BIRDS round table at the National Impact Assessment Meetings

To kick off the day, and to mark the tenth anniversary of Social Value France, we were delighted to welcome Jo Fackler from Social Value International (of which the French network is a member) to give an international perspective on social and environmental impact assessment.

A transnational comparison of impact assessment 

A European round table was organised as part of the BIRDS (Boosting Initiatives & Resources to Develop Social Innovation) project, in which Avise participates as the national centre of expertise on social innovation (CNCIS) in France for Europe.

Avise's Spanish, Swedish and Portuguese partners presented an initial mapping of impact assessment in their countries, thus sketching out an initial transnational overview of impact assessment practices.

Historically rooted in philanthropy, impact evaluation gained momentum in the 1990s alongside the rise of New Public Management, the growing emphasis on evidence-based policymaking, and the influence of European and international frameworks such as the CSRD, the SFDR and the Sustainable Development Goals. Over time, the practice has become increasingly institutionalised, driven by civil society organisations, social enterprises and, more recently, impact investors. 

Across the four countries, no single evaluation method prevails: approaches are often combined and adapted to available resources, with a strong reliance on logical models such as theories of change, questionnaires and interviews, favouring a realistic and explanatory perspective. Due to time and funding constraints, most evaluations are conducted ex post and focus primarily on individual projects, while the need for meso- and macro-level analyses to better capture systemic change was widely acknowledged. Access to expertise remains concentrated in major urban areas, and although counterfactual or monetisation-based approaches are perceived as robust, they remain largely out of reach for many social innovators. 

Dedicated funding for impact evaluation is scarce, with most assessments indirectly financed through public project budgets, and the cost of external evaluations representing a major barrier, particularly for smaller organisations. 

Looking ahead, participants identified shared priorities across countries, including strengthening cross-stakeholder cooperation, developing dedicated funding mechanisms, and better integrating evaluation findings into public policies.

Four round tables were also organised, in line with the theme of the day: How are impact assessment practices evolving in a difficult context?

• Artificial intelligence: what opportunities are there for impact assessment in a context of limited resources?
• Collective impact, tools and sectoral benchmarks: testimonials from the winners of Avise's ESF+ calls for projects.
• Comparisons between monetisation methods, SROI and avoided costs: possibilities and limitations.
• Co-constructing socio-environmental indicators: for an assessment that supports a just transition.