated performance management, environmental and social impact evaluation, and work and well-being business psychology. We provide rigorous extra-financial measurement, inter-disciplinary analysis and cutting edge solutions, to optimise future value for money and sustainability in economic decision-making. Our clients and partners benefit from our unique lineage to nef’s (new economics foundation) twentyyear history and influence as a pioneer of corporate accountability, sustainable development and socioeconomic well-being. 3 Jonathan Street, London SE11 5NH, United Kingdom T: +44(0)20 7820 6364 F: +44(0)20 7820 6301 www.nef-consulting.co.uk
Who, Why, How and What Developers increasingly recognise that they can’t succeed just by building buildings, any more than they can find a competitive advantage in the market place just by watching costs and prices. When government regulators start using socio-economic measures and indicators to test sustainability – both social and environmental – developers need to respond. Sustainability is today’s watch word and integral to this is a framework that demonstrates an organisation’s real commitment to understanding the following: • Who you need to engage with during the project development process and afterwards. • Why it is important you engage with them. • How and when that engagement should take place. • What concerns need to be addressed. nef consulting has the experience, skills and tools to help developers create such a Socio-Economic Evaluation Framework – adaptable to both your organisation’s development project needs as well as those of the project’s stakeholders – which will not only demonstrate an understanding of socioeconomic engagement and measurement, but provide an organisation with the tools to do it. Without such a framework, organisations risk: • Falling behind in their understanding of the current and future demands of regulation bodies. • Creating developments without the necessary level of ‘buy-in’ from local stakeholders to make them fully integrated into their surrounding communities. • Missing opportunities to bring added value to their business model. The framework can help an organisation to develop new partners, access new sources of funding and move into new markets; but, first and foremost, win more work.
About nef nef (the new economics foundation) is an independent ‘think and do’ tank that combines research, consulting, and advocacy to develop practical initiatives and tools to build an economy that is socially inclusive and environmentally sustainable. nef has an exceptional record of social innovation and has established itself as the leading UK research and policy organisation. nef was voted Think Tank of the Year in 2002/3. nef consulting — nef’s formal consultancy arm, which financially supports its charitable objectives and mainstreams its vision of new economics — brings together two main areas of strength: • nef’s blend of tested experience, influential personnel, and established tools that offer innovative and proven solutions to economic and social development. These tools integrate what are often regarded as ‘soft’ outcomes, such as well-being and community engagement, with ‘hard’ socioeconomic analysis and outputs. • nef’s work on sustainable procurement with local authorities, community engagement techniques with various institutions and pioneering work on well-being measurement and evaluation.
nef consulting Socio-Economic Evaluation Framework
2
Introduction to the Socio-Economic Evaluation Framework Until recently the socio-economic requirements placed on developers did not extend much beyond those drafted in section 106 documents. A requirement for a community facility or the use of local jobs might be requested, but no systemic demands are placed to capture the needs of stakeholders. This situation is beginning to change. Local and central government are becoming more sophisticated in their demands and are beginning to create socio-economic and well-being indicators against which to measure new developments. nef consulting’s Socio-Economic Evaluation Framework provides a developer with a strategic tool that demonstrate they not only adhere to current requirements, but can also exceed them. The Framework is adaptable so it can range across a number of different types of project the developer may engage in. It can also be tailored to the client’s current community engagement delivery structures.
Why socio-economic considerations matter As much of nef’s work demonstrates, regeneration can only really be considered a success when the result is thriving communities, strong local economies and the high well-being of local stakeholders. So often, new developments (purported to be the catalyst for regeneration) rise in localities in which the local people have either had no say in the development or played no part in the process of construction or management. Without direct involvement of local stakeholders the benefits from the development are diminished: • Sub-optimal stimulation of the local economy. • Lack of civic pride in the development. • Lack of empowerment of local stakeholders. A developer needs to demonstrate evidence that their development is positively contributing to local communities, economies and individuals’ well-being before it can be fully considered a success. They need to fully understand the concerns of local people and have the ability to integrate those concerns into their developments. In this case, it is not just the end that matters; it is the means as well.
Socio-Economic Evaluation Framework Features The Business Case: The Framework demonstrates the economic case for integrating socioeconomic considerations into project design and management. Regulations: The framework is informed by the latest thinking from regulatory bodies at local, regional and national level on issues around well-being, the environment, community cohesion and other socio-economic considerations. Suite of Tools: We have a number of innovative socio-economic measurement tools and engagement techniques to help deliver the framework’s suggested activities, including a sustainable procurement model, local money flows measurement tool and distinctiveness measure. Indicators: The Framework includes and is designed to generate indicators of socio-economic success.
nef consulting Socio-Economic Evaluation Framework
3
Methodology nef consulting’s Socio-Economic Evaluation Framework uses an analytic structure grounded both theoretically and empirically. The approach draws on nef’s pioneering work in the fields of well-being measurement, community engagement techniques, sustainable procurement and local money flows. The Framework is developed through the following: • Detailed desk research and socio-economic analysis. • This includes examining the very latest literature on well-being indicators globally and marrying these to local and national well-being indicators. • Analysing and forecasting national trends in socio-economic indicator requirements of developers by local and central government. • Identify the planning, policy and funding requirements/indicators of various institutions relevant to an organisation’s work – national/regional and local. • Interviews with key business and project development personnel. • This providers an understanding of how to position and integrate the Framework into the organisation, which is vital to its effectiveness. • Identify current best practise within the organisation’s development teams. • Identify current socio-economic practises and procedures and examine how these can be integrated into the Framework.
Timetable It takes approximately ten weeks from initial commissioning to presentation of the final Framework.
Requirements Capture/ Needs Assessment
Business Review
Regulatory Research
Projects Review
Weeks 1-3
Weeks 4-6
Development of Socioeconomic Framework Weeks 7-8
Framework Presentation and implementation Strategy Week 9-10
Figure 1: Timeline with Key Tasks While Figure 1 presents the development of the product as a linear model, the Framework is designed so that it creates a learning loop for the organisation to ensure that its implementation is delivering against the challenges/requirements faced by the organisation’s future developments.
nef consulting Socio-Economic Evaluation Framework
4