Biniyog Briddhi Conducts Its Second Impact Measurement & Management (IMM) Booster Workshop with Four Ecosystem Builders

Group photo with the four ecosystem builders and LightCastle team

In continuation of the initial Impact Measurement & Management (IMM) Booster Workshop held in January, the Biniyog Briddhi (B-Briddhi) program facilitated a second session as part of its ongoing commitment to nurturing the impact ecosystem in Bangladesh. The workshop was conducted with four ecosystem builders on November 7, 2023. 

The core focus of the workshop was to 

• Distinguishing Between ESG and Impact: Comprehensive exploration of the distinctions between Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) factors and impact considerations.
• Refreshment of IMM Knowledge and Skills: Brush up on Impact Measurement and Management, specifically addressing aspects like impact modelling, crafting impact statements, and formulating customer promise sheets.
• Opportunity for Skill Acquisition: Leveraging Melanie Siow, Technical Assistance Portfolio Manager at Roots of Impactelanie’s IMM expertise, the workshop aimed to equip colleagues, especially those lacking prior Train-the-Trainer (TTT) or Voucher Scheme (VS) experiences, with new skill sets directly from the IMM mentor.

The workshop was attended by four ecosystem participants: Bangladesh Angels Network, BetterStories Limited, Turtle Venture, and Truvalu. enterprises. 

Structured across three sessions, participants were introduced to fundamental concepts, encompassing the Background and Context of ESG and Impact Investing, as well as the intricacies of Impact Models, Impact Statements, and Customer Promise Sheets

Participants were also assigned an interactive group activity wherein they first developed their impact model, and then crafted their impact statement for a given problem and finally, built their customer promise sheet. After identifying the necessary data, participants connected the dots and incorporated the most essential indicators into their Theory of Change.

The key takeaways from the session have been summarized below:

1. Background and Context of ESG and Impact Investing: The SDG Financing Gap is USD 2.5 trillion annually, to address the funding shortfall for achieving the SDGs the private sector needs to be involved especially in addressing underserved areas.
2. Differentiating ESG vs Impact Approaches: ESG and impact investing can be categorized based on their methodological intensity in managing non-financial factors. The categorization is as follows:

• Less operationally intense (in managing non-financial factors): ESG
  • Manage Supplier Risks: It aims to minimize risks associated with both the internal operations of the asset and its supply chain.
  • Manage Internal Risks: It aims to minimize negative effects by ensuring daily operations meet or exceed the requirements of an established ESG methodology.
  • Manage Harmful Exposure: It aims to maintain a below-average exposure to undesirable characteristics compared to a benchmark.
• More operationally intense (in managing non-financial factors): Impact 
  • Explain Causal Logic: It aims to create not just the quantity of outputs, but the proportion of which are impactful (e.g. underserved areas, degree of transformation, vulnerable groups, etc).
  • Assess Targeted Effects: It aims to achieve a specific goal at the level of a community or a particular environmental location via a project, specifically highlighting how they perceive the value of outputs (products or services) at the outcome level
  • Assess All Effects: It aims to achieve a specific goal at the level of a community or a particular environmental location via a project but also understand a complete holistic relationship in order to correctly identify Total Net impact.

Organizations who follow a methodology with lower intensity are not necessarily doing a bad thing or less good than those who follow a more intensive strategy. This is because different methodologies are appropriate for different mandates and contextual focus. Because of differences in mandates and context, actors can be expected to prioritize different goals, permit different degrees of flexibility around the goals for any individual asset and use different levels of data. 

3. The Lean Data Approach to Theory of Change: The Lean Data Approach emphasizes the importance of avoiding large data sets and minimizing monitoring burdens while framing the problem and describing the impact creation process. This is achieved through the use of specific ‘lean’ tools such as impact model framework (with references to the widely adopted Impact Management Project) and customer promise sheet.

To conclude the workshop, truths and misconceptions about ESG and Impact Investing were discussed, emphasizing that no single approach is inherently better or more ethical. The resolution of confusion is suggested through categorization based on methodological intensity. The relevance of the Theory of Change and IMM in Impact Investing, as seen in the B-Briddhi program, is highlighted.

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Biniyog Briddhi (“B-Briddhi”) is a multi-year programme that runs since 2020 and is dedicated to supporting a thriving ecosystem where impact enterprises of Bangladesh can grow and scale their impact. Set up as a public-private development partnership (PPDP) between the Embassy of Switzerland in Bangladesh, Roots of Impact, and LightCastle Partners, B-Briddhi strives to improve the financial, social and environmental performance of impact enterprises by helping them to master investment readiness and impact management and get ready to access innovative finance to scale.  

Melanie Siow, Technical Assistance Portfolio Manager at Roots of Impact, is the driving force behind the capacity building pillar and she is responsible for the management of all technical assistance programs and activities under the Social Finance Academy – the impact intelligence and educational arm of Roots of Impact.

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