Social return on investment : an introduction
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The measurement of results measurement of organisations both inside and outside the international development sector has increasingly become subject of discussion. Several new methodologies for measurement have been developed; a relatively new approach is Social Return on Investment (SROI). So far SROI has mainly been used in social enterprises. This paper is an introduction to SROI. It first provides core issues and describes how SROI was designed out of dissatisfaction with prevailing approaches to measurement. Subsequently it is shown how SROI works and which steps should be taken to perform an SROI analysis. Furthermore challenges that have been encountered while conducting SROI analyses and potential benefits of the methodology are dealt with. The SROI analysis is still under development and until now its use in the international development appears to be limited. The paper concludes with some issues for consideration in investigating the applicability of SROI in this sector