Hearing the Voices of the Poor
Through Impact Assessment Workshop

October 26-28, 2010
University of Michigan

Register Now!

Click here for a Workshop Agenda (PDF)
Click here for a Workshop Brochure (PDF)

The Value of Measuring Impacts

Most ventures that serve the world’s poor possess feel-good stories and collect data on pre-determined business milestones and do not go a level deeper to truly hear the voices of the base of the pyramid. Indeed, they do not have a systematic way to assess and enhance their poverty alleviation performance. Ventures must begin to view measuring impacts as an investment that will allow them to further innovate their business model in order to improve their economic and social performance. At the same time, internal and external stakeholders increasingly require ventures to measure their impacts in a systematic and structured manner.

An Investment in Value Creation

This training workshop will assist BoP ventures to enhance their abilities to cost effectively track their local poverty alleviation impacts. Measuring these local impacts will help BoP ventures maximize mutual value creation and develop more sustainable and scalable business models.

More about the Workshop  

For a peek at our first workshop view a slideshow with narrations, click here. Read more about some methodology issues we discussed during the workshop on NextBillion.
Tool Our Team
Audience Location
Key Takeaways Registration
Content Cost

A Tool for Venture Managers  

Dr. Ted London developed the Base of the Pyramid Assessment Framework in order to help organizations better understand and improve their on-the-ground poverty alleviation impacts. Utilizing our framework provides venture leaders with a structured process to enhance positive impacts and mitigate negative impacts.

As featured in the Harvard Business Review,*  the Base of the Pyramid Impact Assessment Framework provides managers with a robust and systematic approach to conducting

(1) a strategic analysis to gain a deep understanding of their holistic set of impacts, and

(2) a performance analysis to identify, track, and improve key indicators over time.

*London, T. 2009. Making better investments at the base of the pyramid. Harvard Business Review, 87(5): 106-113

Audience


This training is designed for organizations working with the base of the pyramid who want to develop or refine their impact assessment process.

In particular, organizations that have a serious commitment to measuring poverty alleviation impacts in order to assess and enhance their own business models are strongly encouraged to attend.

Key Takeaways

Participants will:

  • Develop a strong understanding of the Impact Assessment Framework
  • Perform an initial strategic analysis of their organization’s impacts
  • Understand the key issues in developing and implementing a robust data collection strategy
  • Create an actionable plan for moving forward in measuring their organization’s impact

Workshop Content

Day One

 Dinner with fellow participants; overview of framework and its value

Day Two

Action-based learning sessions that will allow participants to: 

  • Perform an initial strategic assessment 
  • Learning more about: 
    • Research design
    • Sample size
    • Selecting a sample
    • Analyzing data
  • Initiate their impact assessment plan

    Day Three
  • Learning more about: 
    • Developing a survey
    • Pre-testing
    • Data collection process
    • Implementing a survey

      Participants present organizational specific assessment plans and receive feedback and review

      Our Team

      • Dr. Ted London
        William Davidson Institute and Ross School of Business, University of Michigan

      • Dr. Andy Grogan-Kaylor
        School of Social Work, University of Michigan

      • Heather Esper
        William Davidson Institute

      • Sateen Sheth
        William Davidson Institute

      Please contact us for more information.

      For more information, please contact:
      Heather Esper at:
      (734) 764-6339
      hmoehle@umich.edu

       WDI reserves the right to cancel the workshop if there are not enough participants. In this event, full refunds will be granted

      Note: WDI also offers other engagement options, please contact Heather Esper at hmoehle@umich.edu for more information.


    •  If you have questions or problems, please email BoPResearch@umich.edu