Measuring Impact - Nicva

38 Measuring Impact – Case-studies of impact assessment
Impact assessment involving users
6
Ruchir Shah,SCVO
This approach pilots research tools to assess the social impact of a voluntary organisation
working with Glasgow’s recent arrival community (refugees, asylum-seekers and dependants
not schooled in the British education system).The study again uses the systems approach, as
well as stakeholder participation and user involvement.The main aim is to identify those
indicators of impact that are meaningful to stakeholders and beneficiaries.
Introduction 6.1
Programs that appear from the outside to be similar in terms of clients, mission and service
delivery strategies often have very different intended outcomes. Yet many approaches to
impact demonstration advocate the use of general, off-the-shelf indicator sets. In order to
understand impact (and particularly social impact) in the voluntary and community sector, a
context-sensitive, user-driven approach is required. The aims of this study are to:
• test an approach that directly engages stakeholders and particularly service users;
• focus on the social impact of voluntary and community organisations;
• identify characteristics and indicators of impact that are meaningful for stakeholders
in an ethnic minority project.
Ethnic Minority Enterprise Council (EMEC)
Founded in 1993, EMEC aims to address the employment and business development
barriers faced by Glasgow’s ethnic minorities, which include a diverse and multi-lingual
recent arrival community. EMEC aims to help individuals gain sustainable employment.To
achieve this aim, it provides employment counselling, vocational and skills training courses,
and enterprise advice. EMEC believes that much of its value comes from its extensive referrals,
the organisation acting as the hub of a wider network of needs provision for ethnic
minorities.This includes refugees and asylum seekers, groups who rarely come into contact
with an employment enterprise centre.