利用資訊通訊技術與主觀幸福指標評估臺灣非政府組織與非營利組織的表現與影響 - 政大學術集成

‧ 國. 立政治大. 學 ‧. N a. t io na l Chengch i U. ni ve. rs i t. y. International Master’s Program in International Studies. National Chengchi University. 國立政治大學國際研究英語碩士學位學程. “Assessing NGO´s/NPO´s Performance and. Impacts Applying Information and Communication. Technologies and Subjective Well-Being Indicators in. Taiwan.”. 利用資訊通訊技術與主觀幸福指標評估臺灣非政府組織與非營利組織的表. 現與影響. Jose Heliodoro Zamora Valladares. Advisor: Pai-Po Lee. June 2018. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.014.2018.A06. ‧ 國. 立政治大. 學 ‧. N a. t io na l Chengch i U. ni ve. rs i t. y. i. Acknowledgments. I would like to give special thanks to the Taiwan International Cooperation and. Development Fund for having me as a scholarship recipient and allowing me to fulfill my. master’s studies in beautiful Taiwan. To the patience and dedication of professors Dr. Lee Pai. Po, Dr. David Lorenzo, and Dr. Shi Zheng Ping that formed my committee and gave invaluable. input and guidance. Thanks to them I had the best comprehension of different points of view. and even clarified my own, for this, I am very grateful. Also, to the administrative staff of the. program, especially the program manager Chafie Chi-Hui Wei who surpassing expectations. made the experience as smooth and fulfilling as possible for all of us in the program. . Thanks to Maria Gabriela Alfaro, for being such unconditional support and a great boost. in this great adventure. I cannot forget the support and drive from my family. To which I. dedicate this achievement and hope to accomplish their expectations. . . DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.014.2018.A06. ‧ 國. 立政治大. 學 ‧. N a. t io na l Chengch i U. ni ve. rs i t. y. ii. Abstract. Many nonprofit organizations work in tight relationships with their beneficiaries, but. regardless of the closeness, they cannot wholly comprehend the full impacts of their actions,. projects, and programs. The objectives of this thesis is to utilize the Information and. Communication Technologies, such as social media or forum interaction is possible to acquire. information from the subjective well-being of the local or final stakeholders that can be vital. for the decision-making process of the organizations. Traditional indicators used in. combination with the subjective perception of the directly affected population, adequately. gathered, can increase the institutional perspective of their field of work. Having a better. perspective consequently enhances the decision-making process and ultimately providing a. cost-effective tool to assess organizational performance and impact. Taking subjective well-. being and the rise of the use of Information and Communication Technologies in an attempt to. establish a possible method take the best of the available opportunities. This thesis incorporates. the results of questionnaires answered by nonprofit organizations representatives in Taiwan to. evaluate the point of view and willingness to incorporate process like the discussed in their. activities. The results of the analysis suggest that organizations acknowledge the importance. and the necessity, but do not have such a process implemented as an institutional tool. . Keywords: Assessment, Information and Communication Technologies, NGO/NPO,. Social Impact Assessment, Subjective well-being. 多數非營利組織與其受益人有著緊密的連結，然而，不論他們之間的關係有多. 緊密，受益人仍難以全然瞭解非營利組織的行動與計畫所帶來的影響。本研究論文之. 目的在透過利用資通訊科技，例如社交媒體或論壇互動，從當地或最終的利害關係人. 的主觀福祉之中，獲取對於組織的執行面至關重要的資訊。傳統的指標以及直接受影. 響的大眾之主觀見解，可增進機構對於工作領域的觀點，而擁有良好的觀點可提升決. 策過程，並提供一個有效率的工具以評估機構的表現與影響。選擇主觀福祉以及資通. 訊科技使用為研究主題，對於試圖建立一個可行的方法有所助益。本文將臺灣的非營. 利組織代表所做的問卷，作為評估其觀點與意願的依據，結果顯示機構認可其重要性. 與必須性，但是這樣的過程並不能成為機構執行之工具。. 關鍵字：評估、資通訊科技、非政府組織/非營利組織、社會影響力評估、主觀. 福祉. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.014.2018.A06. ‧ 國. 立政治大. 學 ‧. N a. t io na l Chengch i U. ni ve. rs i t. y. iii. Table of Contents. Acknowledgments i. Abstract ii. Table of Contents iii. List of Tables v. List of Figure vi. CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION - 1 -. 1.1 Research Backgrounds - 1 -. 1.2 Purpose of Research - 2 -. 1.3 Research Questions - 2 -. 1.4 Delimitation of the Research - 3 -. CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW - 4 -. 2.1 Information and Communication Technologies as a Tool - 4 -. 2.2 Social Media - 8 -. 2.3 Subjective Well-Being Indicators - 11 -. 2.4 NGO´s/NPO´s Performance - 16 -. CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY - 42 -. 3.1 Research Framework - 42 -. 3.2 Research Procedure - 42 -. 3.3 Instrument and Data Analysis - 43 -. Instrument - 43 -. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.014.2018.A06. ‧ 國. 立政治大. 學 ‧. N a. t io na l Chengch i U. ni ve. rs i t. y. iv. CHAPTER 4 Findings and Discussion - 46 -. 4.1 Findings - 46 -. 4.2 Discussion - 57 -. CHAPTER 5 Conclusions and Recommendations - 59 -. 5.1 Conclusions - 59 -. 5.2 Recommendations - 63 -. References - 65 -. Annex I - 78 -. Annex II - 78 -. . DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.014.2018.A06. ‧ 國. 立政治大. 學 ‧. N a. t io na l Chengch i U. ni ve. rs i t. y. v. List of Tables. TABLE 2-1 CONVERSION FACTORS, CAPABILITIES, AND FUNCTIONING’S PER GROUP - 8 -. TABLE 2-2 FUNCTIONAL AND STRATEGIC ACCOUNTABILITY - 18 -. TABLE 2-3 IMPACT LEVEL VALORIZATION MATRIX - 32 -. TABLE 4-1 QUESTION #1 - 46 -. TABLE 4-2 QUESTION #2 - 47 -. TABLE 4-3 QUESTION #3 - 48 -. TABLE 4-4 QUESTION #4 - 49 -. TABLE 4-5 QUESTION #5 - 50 -. TABLE 4-6 QUESTION #6 - 51 -. TABLE 4-7QUESTION #7 - 51 -. TABLE 4-8 QUESTION #8 - 52 -. TABLE 4-9 QUESTION #9 - 53 -. TABLE 4-10 QUESTION #10 - 54 -. TABLE 4-11 QUESTION #11 - 55 -. TABLE 4-12 QUESTION #12 - 55 -. TABLE 4-13 QUESTION #13 - 56 -. . DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.014.2018.A06. ‧ 國. 立政治大. 學 ‧. N a. t io na l Chengch i U. ni ve. rs i t. y. vi. List of Figure. FIGURE 2-1ILLUSTRATION CAPABILITY APPROACH - 7 -. FIGURE 2-2 INTERNATIONAL LINEAR NPO ORGANIZATION - 19 -. FIGURE 2-3 CROWDFUNDING NPO - 20 -. FIGURE 2-4 INTERACTIVE COMMUNITY FORUM PROCESS - 35 -. FIGURE 2-5 PROJECT OR PROGRAM LIFE CYCLE - 38 -. FIGURE 2-6 NEED ANALYSIS - 38 -. FIGURE 3-1 RESEARCH FRAMEWORK - 42 -. FIGURE 3-2 RESEARCH PROCEDURE 3.4 RESEARCH METHOD - 43 -. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.014.2018.A06. file:///C:/Users/oxyki/OneDrive/Impis/Thesis/Versiones/Final%20draft%2030%207%20334pm.docx%23_Toc520728632 file:///C:/Users/oxyki/OneDrive/Impis/Thesis/Versiones/Final%20draft%2030%207%20334pm.docx%23_Toc520728635 file:///C:/Users/oxyki/OneDrive/Impis/Thesis/Versiones/Final%20draft%2030%207%20334pm.docx%23_Toc520728636 file:///C:/Users/oxyki/OneDrive/Impis/Thesis/Versiones/Final%20draft%2030%207%20334pm.docx%23_Toc520728637 file:///C:/Users/oxyki/OneDrive/Impis/Thesis/Versiones/Final%20draft%2030%207%20334pm.docx%23_Toc520728638. ‧ 國. 立政治大. 學 ‧. N a. t io na l Chengch i U. ni ve. rs i t. y. - 1 -. CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION. This chapter furnishes reasons for engaging in this research. More specifically, the. following areas will be discussed: research background, research objective, research questions,. and the delimitation of the research to be used in the study. . 1.1 Research Backgrounds. Since the early eighties and nineties, the number of NGOs/NPOs have grown. exponentially. Working toward achieving a variety of goals organizations like NGOs/NPOs,. have spent millions of dollars and valuable resources. After the activities, projects or programs. not all organizations have achieved sustainable results or as permanent as desired by the. organizations, their sponsors or their beneficiaries. Organizations come across multiple. obstacles while assessing and evaluating the results of their actions, mainly because of the. diversity of objectives, activities, approaches, methods or motivation. . For organizations to improve, they must use the best and most modern methods to assess. and evaluate the impact of their projects, programs, and actions. These methods should be done. by placing the human being, the individual, and communities, in focus during the decision-. making process of this organizations. To accomplish this, the input of information from the. individuals and communities directly affected by the projects, programs or actions should be. considered. Processes and mechanism to gather the information from the most vulnerable. stakeholders and take it to the decision-making table from before and after the actions can. prove useful for present and future projects or programs. . All activities done by these organizations require resources and budget constraints. should always be considered. This paper proposes the use of Information and Communication. Technologies in the assessment and evaluation processes, addressing this delicate topic while. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.014.2018.A06. ‧ 國. 立政治大. 學 ‧. N a. t io na l Chengch i U. ni ve. rs i t. y. - 2 -. trying to achieve the goal of giving a human perspective to the data for organizations to use the. internet as a tool communicate and create a low-cost interaction with local stakeholders.. 1.2 Purpose of Research. The purpose of the research is to identify a better way to assess and evaluate the impact. of projects, programs, and activities implemented by assistance NGO´s/NPO´s which are. dedicated to improving the living conditions of communities. Under the conviction that. sometimes effective assistance does not entail a considerable investment of resources, but the. right investment. Support received when recipients might think there is no way to do better can. be a game changer. The effectiveness of such support might better be measured by moving. away from macroeconomic indicators that focus on a country-wide economy to indicators that. directly measure the effects of aid on human beings. A balance between technical data and. subjective input could help both beneficiaries and aid organizations. . 