We provide the service of consulting organizations, businesses, or any groups in managing the Impact from a full cycle perspective which includes establishing the impact management system, implementing monitoring and evaluation of the processes and outcomes leading to continuous improvement. By demystifying ‘Measurements’ and ‘Evaluation’ we arrive together at the customized solutions and implement them with your team because we see our value in the form of built-in and sustainable capacity which stays with you when our work is done.
We help people and companies to start and continue their entrepreneurial journey holistically wherever they are now via education, mentorship, business strategies, and motivational support. We are especially passionate about gender equality and decent work and implement it through our WeCan (Women Entrepreneurs of Canada Network).
Impact is a term that is often used quite loosely to imply any type of change or progress. There are many definitions of impact, but it typically refers to the intended and unintended (positive or otherwise) changes that occur across the organization (within and/or across its programs) and with its stakeholders over a period of time, short or long term, as a result of the organization’s activities.
Measurement not only seeks to understand what changes occur when, but also why and how. Impact measurement is not just about proving impact, but also about improving impact through nurturing a data-driven and evidence-informed culture that promotes results, learning and constant improvement.We believe that Impact Management is a process which is directly related to your overall organizational management. To manage effectively, one needs to measure. In order to measure, the system has to be in place. Our consulting service helps to build the system of organizational/impact management.
Clarify Impact: The very first steps in the organizational management involve developing a strategy or strategic plan with the defined objectives. Theory of Changefacilitation and development allows to arrive at the strategy, vision, and mission involving the whole organization. It provides an important clarity for the team and serves as a foundation in impact management. It responds to a question: “Why you do what you do?”
Social Enterprise: Organizations in all sectors, non-profit, private or government, can apply an impact management system if they are keen to manage the impact. Independent of the structure, non-profit or for-profit, there are ways to bring positive impact to the local or global communities. We consult social enterprises, which can be either a non-profit or a for-profit, and help identifying what is the most appropriate model for the best impact to achieve. A social enterprise is created with the primary goal of achieving an environmental, social and/or cultural mission. It uses earned income strategies by selling products and/or services in its operation.
Measure Impact: Building the system for impact measurement involves identifying what data needs to be collected, how often, by whom. We involve you into the consulting exercises which help developing all necessary data indicators. You prepare the data which you would rely on for decision making.
Both local and global communities adopted various systems of macro-indicators which allow comparing the data to commonly accepted indicators. Many organizations refer to Sustainable Development Goal Indicators https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/unsdg which were adopted by the countries globally to report their impact.
Connect Local & Global Inc. is a social enterprise registered as a for-profit corporation. We support social purpose via WeCan Network and contribute to the SDG 5 – Gender Equality and SDG 8 – Decent Work and Economic Growth.
Learn and Adapt: In order to learn what works well and what needs to improve you gather data, analyze it, make recommendations, and involve your organization and the stakeholders in the decision making based on evidence. This process is called Evaluation. There are various types of evaluation and the methods and tools of evaluation. This is the most comprehensive resources to become familiar with evaluation https://www.betterevaluation.org/en While we undertake mid-term, end-of-project, strategic evaluations we are the proponents of developmental evaluation. Developmental Evaluation helps community organizations increase the impact of their work by providing real-time data and feedback to adapt an intervention as it unfolds. In contrast to formative or summative evaluation, Developmental Evaluation supports the creation, development, or radical adaptation of a model in real-time.
“[Data collection] should be ongoing — it’s a value driver not a compliance requirement.” – Tom Adams (Acumen)