Measurement of Social Impact Generated through Clean Cooking Solutions

Allie GlinskiGender and Development Specialist

International Center for Research on Women

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Process for Defining, Measuring and Reporting on Social Impact

• Objectives:– Gain consensus on the key and realistically measurable components and

pathways through which the clean cooking sector creates social impact– Create a collection of standardized indicators & measurement

methodologies– Create a centralized data capture, management, and analysis system

• Why?– To allow partners to track and analyze progress– To aggregate the social impact of the clean cooking sector at a global

level • How?

– Map and define relevant social impacts– Select key domains of social impact for measurement– Draft indicators– Select/create measurement methodologies – Develop a data capture and management system– Pilot M&E system– Modify and adjust– Roll out

ICRW Phase 1

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Key findings from initial mapping & literature review

• The Alliance has a specific interest in understanding and focusing on women’s empowerment and livelihood creation, as both are core areas of the mission. Women’s empowerment in particular has been loosely used in the sector and there is a need to clarify which social impacts actually lead to empowerment.

• Women’s empowerment —defined as the combination of increased access to resources and improved agency—will likely be enhanced for women who are engaged in the clean cooking value chain

• When women are empowered through the clean cooking value chain, it can have a multiplier effect on adoption and use of clean cooking solutions

• There are robust livelihood measurements in other sectors that can be applied and adapted for the cooking sector.

• It is well established that one of the biggest impacts that adoption and use of clean cooking solutions has on women is through time saved– However, the nuances of time shifts need to be considered in varying contexts– What exactly women do with this new free time is not well understood– It may be enough to know that women have more time—what results from the activities

they choose to do with that time, is a bit removed from the actual adoption and use of the clean cooking solution

• Less time spent collecting firewood means decreased vulnerability to safety risks and decreased drudgery

• Previously established measurement frameworks exist that we can build off of: Progress out of Poverty (PPI), W+ Standard, IRIS, Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture (WEAI), Environment and Gender Index (EGI), Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) indicators, Gold Standard, Gender GEDI Index

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Social Impact M&E Needed at Three Levels 1) Social impact conceptual framework for the sector overall – telling a global story • What information do we want from all partners to demonstrate the

sector has a social impact? • Suggestions include economic status of household/poverty

reduction, time savings, livelihoods created. • Potentially utilize Progress out of Poverty Index for poverty

measurements.  2) Social impact M&E indicators, methodologies, and tools to measure and track a limited number of social impact areas at the enterprise/project level.

• Set of indicators & methodologies • Guidance for implementation • Results reporting and certification

 3) Strategy for M&E deep dive impact evaluations in certain areas. • Areas where specific impact evaluations are needed to fill data gaps

and get a more robust picture. For example, the Alliance research studies looking at impact of adoption on households in areas of empowerment, time savings, education, decision-making, etc.

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Social Impact Conceptual Framework: How involvement in the clean cooking supply chain translates to improvements in women’s social and economic empowerment

EmploymentWomen investors

Women in production of clean fuels and/or stoves

Women in distribution of clean fuels and/or stoves

Business & social networks

Technical & business skills

Income

Knowledge of environmental/ health benefits

Expanded access to capital/credit Women as borrowers

(supply-side)

Agency

Voice/ participation

Status

Adoption of clean

cooking solutions

Women in after-sales service of clean stoves

Decision-making & control over assets/ resources

Involvement of Women

Women in selection & design of clean cooking products

Components of Empowerment

Outcomes of Empowerment

Women SME owners & executives

Multiplier Effect

Financing options targeted to women as consumers

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DRAFTSocial Impact Conceptual Framework: How adoption and use of clean cooking solutions translates into improvements in households’ well-being & livelihoods

Adoption and use of

clean cooking

solutionsIncreased time spent on

leisure activities

Time spent cooking

Increased time spent on income- generating activities

Increased time spent on education/ training

(adult/children)

Shifts in Household Finances

Enhanced social and economic

well-being

Health benefits

Time spent collecting fuel

Money spent on fuel

Money earned using clean cookstove/fuel

Secondary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Ultimate Outcomes

Reduced drudgery (time & heaviness of load)

Enhanced safety/protection (reduced exposure to potential injury, GBV)

Increased financial security/income

Length/frequency of fuel collecting trips

Increased time spent on informal, non-income generating activities

Health benefits (reduced smoke exposure,

lower rates of accidents/burns)

