Позитивные изменения. Том 2, №4 (2022). Positive changes. Volume 2, Issue 4 (2022)

There are four winners in the Development of Practices for Implementation of Evaluation of Social Projects category. The first award went to the Timchenko Foundation for developing a standard of evidence-based practices for evaluating social impact in childhood and for shaping approaches to assessing the effectiveness of community development.

In 2018, with the strategic participation of the Timchenko Foundation, the Standard for Evidence-Based Social Practices appeared in Russia[22]. It was developed by specialists from expert organizations, including Center for Evidence-Based Social Design of the Moscow State University of Psychology and Education, Association of Program and Policy Evaluators, Process Consulting company, Institute for the Study of Childhood, Family, and Education of the Russian Academy of Education.

10 organizations from Moscow, Penza, Cherepovets, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Ivanovo provided descriptions of their social practices (model, technology, methodology, service, etc.) in an evidence-based format and were professionally verified. The format of the practice description implies its brief content, information on the achievement of social results, the quality of the available evidence on the achievement of positive changes in the lives of the beneficiaries, the regulated nature, the validity and good elaboration of the practice concept.

The standard is now a document that is evolving both methodologically and practically. In particular, the provisions of the standard are taken into account by the relevant ministries when developing methodological recommendations for organizations in the field of childhood, and the academic community makes extensive use of the standard's developments.

Another area of the Timchenko Foundation's work is the development of approaches to evaluating the effectiveness of local community development. In 2022, the foundation launched the Solidarity Communities project competition, which aims to solve small area problems by local communities, organizations, and initiative groups[23].

Maria Morozova, General Director of the Timchenko Foundation, told the Positive Changes Journal how the foundation created, approved, and independently audited a system for monitoring and evaluating programs.

“We use the ‘theory of change,' assuming how change will occur in the short, medium and long term. As part of it, we developed our own system of indicators, which helps to see the results. Each program has a different one, but they are all governed by the same standards and principles. The monitoring and evaluation system includes all participants in the activities — the foundation, regional operators, and beneficiaries — and this helps all of us develop, make informed strategic and management decisions, and achieve significant social changes,” says Maria Morozova.

The system has a pyramid structure:

• the lower level is the direct results of the foundation's work (number of events, trained specialists, newly developed methodological materials, etc.);

• the middle is the results achieved by the supported projects (changes in the lives of the people for whom the foundation works — children saved in their families, jobs, co-financing for the development of the city, etc.);

• the third, uppermost level is the long-term social impact, the change at the societal level of the situation that underlies the program. This is usually determined through external independent research.

Another winner in this category was the Help Needed foundation for creating the Core IT service, which allows socially oriented non-profit organizations to create reports, plan goals, and measure social impact[24].

Elizaveta Yaznevich, head of research at the Nuzhna Pomosh (Help Needed) foundation, told about other projects that the foundation developed in 2022. For example, the foundation's team of experts prepared a guide on creating and evaluating impact projects for the Sistema Charitable Foundation[25].

“We studied the experience of Sistema JSFC Group companies — the experience is varied in many ways, and together we formulated the criteria for classifying a project supported by business as an impact investment. The goal of such investments is to achieve a positive, measurable social or environmental effect — simultaneously with the business result; all the expected results of the project are measurable and attainable; the effect achieved is long-term. In addition, based primarily on the literature dedicated to monitoring and evaluation of social projects, we have prescribed methodological guidelines for all stages of the impact investment project cycle. In its final form, the guide is designed for a wide target audience: from the shareholder making the decision to invest to the employee generating the project idea,” says Elizaveta Yaznevich.