Some of you may know I was at last Thursday’s Context Master Class on Social Impact in Utrecht organised by Context, International Cooperation (CIC) moderated by Fons van der Velden.

I had the good fortune to nbe able to listen to two interesting presentations. The first was from Prof. Dr. Ir. Gert van Dijk on social entrepreneurship put in the broader international context of social and economic development, and the second was from Pol De Greve on practical SROI.

At the end of the session Fons officially launched the CIC SROI Guide 2.0. Contact CIC directly to get a copy.

Prof. van Dijk’s presentation was wide ranging and covered a huge amount of territory. He has an engaging narrative around the complementary nature of social venture entrepreneurs and social venture investors operating at arms length in overseas development. If you’re interested in the international aspects of social enterprise I urge you to google him.

Pol’s approach to practical SROI was, as you’d expect, pragmatic. Bearing in mind that English is his third language his ability to simplify SROI by removing jargon, such as materiality, attribution and contribution was very impressive. Even for professionals in civil society for whom English is their first language this type of jargon is a barrier to adoption.

Published: September 26, 2013. Categories: News, Robert's Blog and Social Impact.