For many years, the Walloon social economy has been strongly committed to developing a social impact assessment method tailored to the specificities of the enterprise in its ecosystem.
A dynamic and rigorous approach to continuous assessment, rather than a one-time evaluation.
A co-constructed approach, rather than a one-sided managerial vision. A human method combining qualitative and quantitative criteria, rather than a simple report of numerical indicators.
Through several European and regional projects, social economy organizations in Wallonia advocate for a new approach to social impact.
An innovative evaluation method
Five principles are at the heart of the VISES social impact evaluation method and make it innovative :
Taking the time to carry out a diagnosis of the social economy enterprise at the start of the evaluation
Involving a variety of stakeholders throughout the evaluation process
Allowing the combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches
Considering the importance of the effects related to social economy practices
Receiving external support from a social economy organization to carry out the evaluation
These principles make VISES a method tailored to social economy enterprises and their specificities.
A 3-stage process
The diagnostic enables the definition of social needs, aspirations, missions, means and resources, activities, stakeholders, and territory of the enterprise.
In collaboration with the coach, the enterprise selects the methodology with which it will collect the data.
Once the data has been analyzed, the results of the evaluation are valued and turned into something tangible.
Wallonia's social impact projects
“Valorizing the Social Impact of Social Entrepreneurship” is an INTERREG project (2016-2019) bringing together 21 partners from the Wallonia, Flanders and Northern France. The project aims to highlight how social economy enterprises contribute to the dynamism of territories and the well-being of their inhabitants.
This project has enabled the co-construction of a three-stage social impact evaluation method. Enterprises are supported in their evaluation process by an external coach, trained in social impact evaluation according to the VISES approach and part of the social economy ecosystem.
“Let’s Develop and Evaluate Our Social Impact » is a research-action project (2020-2022) which continues the research-action process around social impact evaluation initiated in VISES. This project aims to animate a community of evaluation coaches, train new ones, support social impact assessment through research and promote the support framework developed in VISES.
In parallel with the DENIS project, 42 Walloon social economy enterprises received a grant (2020-2022) that enabled them to be supported in conducting their social impact evaluation by one of the coaching organizations trained in the VISES method.
“Capitalizing and valorizing social impact assessments” is a research-action project (2023) that builds on the continuity of the VISES and DENIS projects. ValorisES has three objectives. The first objective is to identify the results, whether transversal or not, that social economy enterprises benefiting from social impact evaluation grants wish to highlight. The second objective is to evaluate the effects of the social impact assessment on these enterprises. The third objective is to enable enterprises to adopt a reflective and through their social impact evaluation journey.
A project to capitalize on the results of social impact grants
The transversal results of ValorisES can be divided into two categories: on one hand, the effects of the social economy enterprise on its stakeholders, and on the other hand, the effects generated by certain principles and practices of social economy. Here are a few figures that emerged from the research. To find out more, we invite you to explore the results sheet.
Partners who contributed to the work on social impact within the social economy network