1.3 Research Questions. The research will focus to answer the following questions:. 1. Is it possible to establish the importance of the use of Information and. Communication Technologies, Subjective Wellbeing indicators and impact. perception as a tool for NGO´s/NPO´s?. 2. How reliable is the use of Information and Communication Technologies to do. assessment, surveys, and collect data on indicators and impact perception from. the beneficiaries?. 3. Which are the adequate indicators and values of impact perception to gather. from the beneficiaries and their usefulness to accurately assess the impact of the. projects executed by the NGO´s/NPO´s?. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.014.2018.A06. ‧ 國. 立政治大. 學 ‧. N a. t io na l Chengch i U. ni ve. rs i t. y. - 3 -. 4. Are NGO´s/NPO´s gathering data through Information and Communication. Technologies to assess their organization, programs, and projects? . 1.4 Delimitation of the Research. This study focuses solely on Taiwan. The individual targets of the research mechanism. will be the decision makers, administration, and members of NGO´s/NPO´s who work in. Taiwan or are based in Taiwan and work in other countries. . . DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.014.2018.A06. ‧ 國. 立政治大. 學 ‧. N a. t io na l Chengch i U. ni ve. rs i t. y. - 4 -. CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW. This chapter will provide a literature review addressing Information and. Communications Technologies, social media, subjective well-being, and finally NGO´s/NPO´s. Performance and Assessment. This discussion will also address the topics of usability,. transparency, and accountability. . 2.1 Information and Communication Technologies as a Tool . Researchers have established the nature of Information and Communication. Technologies more as an evolutionary than a revolutionary tool. A comprehensive study. conducted by the University of Siegen considered Information and Communication. Technologies as a trend amplifier that works in several dimensions to reinforce trends. (Universität Siegen, 2010). Trends amplify the effects of communications, accelerate societal. processes, increase mobility, and take the effects to a global scale. They also increase the. registration control, the equality, civil emancipation, increase the participation, and increase. the choice opportunities. . These trends are used at the convenience of many institutions, organizations, and. individuals. Different interests are shown in the way they impact European states, the United. States, China, Japan, and fast-developing countries in East Asia, such as Taiwan. What this. means is that social practices, such as policy-making, can be affected depending on how the. members of a given society use the Information and Communication Technologies, and these. effects can be both positive and negative (Universität Siegen, 2010). According to Langdon. Winner, techniques have independent power; they are ‘greedy’ and gradually take control of. society, politics, and culture (Winner, 1977).. Information and Communication Technologies affect the social development in four. useful ways due to its trend of amplifying tendencies. Firstly, Information and Communication. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.014.2018.A06. ‧ 國. 立政治大. 學 ‧. N a. t io na l Chengch i U. ni ve. rs i t. y. - 5 -. Technologies boost communication between the individual subjects and the organizations,. institutions or governments. Secondly, due to this boost in the communication, a network is. enriched, and the social capital is created to exploit. Thirdly, the previous notions cause an. intensification of the activities and therefore, the information and knowledge gathered. Finally,. this leads to empowerment. The most popular expectation is that Information and. Communication Technologies will empower users of all kinds: citizens, consumers, workers,. patients, students, activists, beneficiaries and all audiences, although some believe in the. centralization of power (Universität Siegen, 2010). The empowerment should change power. relations in many, if not all, domains in society. Information and Communication Technologies. should increase participation of society and stakeholders in goal settings and the ways goals. are being pursued and grasped.. The previous discussion drives to three different views about Information and. Communication Technology. Technology instrumentalism states that technology is a dominant. force, it is used by powerful interests in society and cannot be escaped. In opposition to this. stands the technological voluntarism technology that is often is an instrument of liberation, and. it can be used for progress in all spheres of society (Pool, 1983). A consideration of this view. is extracted from the social constructivist, who claim that individual and organizational users,. as well as regulators in society, are continually constructing the design, operation, application,. and uses of technologies (Wiebe E. Bi.Jker, 1993). Social constructivism argues that. technologies, particularly those with strong human characteristics are socially shaped. (Universität Siegen, 2010). If this is the case, it is necessary for NGO´s/NPO´s to use it. consequently. . As discussed above, Information and Communication Technologies is evolutionary,. rather than revolutionary. Information and Communication Technologies reinforces particular. societal variation processes that are already ongoing than revolutionizing society (Universität. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.014.2018.A06. ‧ 國. 立政治大. 學 ‧. N a. t io na l Chengch i U. ni ve. rs i t. y. - 6 -. Siegen, 2010). The reinforcement shows that the effects of Information and Communication. Technologies now might be similar to other technological advances that had to happen before,. such as the telegraph and later the telephone. . Embedded in this social constructivist approach to technology, specifically in. Information and Communication Technologies, is its role in social inclusion. Social inclusion. is of enormous interest to technology experts, activists, and policymakers due to the way its. innovations have rapidly and unexpectedly emerged, and how these innovations have changed. society (Jyoti Choudrie, 2017). Social inclusion should generate equal participation in society. leading to general well-being (Gingrich, 2015). Policymakers should adopt Information and. Communication Technologies to reform policies and support disadvantaged groups overcome. long-standing inequalities (Sourbati, 2012). While doing this is essential that Information and. Communication Technologies achieve the requirements and anticipations of society as a whole. . It entails that individuals participate equally in structures, activities, and their communities. because they can partake in society (Guildford, 2000). The ability and permission to participate. in communication assume that Information and Communication Technologies are available to. reach out to enough individuals of the society. . For the individuals to be able and willing to communicate is vital to have two. components: capabilities and functioning. Capabilities relate to the notion of freedom and. “what real opportunities you have regarding the life you may lead” (Sen, 1987). Functioning. refers to the well-being of a person associated with the achievements and expectations (Zheng,. 2009). These two components, capabilities and functioning, are related to each other as. capabilities describe one’s freedom to achieve a set of potential actions while functioning the. personal, introspective decision to achieve said action. Based on individual choice, the subject. will then achieve one specific function from the many potential ones (Jyoti Choudrie, 2017).. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.014.2018.A06. ‧ 國. 立政治大. 學 ‧. N a. t io na l Chengch i U. ni ve. rs i t. y. - 7 -. Figure 2-1Illustration Capability Approach. Figure 2.1, explains the conditions of individuals with Information and Communication. Technologies relationship between resources, conversion factors, capabilities, and functioning.. An individual encircled in the first step is who has the resources, technology capable of. communication, to participate. The capabilities of this individual are related to how the subject. operate and relate with the resources to accomplish the goals. Here is where the conversion. factor, an internal decision, and thinking mechanism come into the game and focus the uses of. such resources by the individual. The internal decision encircles the individual into the second. step of figure 2.1 which is the capabilities and reaches this individual has to incorporate into. the society. Finally, as a result of the individual decision-making process, the individual. decides to participate and engage in conversation or activities. This function in the system. encircles the individual in the last step giving him a function in the system or process with his. participation. The chart Table 2-1 Conversion Factors, Capabilities, and Functioning per Group. is an example of this relationship in disadvantaged groups. . DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.014.2018.A06. ‧ 國. 立政治大. 