Measuring impact Q&A: 'It was critical for us to obtain buy-in from our staff'

As part of BIMS, BCtA provided training to Mahindra’s staff on social impact measurement and data collection, which involved group discussions. Photograph: Business Call to Action

Tomohiro Nagasaki, Business Call to Action Impact Team Lead

Following the Business Call to Action’s first webinar, two participants share the challenges of collecting impact data and why it has been worth the effort

In February, the Business Call to Action (BCtA) hosted its first webinar with BCtA member Mahindra Rural Housing Finance and technology solutions provider, Arthify to discuss initial lessons learned from BCtA’s initiative on measuring and understanding the social impact of inclusive businesses. Through the BCtA Impact Measurement Service (BIMS), BCtA has been working with inclusive business members such as Mahindra to measure social impact and operational performance using mobile-enabled surveys.

Mohit Chandla from Mahindra and Mitesh Thakkar from Arthify shared insights from their engagement with the BCtA through BIMS. Conversations focused on challenges and solutions for conducting impact measurement, and the use of social impact data for inclusive business.

Q: Why did Mahindra decide to measure impact? What were some of the challenges faced in collecting impact data?

Chandla: Our company has a clear social objective: to serve people in rural parts of India who have limited access to financial services. Therefore, our management team was keen to understand our social impact, which will help us shape our strategies going forward.

One difficulty we faced was the very short window our loan collection officers had to meet with customers in their homes. Most of our customers are farmers so they leave their homes early in the morning to work in their fields and return late at night. Typically, our officers meet with customers in the field, but for BIMS data collection, we had to visit them at home so that they would have more time to respond to our questions. For this, we had to develop a new plan for customer visits.

We also had to train our team to conduct surveys using Android phones. It was critical for us to obtain buy-in from our staff to make sure that they would cooperate. We made sure that our communications to the team were clear so that everyone understood the importance of collecting accurate data from our customers.

How is Mahindra going to use the data? How is impact measurement going to be useful for your business?

Chandla: We have now completed initial data collection in the state of Maharashtra, where we obtained data from about 800 customers. These customers were separated into several categories, depending on the number of years they have been receiving our housing loans. From this data, we are now seeing that customers in each of these categories have different priorities. Based on these new insights, we’re now developing products that cater to their different needs. We’re also going to improve our marketing and communications strategies by making sure that our customers understand the benefits of improved housing.

How does BIMS measure improvements in living standards?

Thakkar: “Living standards” are contextual, and in the case of BIMS, depend on a company’s business. For inclusive businesses, defining and measuring living standards has to be connected to the business’s core activities. In the case of Mahindra, which provides housing loans for low-income people in rural India, one measure of living standards we tried to quantify was a change in access to water and sanitation. So we asked questions to Mahindra’s customers such as “What is the source of the drinking water in your household?” and “What kinds of toilet facilities do you have at home?” These questions were posed to new customers as well as those who had taken housing loans more than a year ago. This allowed Mahindra to have a baseline for comparing changes over time.

Do you use a gender lens while assessing impact?

Thakkar: Yes, we try to. With each participating company, we discuss the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the onset of the project. As part of this discussion, management and staff are asked whether their business has any impact on SDG5: gender equality. Even if they don’t identify SDG5 as a priority, if gender is found to be relevant to some aspect of the business, gender-related questions are added to their surveys. For example, Mahindra does not identify SDG5 as a priority goal; however, it does have women co-signatories to its loans. For this reason, we included questions regarding women’s ownership of land and property assets.

Does BIMS use measurement tools or frameworks developed by others in the impact-measurement field?

Thakkar: We do look at indicators and measurement frameworks that are available; we are not seeking to reinvent the wheel. However, because every company has unique needs for impact measurement and operates in a different market environment, we carefully assess whether we can draw on these existing tools or whether we need to take a more customized approach. So far, we have drawn on tools including IRIS and the Progress out of Poverty Index when applicable. Using these tools also helps us to align our efforts with others in the field and contribute to the broader evidence base on the social impact of inclusive business.

How can companies measure and report their contributions against the SDGs? Does the United Nations have a guideline for this?

BCtA: Many efforts are underway to ensure a consistent approach to measuring progress against the SDGs, which were adopted during the UN Sustainable Development Summit in September 2015. The UN Statistical Commission just published the SDG Indicator Framework to guide the harmonisation of each country’s data-collection efforts. For assessing the private sector’s specific contributions, there are new tools including the SDG Compass, which companies can use to measure their impact and align their corporate strategies with the SDGs. With the range of tools and approaches businesses can use for social impact assessment, efforts are needed to streamline the ways we define and measure companies’ social impact.

Content on this page is provided by Business Call to Action, and originally appeared on the The Guardian Business and the Sustainable Development Goals Hub