Measuring Community Outcomes

The outcomes of community development cannot be fully measured by visitor numbers or sales alone.
Have residents come to take pride in where they live? Have new local leaders and supporters of the community emerged? It is these changes, hard to capture in numbers, that become the strength of a community.

We are working on social impact evaluation as a way to capture these changes.

It is an approach that captures the social and environmental changes (outcomes) brought about by a project or activity, both quantitatively and qualitatively, and assesses their value.
In Japan, too, governments, companies, intermediary support organizations and researchers are working together to spread the approach and develop its methods.

● We decide what to measure from the treasure hunting itself
Based on the treasures found together with residents and the future the community is aiming for, we decide which signs of change to track.

● We follow change over time
Drawing on many years of experience with tracking surveys, we measure before, after and well after a project, using the same design.

● We read numbers and voices together
We combine survey figures with interviews with residents and stakeholders to reveal why things changed.

● We measure pride
We are developing research designs that capture changes in residents’ attitudes, such as civic pride.

• Local governments and councils that want to show the results of community development and tourism promotion clearly to residents, assemblies and funders
• Those who want to apply the results of grant-funded projects to their next plans
• Local businesses that want to communicate the social value of their work

We take on consultations while continuing our research and practice. Please feel free to contact us.