學 ‧. N a. t io na l Chengch i U. ni ve. rs i t. y. - 8 -. Table 2-1 Conversion Factors, Capabilities, and Functioning’s per Group. Group Conversion Factors Capabilities Functioning’s . Older adults ● Personal health issues, such as mental impairment, mobility, motor skills, or others.. ● Environmental issues, such as support structures. ● Read the news online ● Devices and applications they can use (for impaired vision, motor skills, or others .) ● Make video calls with the family ● Access to support network ● Information and Communication Technologies-enabled communication (family, friends, caregivers), e.g., send/receive text messages, instant messages.. ● Independent living and successful aging ● Remain active and mentally stimulated ● Continued participation in society. Ethnic minorities ● Personal issues, such as basic literacy, numeracy, employability ● Social issues, such as minority status. ● Local information and services ● Support dependents (online skills, language skills, self-efficacy) ● Basic language skills ● Information and Communication Technologies-enabled communication (family, friends), e.g., online social networks ● Language development. ● Maintain connection with the homeland ● Integration in the hosting country ● Access to the labor market. Underprivileged women. ● Personal issues, such as employability skills, loneliness, financial problems ● Social issues, such as the role of women in society ● Environmental issues, such as geographical location and lack of relevant infrastructures. ● Micropayments, mobile money ● Messaging services (e.g., SMS, online forums, chat rooms) ● Access to healthcare and lifestyle information ● Communication with local authorities ● Information and Communication Technologies-focused education ● Support dependents. ● Do business and access to the labor market ● Gender balance ● Empowerment and autonomy ● Participation in society. Homeless ● Personal issues, such as employment, homeless and financial problems ● Environmental issues, such as lack of a physical, permanent address ● Social issues, such as homelessness. ● Access to information through local services ● Information and Communication Technologies-enabled communication (family, friends), e.g., e-mail accounts ● Device chargers. ● Access to labor market ● Improve wellbeing ● Empowerment, control over one’s life. Source: (Jyoti Choudrie, 2017). 2.2 Social Media. During the last decade, society had spent a considerable amount of time on social media.. The topics of discussion vary from banal celebrities’ gossip to real social, political, and. economic discussions. The discussions have been seen as irrelevant; nevertheless, it is. imperative to notice the underuse as a social and political tool. Facebook was open to the public. in 2006, and the power of this social media began to influence consumers and businesses and. has continued to do so with breathtaking speed. In the summer of 2013, the top three websites. regarding traffic were Facebook, Google, and YouTube whichever dedicated social network. sites or platforms that feature strong social networking elements with a considerable amount. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.014.2018.A06. ‧ 國. 立政治大. 學 ‧. N a. t io na l Chengch i U. ni ve. rs i t. y. - 9 -. of user-generated media. One out of seven persons on the planet is currently an active member. of Facebook, even though the site is not accessible to those under 13 years old, nor is it. accessible in China, the world's most populous country (Hofacker, 2013). Now, for instance,. Twitter has a monthly active user base of 261 million to the third quarter of 2017 outside of the. United States (Zephoria Inc. 2. Z., 2017). Facebook in September 2017, had 1.37 billion people. on average logged in as daily active users, which represents a 16 percent increase year over. year. There are 1.74 billion mobile active users for December 2016 which is an increase of. 21% each year (Zephoria Inc. 2. Z., 2017). The importance of reaching large amounts of the. population cannot be denied as a crucial social and political tool. . This tool has been used widely and proven successful; there are already examples of. improvised political mobilization such as the case of the Arab spring during 2011; social media. played a crucial role in the political uprising in Tunisia and Egypt. Using original data from. multiple social media sources, Phillip Howard and his coauthors can offer some concrete. conclusions about what that role was (Howard, et al., 2011). Forming the influence of social. media in the region has occurred through three main points. Firstly, the acknowledgment that. social media played an essential part in the events. Second, the spike in “revolutionary”. conversation preceded significant ground events and mobilizations. Third, since social media. has no physical boundaries, it went beyond national borders influencing people in different. countries. As a final note to this, the authors concur in the fact that social media alone did not. cause political upheaval in North Africa. Nevertheless, information technologies altered the. capacity of citizens and civil society actors to influence local politics (Howard, et al., 2011).. This confirms that Information and Communication Technologies support the trends as. discussed earlier. . Nevertheless, there is still a broad sector skeptic of the power or role that social media. had played in different protest or political changes. Some of the examples tagged are the points. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.014.2018.A06. ‧ 國. 立政治大. 學 ‧. N a. t io na l Chengch i U. ni ve. rs i t. y. - 10 -. made by Hussain and Howard using the example of the Gulf states, which exhibited high levels. of social media and low levels of protest (Hussain, 2012, ). According to Norris, social media. may function to sustain and facilitate collective action, but this is only one channel of. communications amongst many and processes of political communications cannot be regarded. as a fundamental factor of unrest compared to other structural factors, such as corruption,. poverty, and repression (Norris, 2012). In the case of media repression, is also essential to take. in consideration that in countries with more oppressive regimes, more disadvantaged. conditions or communications under constant scrutiny the possibility of creating the political. mobilization through social media is considerably reduced (Herkenrath, 2011). Stopping the. influence of such media is not an easy task for centralized repressive governments that must. fight the constant creativity of the population to outsmart the limitations and filters. Creation. of virtual private networks (VPN) gives the population access points to external information or. a way to channel the inside information out (Cohen, 2009).. It is important to point out that the effects of the post-event media are subject to. interpretations. These interpretations might affect the sample taking of a viewer and thus distort. the reality of the situation (Dredge, 2014). Other effects that might change the perception could. be the informality and sometimes the lack of veracity of some popular internet or social news. outlets that portray an image of earnest or real journalism but lack the evidence to support such. arguments. Social news pages or outlets take advantage of sensationalist journalism and might. even be sponsored by one of the opposing or concurring sides of a given conflict. The affected. journalism, previously discussed lacks of proper fact-checking in their pages and many times. is not done by the reader either. Citizen journalism can fill the spaces that traditional media. outlets fail to fill because of their agendas. Today 62% of adults get news on social media. according to a 2016 study from the Pew Research Center (Shearer, 2016). The trust and. retentive over a Facebook post are considerably more depending on who or what organizations. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.014.2018.A06. ‧ 國. 立政治大. 學 ‧. N a. t io na l Chengch i U. ni ve. rs i t. y. - 11 -. or institutions shared it (Owen, 2017). These are not the only problems of social media. involvement in social and political research; there are other problems such as bots, spamming,. the possibility of buying followers packs, influencers support and other social media platform. agents and process that can alter the view of an outsider. . It is no longer a matter of when but a matter how much the influence of technologies. affects political and social outcomes because entire political movements now exist and sustain. themselves through the capacities of the Internet to disseminate information (John C. Bertot,. 2010). As stated before it is a powerful communication tool but their role is highly related with. the political environment and the high traffic of first the pre-event conversation and later the. post-event media added by the participants (Howard, et al., 2011) (Wolfsfeld, Segev, & Sheafer,. 2013). . It is because of practices like this that is essential for the assessors to establish a. methodology accurately and a process to approach the stakeholders. If not done correctly, it. can backfire against the organization. . 2.3 Subjective Well-Being Indicators . One critical aspect of the procedure is what to consult the stakeholder using Information. and Communication Technologies. The questions might be a changing matter since the focal. point of this paper is to determine how likely, efficient and effective a process like this one. could be, nevertheless the question or questions to ask remain of high importance. Taking into. consideration the nature of the stakeholders to whom these assessments will address, specific. topics would definitively be ruled out. Topics such as administrative actions or processes. should not be placed in direct discussion or review since they are, by nature, intrinsic to the. institution. The questions should be oriented to the well-being and life quality improvements. of the local stakeholders. Recording the effect of a project on a segment of the population and. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.014.2018.A06. ‧ 國. 立政治大. 