Thought Leadership Archives - Page 6 of 14

Community assessment: still the best starting point for a meaningful social investment strategy

This article explains the importance of community assessments in designing effective social investment strategies, highlighting how grassroots insights, stakeholder engagement and data-driven approaches lead to more impactful, sustainable and community-aligned development interventions.

Using the Theory of Change to evaluate and strengthen social investments

Using materiality assessments to meaningfully engage stakeholders in ESG priority-setting

In an era where environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations are increasingly pivotal in organisational decision-making and strategy design, the importance of stakeholder engagement cannot be overstated. An in-depth understanding of stakeholder priorities and the ESG factors that drive business success is necessary for any organisation looking to take its approach from ESG box-ticking to something that leads to genuine social and environmental impact. Materiality assessments are a valuable, multi-faceted tool that support organisations in strengthening their ESG strategies and reporting, in part by enabling meaningful stakeholder engagement.

Key considerations in community trust design and operations

There is no single right way for a community trust to operate, but the decisions made in this regard have significant implications for impact, reporting and measurement. In February, Tshikululu facilitated a session on building capacity for impactful delivery at the INSPIREd Community Trusts Learning Event, hosted by the Initiative for Social Performance in Renewable Energy (INSPIRE). Drawing on Tshikululu’s more than 25 years’ experience in managing social investment trusts, and leveraging insights from our Community Trust Benchmarking Report, this interactive session explored the governance and operating models of Trusts in South Africa, the key factors Trusts should consider when deciding on an operating model, and the implications of this choice for delivering impact.

Suggestions to tackle ESG scepticism

Amid growing public scepticism about the authenticity of companies’ sustainability claims, businesses face the challenge of delivering meaningful impact through environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) initiatives, says investment advisory Tshikululu Social Investments senior social investment specialist Graeme Wilkinson.

Beyond compliance: enhancing the impact of community trusts in South Africa

For decades, the mining sector has recognised the need to invest in the development of its host communities, both from a regulatory perspective and in recognition of the historical inequities that continue to create socioeconomic challenges in communities across South Africa. Community trusts (and similar broad-based community ownership schemes) are one vehicle through which companies seek to benefit communities. However, achieving meaningful and sustained benefit to mining host communities through the use of community trusts has not been successful in many instances.

Good Governance: The bedrock for empowering South African communities

Broadening our ESG focus: Successful integration of the “S” into ESG in the South African context.

Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) is increasingly being adopted by businesses in South Africa as a framework to measure and report on sustainability. Globally, ESG is considered by some to have a bias towards the environmental, with frameworks and reporting prioritising the “E”. However, the need for a Just Transition puts the relationship between the “E” and the “S” starkly into focus in the South African context. Prioritising environmental concerns without meaningfully addressing social issues is inadequate in a country where many communities depend on industries like mining for their livelihoods.

Sustainable social impact in a changing world

Creating and measuring social impact must, by necessity, be as dynamic as the socio-economic context it is responding to. Creating and measuring social impact must, by necessity, be as dynamic as the socio-economic context it is responding to. Strengthening our approach to social investment involves applying and sharing lessons learnt, and using them to develop evidence-based approaches to creating and measuring social impact over time. Building on the lessons we have learnt as Tshikululu over 26 years in the social investment space, we have identified three key elements that we see as central to achieving sustainable impact now and in the future: