Social Impact & Stakeholder Engagement Flashcards

A company publishes ambitious social impact targets but provides no baseline data and no methodology for measurement. This practice is best characterized as:

Answer: Impact washing

Impact washing occurs when organizations make social impact claims without the transparent data, baselines, and methodologies needed to verify or validate those claims.

Under the Ruggie Framework (UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights), what are the three pillars?

Answer: Protect, Respect, Remedy

The Ruggie Framework's three pillars are: the State duty to Protect human rights, the corporate responsibility to Respect human rights, and access to Remedy for affected parties.

What is a 'theory of change' in the context of social impact planning?

Answer: A causal logic model linking activities to intended long-term social outcomes

A theory of change articulates the causal pathway from an organization's activities through intermediate outcomes to the ultimate long-term social change it aims to achieve.

Which of the following is a key limitation of using community surveys as the sole method for measuring social impact?

Answer: Survey responses reflect perceptions, which may not capture objective changes in wellbeing

Perception-based data can be influenced by response bias, social desirability, and differing reference points, so surveys alone may not accurately reflect actual changes in objective wellbeing indicators.

A company's social impact report discloses that its community health program reached 10,000 people. To evaluate whether this is a meaningful impact, a CEP practitioner should FIRST ask:

Answer: What change in health outcomes did participants experience?

Reach (number of people) is an output metric; without knowing what health outcomes changed, it is impossible to assess whether meaningful social impact was achieved.

In ESG social risk assessment, 'transition risks' for employees most commonly arise from:

Answer: Automation, decarbonization, or business model shifts that displace workers

Transition risks for workers include job losses from automation, plant closures driven by decarbonization strategies, and restructuring tied to new business models — all requiring just transition planning.

Which of the following BEST describes the principle of 'intersectionality' as applied in social impact assessments?

Answer: Recognizing that individuals hold multiple overlapping identities that compound social disadvantages

Intersectionality, coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw, recognizes that overlapping identities (e.g., race, gender, disability) can create compounding forms of discrimination not captured by examining each identity separately.