學 ‧. N a. t io na l Chengch i U. ni ve. rs i t. y. - 12 -. follow up recording could, with time generate data to measure the impact of such development. projects over time. This record, over time, could eventually help create data enough to measure. the improvement of their living conditions of specific development assistance projects as well. as the decline of such effect. The practice might prove useful for NGO´s/NPO´s and other. interested institutions. . The perception of how good or bad the well-being of a population is, is one crucial. factor to take in consideration for various reasons. Administrative considerations of where,. how, and the impact of a future project must consider the perceptions of the life quality. improvement or diminishment. Similarly, from an administrative consideration, an. NGO´s/NPO´s image towards their final and weaker stakeholder, who is the recipient of the. assistance is of great value for three main reasons. First, positive perception and cooperation. can lead to future projects to execute more efficiently and effortlessly. Second, if the quality of. life and perception of well-being is positive this can be used as a marketing tool for the. organization to obtain more support from the general population, acceptance of the society, the. expanse the endorsement from the current sponsors and reach out for more. Nonprofit. organizations not only need to develop a partner relationship with the government, but also. need to keep an eye on the performance of the organization, and to use social resources. transparently and efficiently (Lee, 2017). Thirdly, transparency also opens up the image of the. institution that provokes the changes and that ultimately has positive effects on the. development process and all the stakeholders. Knowing the information is of vital importance,. gathering regular data can allow the planners to keep constant supervision while monitoring. necessities and identifying critical things affecting both the stakeholders as well as the. organization. As the OECD committed to the redefining the growth narrative to put people’s. well-being at the center of governments’ efforts (OECD, 2016) likewise, organizations such as. NPOs/NGOs should focus towards placing it at the center of their efforts . DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.014.2018.A06. ‧ 國. 立政治大. 學 ‧. N a. t io na l Chengch i U. ni ve. rs i t. y. - 13 -. The importance to take into consideration the opinion of the final stakeholders is not. only for the benefit of the organization or institution in charge of executing and reaching out. to budgets and projects. The impact that development projects have on populations must be. carefully reviewed to assess the disturbance caused on local economies, government. accountability, and transparency. The influence of this disturbances can decrease the activities. or interest of the population in cooperating with the social effort of assistance as a whole. A. remarkably broad group of academics and policymakers seems to agree that, after all, maybe. we do not know how to achieve development, although they are reluctant to say so exactly. (Easterly, 2007). This agreement leads to the idea that the process of handing out assistance. might not be producing the outcomes that are intended. Due to the laborious task of tracking. the results of the assistance given, organizations might not be held accountable for their positive. or negative effects on the population. These effects can undermine the economic, social or. political progress and development that the whole population might experience. Development. sometimes happens without the economic or technical aid, regardless that some of this stories. might later fail and return to underdevelopment (Easterly, 2007). The organizations should. take all information into consideration in order to maintain the highest level of development. . The personal acceptance of one´s development and progress can be observed from a. personal point of view. The impact and benefits of adequately handling these perceptions. should be of importance for a society to develop in a uniform way as well as for the proper. planning of the organization or institution that works on any assistance. There is even an. argument that the first and most crucial generalization about human nature is that each of us is. defined, in considerable measure, by an array of “basic needs.” The basic needs are essential. to our survival and reproductive success, coming into the world with an orientation toward. satisfying these needs (Corning, 2011). The priority for the satisfaction of this needs might be. different between the organization giving assistance and the passive or receiving stakeholder.. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.014.2018.A06. ‧ 國. 立政治大. 學 ‧. N a. t io na l Chengch i U. ni ve. rs i t. y. - 14 -. Finding the proper way to maximize the effectiveness and the impact of such projects,. programs or actions might be in the interest of the NGO/NPO and possibly a government. institution planning similar projects. . Another reason to maintain control over subjective well-being indicators is the use of. them by both project developers and policymakers. Although difficult to prove how subjective. well-being effects of a particular project, program or action might impact on the overall. perception of the final stakeholder, studies have proved that a favorable consideration of well-. being improves life expectancy. This experiment can set an example of how the continuous. study of perceptions can benefit the decision making of both policymakers in NGO´s/NPO´s. as well as governmental institutions. . As well-being changes, there might be modifications within the policy-making. Well-. being also alters the conduct of the subject of the assistance, and it is of utmost importance for. future projects. The constant review of this considerations can lead to more efficient and. effective use of resources by the development assistant institutions. Arriving at a single. indicator that would enclose the well-being perception of a person is not an easy task to achieve,. especially if the well-being and happiness involve different indicators to have an actual. assessment of the population´s happiness in question. For instance, the World Happiness. Reports utilize six factors to determine the happiness and well-being perception of the citizens. of different countries. The factors are GDP per capita, healthy years of life expectancy, social. support (as measured by having someone to count on in times of trouble), trust (as measured. by a perceived absence of corruption in government and business), perceived freedom to make. life decisions, and generosity (as measured by recent donations) (Helliwell, 2017). For the. World Happiness Reports, the terms happiness and subjective well-being are exchangeable.. Taking Happiness as an interchangeable term with subjective well-being, the Gross National. Happiness is another variant measurement. The term, first coined in 1979 by the king of. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.014.2018.A06. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rulers_of_Bhutan. ‧ 國. 立政治大. 學 ‧. N a. t io na l Chengch i U. ni ve. rs i t. y. - 15 -. Bhutan, Jigme Singye Wangchuck, had several implications to his country, in which the goal. of achieving high Gross National Happiness have significantly changed policy making (Dorji,. 2012). Bhutan has developed the Gross National Happiness (GNH) index, institutions and. policies in the country revolve around maximizing Gross National Happiness index rather than. Gross Domestic Product. Bhutan has been experimenting as a society that has openly engaged. the issue of well-being and progress. The country has developed indicators, institutions, and. policies to reflect this (Braun, 2009). The Gross National Happiness Index establishes the. philosophy of the absolute monarchy basing itself upon four pillars: Equitable Economic. Development, Environmental Preservation, Cultural Resilience, and Good Governance (Braun,. 2009). After the scrutiny of the policies established and enforced by, at that time absolute. monarchy, to pursue the highest Gross National Happiness, the Center of Bhutan Studies (CBS). developed the Gross National Happiness Index. This index was comprised of specific. indicators that are as follows: Psychological Wellbeing, Time Use, Community Vitality,. Cultural Diversity and Resilience, Health, Education, Ecological Diversity and Resilience,. Living Standard, and Good Governance (Bhutan, n.d.). . Having or trying to have control over the life or personal perception, noted as happiness. or subjective well-being must not ignore or diminish the importance of traditional, technical or. other indicators. On the contrary, regular economic evaluations of development and subjective. well-being must be considered to prepare the most accurate depiction of the environment of. the subject of study. . The World Happiness Report was created to measure the overall happiness on a country. level to make a comparative study of countries. The Gross National Happiness Index is trying. to find with certainty, as a national goal the level of happiness of the population. Different. organizations or institutions might have different necessities from their studies and activities. to select valuable data of the subjective well-being to study. All the indicators used in both. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.014.2018.A06. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rulers_of_Bhutan. ‧ 國. 立政治大. 