Author: Beata Lavrinoviča
There are different understandings of social impact, which covers “a common good”, “common actions for social good”, “engaging people into social campaigns”, “helping/caring for people”, anything that makes communities prosper. The need of boosting the social impact is explained by the concept of Doughnut Economics, which recognizes the inseparable connection between the economy and environmental and social affairs. The concept has been developed on the understanding, that the economic theories taught at educational institutions exclude the elements of society and nature, which makes them perfect in theory and not meaningful in practice. The Doughnut model demonstrates two circles: the outer circle represents the productive limits of the planet’s generative systems as the limits that the human economy must not exceed. The inner circle represents the social foundation of what a high-performing economy must provide to every human being. A sustainable, safe, and just environment is in the middle. There are different understandings of social impact, which covers “a common good”, “common actions for social good”, “engaging people into social campaigns”, “helping/caring for people”, anything that makes communities prosper. The most important aspect of social impact creation is consulting and working closely with the direct beneficiaries, as often happens that most sincere efforts are being perceived wrongly due to the cultural differences, lack of knowledge, and miscommunication. Local contexts of the beneficiaries, as well as experience of global practices have to be taken into account when fostering social impact.
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