On 15th March 2016, the Center for Economic Development Studies (CEDS) of the VNU University of Economics and Business (UEB) held an international workshop on "Social Impact Measurement: Global Perspectives”. This is the first time, a workshop in the field of social impact measurement has been held in Vietnam. The workshop attracted attention from international organizations such as the British Council, the Embassy Israel, researchers, organizations and social enterprises.
Addressing the opening speech at the workshop, Assoc.Prof.Dr. Nguyen Hong Son - Rector of the UEB shared the role of the UEB in supporting small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Vietnam through a No Interest Loan Program called Thriive. From 2005 to date, more than one hundred SMEs have been borrowing from the program, benefiting hundreds thousands of people. Rector of the UEB also expressed support for the collaborative research project between the Center for Development Economics Research (CEDS) and the Institute for Social Innovation and Impact (ISII) of the University of Northampton, UK, at developing social impact measurement tools, which is easy to use and suitable for social enterprises in Vietnam.
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Assoc.Prof.Dr. Nguyen Hong Son delivers opening speech at the workshop
At the beginning of the workshop, MA. Nguyen Thi Huong Huyen - Deputy Director of CEDS introduced to participants about Thriive and the demand for social impact measurement of the program. After that, the workshop focused on four talks presented by experts, giving global perspectives on the social impact measurement.
The first presentation of Dr. Richard Hazenberg – Leader of the research group on social impact of ISII, shared with participants about Social Impact Matrix (SIM), which was developed by the University of Northampton. This was assessed by the European Communities (EC) as one of the best tools in measuring social impact and has been used by many social investment funds in the United Kingdom. In addition, Dr. Hazenberg also shared their experiences, process of implementation of social impact measurement in the United Kingdom and Vietnam.
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Dr. Richard Hazenberg talks about Social Impact Matrix (SIM)
After that, the workshop heard the presentations of Prof. Yolanda Sarason from the University of Colorado - United States. The presentation focused on the characteristics of social enterprises, comparing social enterprise model in the United States and Vietnam and using value chain to analyze social impact of businesses. In particular, the analysis is illustrated with vivid case study of a particular social enterprise - Fargreen.
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Dr. Nguyen Thuy Linh from the UEB presents the interdependence between investors and social enterprises
In the next section, Prof. Benjamin Gidron from Comas School of Business Administration, Israel talked about four models of social enterprises associated with the process of social impact measurement in Israel and Dr. Nguyen Thuy Linh from the UEB presented her research on the interdependence between investors and social enterprises in the process of social impact measurement.
At the workshop, experts received many interesting questions and open sharing of participants related to the social impact of social enterprises as well as tools to measure social impact.
Here are some photos of the workshop:
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Participants listen to introduction of Thriive
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Experts discuss with participants on social impact measurement
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Participants and experts of the workshop take a photo together
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