學 ‧. N a. t io na l Chengch i U. ni ve. rs i t. y. - 16 -. indexes are of great use, the selection of the indicators would depend on the orientation of the. NGO/NPO. Since the engaging NGO/NPO are in close relation with the aid recipient, they. constitute the southernmost representation of NGO´s/NPO´s right before the final local. stakeholder, the people or communities’ recipient of the development aid. They are in an. advantageous position to gather relevant data that can be useful to assess their impact and. performance towards achieving their goals. This relevant information as a regular gathering. might also present the foreground for a historical relation of the assistance and the perception. of the population receiving such aid. Eventually, this accumulation of data will be useful to. establish the maintenance or decay of the living standard. . 2.4 NGO´s/NPO´s Performance. From the concepts of private and public two sectors as opposing sides of a spectrum,. what lies in the middle must be established. In the middle, what some scholars call the social. economy, voluntary sector, solidary sector or the third sector. This sector includes mainly. cooperatives, union, associated work enterprises and NGO´s/NPO´s among many smaller other. options. This is where NGO´s/NPO´s that have been formed by a group of people to pursue a. common not-for-profit goal, to pursue the stated goal expressly without the intention of. distributing excess revenue to members or leaders (Smith, Stebbins, & Dover, 2006). As further. explanation, a nonprofit organization is often dedicated to furthering a particular social cause. or advocating for a particular point of view. In economic terms, a nonprofit organization uses. its surplus revenues to achieve its purpose or mission further, rather than to distribute its surplus. income to the organization's shareholders or equivalents as profit or dividends. This is known. as the non-distribution constraint (Hansmann, 1980).. During the eighties and nineties, the growth of NGO´s/NPO´s was exponential both in. size and amount. The growth of registered NGO´s/NPO´s in the OECD countries of the. industrialized “North” grew from 1,600 in 1980 to 2,970 in 1993 (Smillie, 1993), Over the. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.014.2018.A06. ‧ 國. 立政治大. 學 ‧. N a. t io na l Chengch i U. ni ve. rs i t. y. - 17 -. same period the total spending of these NGO´s/NPO´s raised from USD$ 2.8 billion to USD$. 5.7 billion in current prices (OECD, Development Assistance Committee Report 1993 , 1994).. The 176 International NGO´s/NPO´s of 1909 jumped to over 28,900 by 1993. This growth in. number and expenses have also increased the power and influence in the policymaking in both. “North” and “South” types of NGO´s/NPO´s. There is also the consequence that the role in. development is increasing for all NGO´s/NPO´s. This increase in NGO/NPO benefits the. vulnerable part of the population, the organizations and the economy (Fowler, 1995). . The absence of a large body of reliable evidence as well as the wide variety of. perspectives on the impact and effectiveness of NGO´s/NPO´s makes it difficult to generalize. about performance and accountability, despite the general conception that NGO´s/NPO´s are. cost effective. As explained before the expansion of these organizations have led to many. consequences. How to measure their performance and how well they are fulfilling their duty. and achieving their goal is still a topic of discussion. There have been attempts to evaluate this. performance many times but not successfully and methodologically.. Another necessity is the quest for the NGO´s/NGO´s accountability. Accountability. interpreted as the means by which organizations report to a recognized authority or group of. authorities, and hold themselves responsible for both their actions and omissions. Effective. accountability requires a clear statement of goals for the NGO´s/NPO´s, transparency of. decision or policy-making, honest, and rigorous reports of the resources used, appraisal. processes for the authorities to judge results and a proper mechanism to hold accountable those. responsible for the performance and accountability. This accountability could be formal or. informal (Hulm, 1995). Many of the concerns about the weak accountability of NGO´s/NGO´s. relate to the difficulties they face in prioritizing and reconciling accountability with different. stakeholders. . DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.014.2018.A06. ‧ 國. 立政治大. 學 ‧. N a. t io na l Chengch i U. ni ve. rs i t. y. - 18 -. The Information and Communication Technologies can help to homogenize the. accountability at all level of stockholders. In 1995 David Hulm and Michael Edwards. visualized a chart to explain the reaches of these two types of accountability. Taking into. consideration the distance between each of the actors, Hulm and Edwards establish the capacity. of each of the actors to reach out for reports or sanctions (Hulm, 1995). The capacity to demand. and appraise reports and information as well as the capacity to operate sanctions were placed. in the chart in accordance to the position of each of the actors in the linear process through. which aid is channeled. . Table 2-2 Functional and Strategic Accountability. FUNCTIONAL ACCOUNTABILITY STRATEGIC ACCOUNTABILITY . Capacity to. demand. reports and. information. Capacity to. appraise. reports and. information. Capacity to. operate. sanctions . Capacity to. demand. reports and. information. Capacity to. appraise. reports and. information. Capacity to. operate. sanctions . BENEFICIARIES/MEMBERS Low Low Low Low Nil Nil. TRUSTEES Medium Low Medium Low Low Low. PRIVATE CONTRIBUTORS Medium Low Low Medium Low Low. NGO´S/NPO´S NETWORK Low Low Low Low Low Nil. NATIONAL GOVERNMENT Medium Low High Low Low Low. OFFICIAL DONORS High Medium High Low Low Nil. NGO´S/NPO´S S High Medium Medium Medium Low Low. Source: (Hulm, 1995). For this paper, the stakeholder is defined as one who is involved in or affected by a. course of action (Merriam-Webster, 2018). On the traditional linear structure of International. NGO´S/NPO´S, the positioning of stakeholders is on a hierarchical flow of the aid, regardless. of the form this aid can take. This conceptualization was devised due to the belief the. developing efforts Figure 2-2 International Linear NPO Organization. Throughout this chain,. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.014.2018.A06. ‧ 國. 立政治大. 學 ‧. N a. t io na l Chengch i U. ni ve. rs i t. y. - 19 -. many stakeholders add their social and political interest. Establishing who are the stakeholders. in this process is an essential step towards achieving a better NGO´s/NPO´s assessment. . With Information and Communication Technologies, the observation of the effects or. changes can stand out. An initiative like the one proposed here can help address the problem. of one size fit all. Using a subjective well-being indicator or other subjective impact evaluation. from the local stakeholder, the NGO´S/NPO´S can aid and encourage itself to reach a more. transparent and accountable process. Allowing such practices can bring insight into factors of. the local stakeholder that haven’t been considered.. These technologies have shortened great distances and relating interest sharing parties. that couldn’t have the chance to meet and communicate before. Now the interest groups have. the convenience to share resources; as is the case of crowdfunding. Crowdfunding can by itself. have another process configuration and accountability system. In this, crowdfunding websites,. which as well as social media discussed earlier are just platforms for user content. Using these. tools users have the chance to support NGO´s/NPO´s directly through the website. economically. . Ends. G en. er al. P u. b li. c (D. ev el. o p. ed. co u. n tr. ie s) Gifts, Direct. Donations. Taxes Donors North. NGO´s/NPO´s South. NGO´s/NPO´s Community Base. Organization. Ultimate beneficiaries. Poor People. Members. Local Stakeholeders. Evaluation. Means. External Influences. Figure 2-2 International Linear NPO Organization. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.014.2018.A06. ‧ 國. 立政治大. 學 ‧. N a. t io na l Chengch i U. ni ve. rs i t. y. - 20 -. Figure 2-3 Crowdfunding NPO. Due to the lack of control of the users and their activities off the platform, the website. cannot guarantee the usage of such resources. Therefore, accountability is still a problem.. Crowdfunding website now requires of adding tax identification number to the non-profit. classification to increase the accountability and transparency of their users. The crowdfunding. website, Indiegogo as on February 28, 2017, has a list of several requisites needed to be able. to crowdfund on their website as an NGO´S/NPO´S (Staff I. , 2017). The webpage Kickstarter,. famous for crowdfunding many favorite and innovative gadgets had declared their refusal to. fund actions or institutions of charity or non-profits. A website dedicated almost exclusively to. the crowdfunding of NGO´s/NPO´s is the Korean based Happybean. This website has raised. more than 46 million dollars for NGO´S/NPO´S (Greenberg, 2013). Studies have shown that. successful fundraising on crowdfunding platforms can succeed by donors who donate a small. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.014.2018.A06. ‧ 國. 立政治大. 學 ‧. N a. t io na l Chengch i U. ni ve. rs i t. y. - 21 -. amount of money. However, is important to point out the existence of a few influential donors,. each of them donates enough so that their influence is significant for the project (Aejin Song,. 