Shifts in Time Use

Shifts in Workload

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Key Domains of Social Impact & Key Stakeholders

Key Domains

• Livelihoods• Time• Household economics• Well-being/quality of

life• Safety/protection• Drudgery

Key Stakeholders

• Investors• Advocates• Gender Experts• Enterprises/

Implementers

• Others? (i.e. donors)

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Key Domains of Impact: Livelihoods

Key components

Key stakeholders

Investors AdvocatesGender Experts

Enterprises/

Implementers

Jobs created X X X X

Income earned        

Quality of job        

Part-time/full-time X   X   Employee vs. entrepreneur   X     Management level X   X   Stability of income         Area within the value chain     X X

Sustainability of job        

Geographic location of job       X

Control over resources/assets earned

       

Acquisition of skills        

Technical skills         Empowerment/leadership skills

  X X  

Access to networks        

Women-owned businesses     X  

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Key Domains of Impact: Time

Key components

Key stakeholders

Investors AdvocatesGender Experts

Enterprises/ Implementer

s

Time spent on fuel collection X X X

Time spent on cooking X X

Full picture of time use

Fuel processing X X Fire management X X  Cleaning pots/kitchen X X How saved time is used

  Leisure X Informal sector activities (e.g. childcare)

X

Productive activities X

Education   X     

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Key Domains of Impact: Household Economics

Key components

Key stakeholders

Investors AdvocatesGender Experts

Enterprises/ Implemente

rs

Money spent on fuel X X X

Income earned from cooking sector job

X

Income earned from time saved from use of clean cooking solution

How saved money is being spent

How earned money is being spent

Access to credit X X

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Key Domains of Impact: Well-being/Quality of Life

Key components

Key stakeholders

Investors AdvocatesGender Experts

Enterprises/ Implementer

s

Sense of well-being

Perception of well-being X X X Perception of benefits from clean cooking solution

X

Perception of safety & risk X XStatus in family, community X

Knowledge/ awareness of health and environmental benefits of clean cooking solutions

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Key Domains of Impact: Safety/Protection

Key components

Key stakeholders

Investors AdvocatesGender Experts

Enterprises/ Implementer

s

Number of fuel collection trips X

Time spend collecting fuel

Physical injuries (e.g. splinters, animal attack, spinal injury)

X X

 Safety of employees in work environment X

Perception of safety & risk X X

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Key Domains of Impact: Drudgery

Key components

Key stakeholders

Investors AdvocatesGender Experts

Enterprises/ Implementer

s

Distance traveled X

Heaviness of fuel load X

Labor intensive activities (scrubbing pots, processing fuel)

All stakeholder groups agreed there is a need to continue to build the evidence that proves the theory of change for social impact.

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Current State of Field of Social Impact Measurement

1. Time use• Fuel collection time savings (self-reported, time use

activity journals)- distance matters, not just quantity• Cooking time- CCTs- but not time changes in fuel

processing/fire management/stove maintenance/cleaning2. Socioeconomic• Jobs created (sometimes sex disaggregated) • Income (employee salary data v. national

averages/minimums)• Microenterprises created• Fuel cost savings (KPTs + national fuel cost surveys;

qualitative before/after surveys)3. Well-being/quality of life• Reduced drudgery (self-reported weight and distance fuel

burdens carried)• Other perceived benefits (qualitative survey feedback)

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Key Questions

• How nuanced of an understanding/measurement of time use is necessary to feel that we are accurately, yet feasibly tracking impacts on time use?

• Do we need to understand what women do with their saved time?

• Should decreases in injuries encountered during fuel collection be captured under “social impact” or “health impacts”

• Who will actually be motivated to collect or pay for collection of this data?

• How will we validate the data? • How deep within their value chain will we expect enterprises to

collect data? • What are the main components of a “quality” livelihood that we

will want to measure? • What are some of the key gaps in the theory of change of how

clean cooking solutions generate social impact? – How could these be filled in with specific research studies?– Who would fund such studies?

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Collaboration with ISO Working Group

• Alliance process provides content to feed into ISO Working Group

• ISO Working Group validates Alliance process and provides input along the way

• ISO process helps identify international experts with a wide variety of expertise to engage in the process; Experts have their government’s support to engage in the process

• ISO Working Group allows for alignment of social impact M&E guidance with global standards process