Impact measurement and management (IMM) is a complex and nuanced process, especially when trying to build a platform that is flexible and nimble enough to account for all the different types of social impact that needs to be tracked as well as all the different purposes that impact data is used to improve the ecosystem. In Hong Kong, with a population density of 6300 people per square kilometer, the diversity and complexity of social needs is even more so demanding, along with the means to measure.
Our recent pioneering work with Hong Kong’s leading impact intermediaries through IDCC’s Impact Capacity Building (ICB) program to identify and address many of the complexities in HK’s IMM ecology has become a crucial starting point to build such a civic data infrastructure. Previously, we gave an overview of IDCC’s ICB program which comprises 14 modules that helps these intermediaries define their impact mandates manifest in terms of digital integration/transformation and data flow for both daily operations and long-term strategy.
From our previous post which gave an overview of the entire syllabus of the ICB program, we will now guide you through the very first session where we try to bring everyone on the same page by defining our scope of work and letting us all know what it means (and takes) to be in this program.
Introduction to Impact Capacity Building (ICB)
In this very first session of meeting our IDCC members again after our initial engagement earlier in the year of 2020 which introduces the grand scheme of the 5-year IDCC platform initiative and all the marvelous wonders and potential of next-generation technology we will develop and deploy over that time such as blockchain and cloud computation, we take this opportunity to set the goals and intentions of the ICB program straight. We do so first and foremost to temper the expectations of a science fiction future convenience at the touch of a button, to how automation can start helping today, and incrementally building towards more and more automations as we continually develop the platform over time. Once again, we tell the story of IDCC’s first initiative — ICB — but this time we focus on presenting the three pillars of work that the program will deliver:
- Capacity Building the Ecosystem — Workshops with intermediaries on how to create capacity building tools and systems designed to serve the entire social impact sector for effectively measuring and managing impact
- Co-Creation of IMM Solutions — working together to build workflow automations using the IDCC digital platform powered by ixo
- Impact Data Economy — to lay the ideological and infrastructural foundations for the establishment and collective governance of a thriving data-sharing ecosystem and social impact economy for Hong Kong
From the start we want everyone to understand our ambitions with how ICB will become the kernel that seeds Hong Kong’s IMM ecosystem. So we tell them upfront what values ICB is designed to deliver versus some fairly common misconceptions and desires for what ICB’s promise of technology enhancement is not and also help them to look forward to what they will gain from the ICB program by the end of the program. By having our members understand what they have signed up for, we set them up for success in this arduous process of digital transformation:
Point #1: ICB is a process of making IDCC what Hong Kong needs
We emphasize that what we offer through the ICB program is neither a seamless service nor that the technology we have developed thus far — the IDCC platform — is a final product just yet. Instead, we walk intermediary teams through an agile development approach to develop Impact Measurement and Management (IMM) solutions mitigated through technology that will evolve and improve over time as members begin to use the system and create new use case scenarios for IDCC to solve. Through a series of design thinking workshops, we work with our intermediaries to gather requirements, input, and feedback that will allow us to help them create solutions that are part software-minded and part process-driven. As such, their digital transformation journey is a collaborative process and where the final platform will be a product of all IDCC consortium members’ collective intelligence.
Point #2: At this early stage of IDCC’s development, ICB focuses on engaging with intermediaries
This is a strategy to more efficiently kickstart Hong Kong’s digital IMM ecosystem, where each intermediary manages between 50–200 Social Purpose Organizations (SPOs) and can thereby integrate IDCC into each of their respective SPO ecosystems and so forth, instead of starting directly with SPOs. As intermediaries integrate IMM across their portfolios and individual projects, they will be taking decentralized and distributed leadership in the formation of Hong Kong’s IMM practices with IDCC technology at its core. ICB is starting this process by engaging 10 high-profile impact intermediaries:
BEHub of The Society of Rehabilitation and Crime Prevention, Hong Kong
General Chamber of Social Enterprise (GCSE)
Gravity Capital Partners Ltd.
Social Enterprise Business Centre of Hong Kong Council of Social Service (HKCSS SEBC)
Social Enterprise Startup Scheme, CUHK
The Chinese University of Hong Kong Alumni Charity Foundation (ACF)
The Chinese University of Hong Kong Office of Research and Knowledge Transfer Services (ORKTS)
The University of Hong Kong Center for Civil Society and Governance (HKU CCSG)
Through these intermediaries, we will potentially reach 400+ SPOs that can impact tens of thousands of beneficiaries, all of whom can eventually be onboarded into the system. This will exponentially increase the impact of IMM data for the entire ecosystem and quality of services to beneficiaries while protecting data privacy and digital rights of everyone. Down the road, IDCC will also support intermediaries to rollout their ICB integrated IMM training with their SPOs and also data-literacy capacity building strategies for their beneficiaries.
By emphasizing the two points above, along this ICB journey our IDCC members will be more aware and ready to take on the roles not only as participants, but also as contributors to the workshop content development, co-creators of the developing technology, and leaders to transfer knowledge to their subsidiary programs and other stakeholders in the ecosystem. With more fluency in digital IMM, SPO’s will be more ready to receive all kinds of funding, grants, impact investment, and market channels, whereas their shepherding intermediaries will become more qualified to prepare their SPOs to receive such rewarding attention.
Of course, as our IDCC members are walking through the ICB journey, we (the ICB task force) will be their facilitator and supporter to empower them both during and outside of workshops. To sum it all up, it is through this partnership that we are together developing a new civic and innovative technology for Hong Kong, which will unlock its potential to create positive social impact through collective intelligence and action to build a better Hong Kong for and by its people.