2015). Further studies have to be made to check the overviews this system offers to promote. transparency and accountability. With the help of a process in which the communities have a. response mechanism, systems like these could have a work around this problems.. NGO´s/NPO´s evaluation must fight with the fact that they have no precise,. straightforward or uncontested measure of their organizational effectiveness, as companies,. governments or projects have. Private enterprises, for instance, can check their performance. regarding profit, sells or production. The government, on the other hand, since it has the. monopoly of force, and coercive capabilities to be able to receive taxes its only focus on. spending. Both of them, private and public, are assessed through a third generation evaluation. that focused on objectives oriented from a descriptive approach (Lincoln, 1989). For this is a. common practice for governmental offices and institutions to assess their performance through. the percentage of budget execution. As for the case of the NGO´s/NPO´s and due to their. multilevel and stakeholder nature it is harder to find a proper process to measure their. performance. . Rosbeth Moss, the organizational analyst, reviewed the full range of conceptual. dilemmas, practical difficulties, contending principles and different methods adopted in. attempts to determine NGO´S/NPO´S effectiveness, productivity, and performance. She. concluded that the measurement of effectiveness must be related to a particular context and life. stage of the organization. Rather than looking for common measures, the need is to identify. appropriate questions reflecting many measures. Moreover, the concept of assessment of. organizational goals should be replaced with the notion of organizational usages, to recognize. the fact that different communities use organizations for different purposes (Summers, 1994). . DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.014.2018.A06. ‧ 國. 立政治大. 學 ‧. N a. t io na l Chengch i U. ni ve. rs i t. y. - 22 -. Is Important to highlight the stakeholders that their input should not be a one-time affair. but a continuous process within the organizations’ functions. As so, the most efficient,. transparent, flexible, and the cost-efficient process must be used to satisfy the organization's. ever-changing requirements. In the planning of the activities of an organization such as the. NGO´s/NPO´s one of the most important challenges that it confronts, is the ability and capacity. to be responsive. This responsiveness can be enhanced through the communication acts of their. stakeholders (Jacobs, 2003). The ability to be responsive, in a fast-paced changing world,. condition, and environment allows the organization to be more effective. The NGO´s/NPO´s. that take into consideration this will also be able to plan most efficiently.. Social Impact Assessment. Assessment is the action or an instance of making a judgment about something; the act. of assessing something or appraisal (Merriam-Webster, 2018). The International Association. for Impact Assessment has recognized as a forward-looking instrument that can proactively. advise decision-makers on what might happen if a proposed action to implement. Impacts are. changes that are judged to have environmental, political, economic or social significance to. society. Impacts may be positive or negative and may affect the environment, communities,. human health and well-being, desired sustainability objectives, or a combination of these. (Partidário, 2012). Henk Becker (A.Becker, 2001) describes it as the process of identifying the. future consequences of a current or proposed action which are related to individuals,. organizations and social macro-systems. The Social Impact Assessment (SIA) has been used. since the late eighteenth century, but it has been after 1960 that the field has suffered from. growing attention and significant changes. Computer simulations, application of the ex-ante. evaluation, programs or policies and diversification to more specific assessments such as fiscal,. technological and environmental are some of the changes that the Social Impact Assessment. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.014.2018.A06. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/assess https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/appraisal. ‧ 國. 立政治大. 學 ‧. N a. t io na l Chengch i U. ni ve. rs i t. y. - 23 -. had undergone recently. Perhaps, one of the most significant changes is the practice of ex-ante. and ex-post evaluations of Social Impact Assessment. The necessity of doing this before and. after the implementation of the project, program or policy resulted in a considerable increase. in the methodology and developed the Social Impact Assessment to a social research field. (A.Becker, 2001).. As the importance of assessment grew, in 1980 was established the International. Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA), the leading global network on best practice in the. use of impact assessment for informed decision making regarding policies, programs, plans,. and projects. The International Association for Impact Assessment was created to bring. together researchers, practitioners, and users of various types of impact assessment from all. parts of the world. Members, over 1700 from 120 nations, represent many disciplines and. professions. Their annual conferences regularly welcome over 700 participants, and. their regional symposia and other events focus attention on specific topics. Available resources. include a quarterly professional journal, downloadable publications, training options, and much. more (About the IAIA, 2018).. The organization has been working focused on the environmental impact assessment. studies. In 2003 after the existence of a considerable interest in producing International. Guidelines and Principles for Social Impact Assessment the International Association for. Impact Assessment auspice a document with the intent of assisting in the development of. legislation and policy at the international level (Vanclay, 2003). This document is meant to. provide standards for Social Impact Assessment practice in international contexts. (transboundary projects, development cooperation, foreign investment, international banking).. Increasing the appeal of Social Impact Assessment to a broader range of audiences will increase. the legitimacy and institutionalization of the process. The document intends to establish. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.014.2018.A06. ‧ 國. 立政治大. 學 ‧. N a. t io na l Chengch i U. ni ve. rs i t. y. - 24 -. minimum standards for Social Impact Assessment practice, provide an articulation of best. practice in Social Impact Assessment as a model to aspire to, remove confusion over. terminology and establish the appropriate scope of the social component of impact assessments.. Moreover, promote the integration of Social Impact Assessment in all impact assessments.. However, the process of developing international guidelines like those intended to. represent a challenge due to multiple contexts on the social, religious, cultural, and economic. priorities of different practitioners, organizations, and institutions. According to Frank Vanclay. (Vanclay, 2003), Social Impact Assessment is analyzing, monitoring, and managing the social. consequences of development projects, programs or actions. However, there are different levels. by which to understand the term Social Impact Assessment. As a field of research and practice,. consisting of a body of knowledge, techniques, and values. Various individuals identify. themselves as Social Impact Assessment professionals or list it as one of their disciplines or. specialty areas. These people practice the methodology undertaking associated social and. environmental research to inform the practice of Social Impact Assessment. As a methodology. or instrument, Social Impact Assessment is the process that professionals follow to assess the. social impacts of planned interventions or events developing strategies for the ongoing. monitoring and management of those impacts. Social Impact Assessment should not be. understood only as the task of predicting social impacts in an impact assessment process.. Vanclay, further adds that Social Impact Assessment should be considered as an umbrella term. for a multidisciplinary field that embodies the evaluation of impacts on the human beings. (Vanclay, 2003).. Is central to determine what to consider as social impact. In the international document. establishing the principles of Social Impact Assessment, Vanclay expresses a convenient way. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.014.2018.A06. ‧ 國. 立政治大. 學 ‧. N a. t io na l Chengch i U. ni ve. rs i t. y. - 25 -. of conceptualizing social impacts as changes to people’s way of life as in how they live, work,. play, and interrelate with one another on a daily basis. The changes should also consider their. culture, their shared beliefs, customs, values, language or dialect, the community´s cohesion,. stability, character, and services (Vanclay, 2003). Political considerations such as the political. systems as the extent to which people can participate in decisions that affect their lives, the. degree of democratization that is taking place, and the resources provided for this project. should be considered too. Some other factors to consider while doing a Social Impact. Assessment are the quality of the air and water people use as well as the availability and quality. of the food they eat. Include the level of exposition to hazard or risk, dust or noise, the adequacy. of sanitation, and their physical safety. The changes in the control and access of community to. resources are also considered an impact. Their health as the state of complete physical, mental,. social, and spiritual well-being, not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. Their personal. and property rights particularly whether people are economically affected, or experience a. particular disadvantage that can include a violation of their civil liberties. Finally, their fears. and aspirations, their perceptions about their safety, their fears about the future of their. community, their ambitions for their future and the future of their children. According to the International Association for Impact Assessment, the objective of. Social Impact Assessment is to ensure that development maximizes its benefits and minimizes. its costs. Minimizing the cost especially those borne by people including those in other places. and the future. Costs and benefits may not be measurable, often not adequately taken into. account by decision-makers. As a result of identifying impacts in advance, the organization can. make better decisions about which involvements should proceed and how to proceed.. Mitigation measures can be implemented to minimize the harm and maximize the benefits from. a specific scheduled intervention or associated activity (Partidário, 2012). The International. