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Social Impact
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03-17-2008 13:27
Agora Partnerships is committed to delivering maximum social impact for dollar invested. We seek to measure and communicate the success and failures of our work to all our stakeholders. As part of our commitment to build the field of micro venture capital and entrepreneur-focused development models, we also are committed to adopting emerging standards in the field. Common standards for the field are critically important to reduce impact measurement costs and to enable the field to present a comprehensive and consistent account of its impact.
This picture shows children of workers at Bambucasa, a small bamboo design and construction company dedicated to building environmentally sustainable low-income housing in Nicaragua. We believe that the key to fighting global poverty is partnering with businesses like Bambucasa to ensure they deliver value to their customers, shareholders, employees, and to the environment.
To make sure our companies are working to increase their value to all their stakeholders, Agora Partnerships currently measures impact using three types of information available to us.
1) Quantitative data on Agora supported companies that is readily available and at low cost such as direct job creation, taxes paid, exports generated, and socially responsible policies implemented.
2) Measurable data regarding the climate for socially responsible entrepreneurship in the areas where we work, such as changes to national policy, local media coverage, and attendance and feedback at agora entrepreneurship seminars.
3) Qualitative feedback including interviews with entrepreneurs, employees, and other stakeholders.
For more information please see our Social Impact Report 2007