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.014.2018.A06. ‧ 國. 立政治大. 學 ‧. N a. t io na l Chengch i U. ni ve. rs i t. y. - 26 -. Association for Impact Assessment has established a document with the core values, principles,. and guidelines that are found in (Annex 1).. The International Association for Impact Assessment categorizes Social Impact. Assessment according to the level of impact that the action has over a population. The impact. can be measured in three main levels (A.Becker, 2001). Micro-Social level, which analyzes the. impact on the behavior of large numbers of individuals. Examples of this groups can be. communities, local minorities, neighborhoods, and others. The Meso-social level analyzes the. impact on the behavior of collective actors. Example of this collective actors are organizations. or social movements. The Macro-Social level analyzes the impact on macro-systems such as. national, international or legal systems. . The Social Impact Assessment of projects is a challenging task due to the complex. social implications and a multitude of factors and expertise needed. Consequently, the existing. literature produced by academics and practitioners has tended to focus on the standard socio-. economic indicators, such as a number of jobs created, economic effects on specific sectors or. contribution to economic growth. To date, few publications have addressed the social. implications of the deployment of large-scale actions (Julia Terrapon-Pfaffa, 2017). . Accordingly, different authors have emphasized the need for procedural, theoretical,. methodological, and practical improvements particularly regarding stakeholder engagement. and the application of participatory processes within Social Impact Assessment´s (Esteves A.. F., 2012) (Suopajärvi, 2013). Another issue just as ignored is determining the level of. significance the Social Impact Assessments can have (Briggs, 2013) (Rowan, 2009) (Lawrence,. 2007). Although various definitions of significance exist, most include one of two. characteristics. The significance is a value of judgment; this means that significance essentially. depends on the value society attributes to specific elements (level of importance) referring to. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.014.2018.A06. ‧ 國. 立政治大. 學 ‧. N a. t io na l Chengch i U. ni ve. rs i t. y. - 27 -. the cost caused to the society. Alternatively, the resulting degree and type of the change in. terms of measurable effects (level of consequences) referring to the magnitude of the impact. (Julia Terrapon-Pfaffa, 2017) (Thompson, 1990). Insufficient documentation on practical. applications exists on this practice (Schindler, 2016 ). Especially concerning the participatory. approaches as called by different authors, which Information and Communication. Technologies can boost (Arce-Gomez, 2015) (Esteves A. F., 2012). The Information and. Communication Technologies can be useful to target the micro-social level, referred by Becker. through the participatory approach. This group of individuals could use the Information and. Communication Technologies of the organizations to express their goals, expectations,. ambitions as well as get a grasp of other indicators. . To date, most impact assessment studies have applied technical approaches. However,. technical approaches cannot account for the fact that stakeholder groups may have different. sets of social values, relationships, histories, and other elements distinctive to their contexts. (Becker D. H., 2004). Consequently, determining significance without involving stakeholders. cannot adequately reflect the range of realities of the affected individuals and groups. On the. other hand, committing exclusively on stakeholder perceptions creates the risk of generating. biased results and ignoring essential impacts because local stakeholders cannot always expect. the scope and effects of specific changes (Becker D. H., 2003 ).. Therefore, determining impact significance should combine technical knowledge with. local stakeholder perspectives. There are very few case studies that combine participatory and. technical approaches to determine impact significance (Schindler, 2016 ) (Arce-Gomez, 2015).. This procedure is not useful only from a practical, utilitarian point of view but also from a. moral and philosophical as NGO´s\NPO´s are judged by the general public, governments,. beneficiaries, and the rest of the stakeholders by the consequences of their projects, programs,. policies or by the existence or absence of action. From the consequences, regardless if these. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.014.2018.A06. ‧ 國. 立政治大. 學 ‧. N a. t io na l Chengch i U. ni ve. rs i t. y. - 28 -. are positive or negative, the organization is going to be held accountable and responsible. It is. in the best interest to decide with as many data as possible of the possible scenarios the. organization might confront. Constant ex-post and ex-ante Social Impact Assessment lead to. better knowledge and better predictions. . To implement a participatory approach is of vital importance to plan the stakeholder. engagement ahead. The assessor must ask who are the principal players and influencers, what. is their role, how do they participate in the process, and interact with one another as well. This. step, called stakeholder mapping should be done previous the engagement of the local. stakeholder. The assessor should map the stakeholders for a better understand the holistic. picture view of an organization, project, program or action´s principal influencers. Identifying. sources of power and interest, both inside and outside of the organization and include internal. functions and teams of the organization and the local group or communities as well as those. outside. The stakeholder mapping is also useful for identify potential sources of support or. conflict and facilitate the planning, management, maneuver and elaboration of well-developed. initiatives, campaigns, and change management programs (Kourdy, 2015). This procedure of. mapping and identification of the stakeholder group should be done as a starting point for the. participatory procedure. After identifying the related stakeholders, the organization should. define the indicator that might find useful to gather or any other relevant relation and perception. that the community object of the project, program or action as well as the effects that might. concern the stakeholders. Once this decision and parameters are established the organization’s. management can proceed to select the mechanism of communication between the local. stakeholders and the organization. Finally, once the information and data have been gathered. is the job of the Social Impact Assessor to evaluate the significance level based on the. assessments.. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.014.2018.A06. ‧ 國. 立政治大. 學 ‧. N a. t io na l Chengch i U. ni ve. rs i t. y. - 29 -. Stakeholder mapping also allows the assessor focus the attention in the stakeholders. that will be addressed since when the governance context is overly network-oriented, the Social. Impact Assessment process may lose focus, becoming a consensus-building process in its own. right. Consensus-building might sound democratic and justified, but the priority this process is. to allow refined decision-making process (Meuleman, 2013). While approaching the. stakeholders, the assessor must realize that he shall not over encourage the public to get. involved in consultation and invitations to decision making processes since this might lead to. a cumbersome Social Impact Assessment procedure or even worst decision-making process.. While participatory techniques offer additional support to traditionally technocratic. methodologies, the quality of local stakeholders’ perspectives should be questioned when the. process of developing their judgments is lacking well-informed participants or reflects merely. trivial opinions (Yankelovich, 1991) (Albrecht, 1988). Social Impact Assessment should also. include intent to the empowerment of local minorities; improvement of the position of women,. minority groups, and other disadvantaged or disregarded members of society. As well as. developing the capacity building, alleviation of all forms of dependency, promote equity, and. maximize poverty reduction (Vanclay, 2003). The empowerment can cause a Social Impact. Assessment to have different perspectives, like the difference between the point of views. between the developer and the community. This perspective could even change between the. same community; the most vulnerable could be affected in a different or more pronounced way. than the vast majority. However, awareness of the differential distribution of impacts among. different groups in society, and particularly the impact burden experienced by susceptible. groups in the community should always be of prime concern (Vanclay, 2003).. While planning the engagement of the stakeholders, is essential to have a proper. balance between the information given by the assessor and the output of the stakeholders. received by the assessor. The best engagement planning determines and profile stakeholder. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.014.2018.A06. ‧ 國. 立政治大. 學 ‧. N a. t io na l Chengch i U. ni ve. rs i t. y. - 30 -. groups, selects the rules of engagement, and the etiquette that will be observed. In the. engagement planning description of events that will occur throughout the impact assessment. process such as places, times, goals, involved groups, content, and medium of communication. (Broeder H. K., 2015). Similarly, the allocation of essential resources such as budget,. communication tools, technical support, spokespersons, suitable premises, and finally creates. a strategy that shall be described meticulously.. While mapping the Social Impact assessor should analyze the local stakeholder and. proceed to establish the whole sample into priority groups with the reflection of their affiliation. according to the necessities of the project, program or sample. As an example is the Social. Impact Assessment to be implemented in a project that facilitates water infrastructure to a. remote community through the creation of a water reservoir to face the dry summer. In this. example utilizing a design and methods similar to those used by Julia Terrapon-Pfaffa, Thomas. Finka, Peter Viebahna and El Mostafa Jameab done in a case study in Morroco (Julia Terrapon-. Pfaffa, 2017), the assessor should establish priority groups. The priority groups should look. like single mother families, families with less than four individuals, families with four or more. individuals, subsistence farmers, small commercial farmers or other relevant classifications. If. different communities are affected conducting separate focus groups for these communities. allows for the comparison not only between stakeholder groups but also between communities. (Julia Terrapon-Pfaffa, 2017). This participatory assessment and its focus groups have the. primary objective to determine the significance attributed by them to the possible impacts of. the actions of the organization. The focus groups should complete the activities of identification. of the impacts and assign a significant level of these impacts.. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.014.2018.A06. ‧ 國. 立政治大. 學 ‧. N a. t io na l Chengch i U. ni ve. rs i t. y. - 31 -. In this step, the assessor should create a list to address the questions of significance to. the local stakeholder (Wuppertal Institute, 2015). This list of indicators focuses on convenience. in data availability, cost, time, qualifications, and experiences of the researchers (Freudenburg,. 1985). It is crucial for the local stakeholder to judge the importance of these aspects of the. living environment and wellbeing before evaluating the impacts or the probable outcomes of. the project, program or action. The ex-ante assessment is valuable to have the advantage that. the judgment should not be directly connected to the project and the related worries, hopes, and. expectations of the stakeholders, which produced more systematic and neutral information. (Stolp, 2002). . Once the focus groups have established the list of possible impacts, is time, with the. help of the assessor specialist to determine their level of impact in two dimensions, the. importance, and the magnitude of the impact. Firstly, the local stakeholders should be asked to. qualify or rank individually from 1-10 the values and attributes by their perceptions, interests,. concepts or wellbeing. Secondly, to quantify the degree of impact each of the values and. attributes has on their own or familiar subjective well-being. This time ranging from 1-3. . As a final step in this phase of it is necessary for the assessor to analyze and graph the. results to gather the knowledge in a method to be useful in the decision-making process as well. as in the form of archive for future projects to create the database. It is necessary to determine. the correlation between the two factors: level of importance and impact magnitude. The. importance of assigning numerical values to the answers of the stakeholders is to use it to get. the mean importance scores. For each of the focus groups and priority groups separately to. have the most accurate depiction of their concerns and points of view. These mean scores are. then categorized accordingly:. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.014.2018.A06. ‧ 國. 立政治大. 學 ‧. N a. t io na l Chengch i U. ni ve. rs i t. y. - 32 -. Level of importance:. 1. High (>6). 2. Medium (4-5.9). 3. Low (<4). Impact magnitude:. 1. High (3) . 2. Medium (2). 3. Low (1). Once the numerical values are assigned to each of the values and attributes as a. significance level of importance, and the impact magnitude as perceived by the local. stakeholders the assessor can proceed, with the aid of Valorization Matrix to determine the. results from the participatory approach. Based on the results of the consolidation of the two. valorizations the assessor can proceed to determine the significance level of each of the values. and attributes to determine the perception of importance by the local stakeholders.. Table 2-3 Impact Valorization Matrix. Level of importance . Low (>4) Medium (5-5.9) High(>6). Impact. Magnitude . Low (<1.5) Very low Low Low. Medium (1.6-2.4) Low Moderate High. High (2.5-3) Moderate High Very High. With the help of data summaries and graphical representations, impacts with high. importance and a high degree of effect can be identified. Furthermore, agreement, and. disagreement between stakeholder groups concerning significance could be analyzed. During. the analysis of the results from the impact magnitude rating, it is essential to distinguish. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.014.2018.A06. ‧ 國. 立政治大. 學 ‧. N a. t io na l Chengch i U. ni ve. rs i t. y. - 33 -. between positive and negative impacts, as a high degree of effect from a positive impact is. required while the contrary applies for negative impacts (Julia Terrapon-Pfaffa, 2017).. Another mechanism to the participatory is the Interactive Community Forum. In this. mechanism, unlike Social Impact Assessment described before where individuals are asked to. express their perception of importance or attitudes on given factors of a proposed project, the. Interactive Community Forum seeks to empower individuals by using their knowledge and. local expertise to identify community-level impacts (Dennis R. Becker, 2003). As well as in. the previously discussed mechanism, the assessor should establish small priority groups to. generate discourse and have better considerations. The following objectives guide the. implementation of the Interactive Community Forum process, adapted from Becker´s. procedure for Environmental Impact Assessment (Dennis R. Becker, 2003).. Provide community members with an opportunity to have their input formally included. in the projection phase of the Social Impact Assessment process is essential for social inclusion.. Participating local stakeholders will be informed of project-related information and findings. while exposing them to others stakeholder perspectives and unique knowledge. Assess. community-level social impacts of Social Impact Assessment alternatives using the judgments. of community members and obtain local stakeholders ideas about effective strategies for. minimizing identified negative social impacts. . This priority groups should be selected based on the stakeholder mapping process. explained previously and if the communities or population is big enough a sample selection. process can be established. This depending on the project and the stakeholders can have a. different amount of subjects. Regardless of the application, it is essential that different types of. communities and their residents be assessed to ensure the full range of social impacts are. considered in the Social Impact Assessment. Multiple community roles should beforehand. identify that span the social and organizational structure of the affected communities to ensure. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.014.2018.A06. ‧ 國. 立政治大. 學 ‧. N a. t io na l Chengch i U. ni ve. rs i t. y. - 34 -. the existence of a diversity of ideas and perspectives in the Interactive Community Forum. (Becker D. H., 2003 ). Additionally, to these volunteers of the community can participate in a. specific priority group. Both priority groups and volunteers must be part of the affected. community; the subjects should be informed and possess knowledge about the issues addressed. in the project, program or action to have the best results to participate. Lastly, the assessor. should reach out to vulnerable or marginalized subjects to obtain their insight too. The assessor. shall assign to each of the priority groups a collaborator to moderate and inform the. communities of relevant information as well. This moderator should facilitate an open dialog. and sharing of point of views, ideas, and concerns between the subjects. To give closure to this. step of the procedure the moderator after the through discussion should facilitate the creation,. condensation, justification of ratings, and perspectives that ultimately should add to the. database of knowledge. These final ratings can be done through the process of determination. of the level of importance and impact magnitude previously detailed. . At the conclusion of this process, group members are led through a facilitated exercise. to brainstorm mitigation actions to address identified negative impacts (Becker D. H., 2003 ).. The brainstorm can give an insi