Social Impact Assessment

Prof. Nestor Castro, PhD

University of the Philippines Diliman

2019 ProSPER.Net Leadership Programme

University of the Philippines Diliman
24-30 November 2019

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 Objectives

 Understand the key elements and methodology

of a Social Impact Assessment;
 Determine the scope of impact analysis;
 Identify common key social impacts and risks of
development projects;
 Understand the importance of good baseline
data and indicators for successful
implementation, monitoring, and evaluation; and
 Identify good practices and constraints for social
impact assessment.

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 Social Impact Assessment (SIA)
Defined

 A kind of policy research frequently done by social

scientists entailing the collection of socio-cultural
data about a community for use by planners of
development projects (van Willigen 1986).
 The study of the potential effects of natural physical
phenomena, activities of government and business,
or any succession of events on specific groups of
people (Orbach 1979).

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 Social Impact Assessment

 Social Analysis +
Participation.

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 SIA = Social Analysis + Participation
Social Analysis

 The systematic investigation of demographic

factors, socio-economic determinants, social
organization, socio-political context, needs
and values, and institutions.
 Objectives: 1) account for social differences;
2) assess impact and risks; 3) mitigate
adverse impacts; and 4) build capacity of
institutions and individuals.

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 SIA = Social Analysis + Participation
Participation

 A process through which stakeholders

influence and share control over
development initiatives, decisions, and
resources which affect them.
 Participation ranges from information-sharing
and consultation methods, to mechanisms
for collaboration and empowerment that give
stakeholders more influence and control.

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 Importance of Public Participation

 Helps to identify and address concerns of

stakeholders;
 Focuses planning on issues or concerns;
 Provides alternatives for consideration in
planning;
 Provides added sources of expertise;
 Reduces level of misinformation and distrust;
 Improves decision making; and
 Empowers the citizens to take responsibility.

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 Essential Elements of Public
Participation

 Social preparation for the participation of

stakeholders;
 Identification and full representation of
stakeholders and other concerned parties;
 Implementation of procedures or protocols
that are acceptable to all parties; and
 Issues or concerns that emerged are stated
clearly and made known to all participants.
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 Benefits of SIA

 Ability to identify possible impacts, both positive and

negative, on host communities.
 Being able to provide projections about future effects
which inform all stakeholders involved in the project,
including planners, designers, political leaders, and
the public.
 Identification of opportunities to engage communities
and put in place early impact mitigation methods.

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 Some questions explored in SIA

 What will be the impact of the project on the

various stakeholders, particularly on
vulnerable groups, such as indigenous
peoples, women, and the elderly?
 Are there plans to mitigate the adverse
impacts?
 What social risks might affect project or
program success?
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 Some questions explored in SIA

 What institutional arrangements are needed

for participation and project delivery?
 Are there adequate plans to build the
capacity required at the appropriate levels?

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 Significance of SIA in relation to
Management Policy

 SIA as a tool for decision makers to frame

development strategies;
 SIA ensures the incorporation of social
considerations into policies, plans, and programs
at the earliest stages of decision making down to
the implementation processes;
 SIA as a research and development tool leading
to new agency regulations and guidelines,
general field manuals, etc.

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 SIA as part of EIA

“The environment involves not only the

biophysical aspects but also the socio-
economic dimension of a proposed
development. People are part of the
environment and are often the subject of or
directly affected by projects or undertakings.”

- Philippine EIS Procedural Manual, 2003

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 Public Participation in EIA Process

Recognition that people:

 Possess intimate knowledge about their
environment;
 Have needs and aspirations for socio-
economic upliftment;
 Are recipients of benefits and/or
environmental stress arising from these
projects or undertaking.
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 Social Impact Assessment
Process

1. Conduct stakeholder analysis;

2. Identify social factors;
3. Gather data;
4. Analyze data and assess priorities; and
5. Develop plans in consultation with
stakeholders.

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 Stakeholders: definition

 Stakeholders: persons or groups who may

be significantly affected by the project or
undertaking, directly or indirectly.
 In the context of World Bank-supported
activities, stakeholders are “those affected
by the outcome – negatively or positively – or
those who can affect the outcome of a
proposed intervention.”

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 Guiding Principle in Stakeholder
Engagement

 Social Inclusion

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 SIA Steps

1. Baseline profiling
2. Projection
3. Assessment of
impact
4. Evaluation

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 SIA Step 1: Baseline Profiling

 Identification of the relevant populations and

the assimilation of as much information as is
possible concerning the group.
 Details as to the scope of the area of impact
can often be determined from an analysis of
the technical specification of the project.

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 Baseline socio-cultural data
needed

 Demographic factors (number and age structure

of population, ethnic grouping, population
distribution and movement – including seasonal
movements);
 Housing and human settlements;
 Health status of the community (particular health
problems/issues, availability of clean water,
infectious and endemic diseases, nutritional
deficiencies, life expectancy, use of traditional
medicine, etc.);
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 Baseline socio-cultural data
needed:

 Levels of employment, areas of employment,

skills (particularly traditional skills), education
levels (including levels attained through
informal and formal education processes),
training, capacity-building requirements;
 Level of infrastructure and services (medical
services, transport, waste disposal, water
supply, social amenities, recreation, etc.);

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 Baseline socio-cultural data
needed:

 Level and distribution of income (including

traditional systems of distribution of goods
and services based on reciprocity, barter,
and exchange);
 Asset distribution (e.g. land tenure
arrangements, natural resource rights,
ownership of other assets in terms of who
has the rights to income and other benefits);

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 Baseline socio-cultural data
needed:

 Traditional systems of production (food,

medicine, artifacts), including gender roles in
such systems;
 Traditional, non-monetary systems of exchange,
such as barter and other forms of trade including
labor exchange;
 Related economic and social relations;
 Importance of gender roles and relations;
 Traditional responsibilities and concepts of
equity and equality in society;
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 Baseline socio-cultural data
needed:

 Traditional systems of sharing natural

resources, including resources that have
been hunted, collected, and harvested; and
 Views of indigenous and local communities
regarding their future and ways to bring
about future aspirations.

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Example:
Land classification, use, and
ownership among the Kalinga

 Rice terraces are

owned by the family.
 Swidden fields are
owned through
usufruct.
 Woodlands are owned
by the extended kin
group.
 Forest lands are
communally owned.
 Residential lots are
privately owned.
 Burial grounds are
owned by the spirits.
Some Data Gathering Techniques

 Censuses and
surveys
 Key informant
interviews
 Focus group
discussions (FGD)
 Life stories
 Mapping social
networks
Other interactionist methods

 Games
 Role play
 Participatory
resource mapping
 Village workshops
 Community Profile Outline
(After Vlachos 1975)

 Human Ecology
 Characteristic Institutions
 Social Collectivities
 Lifestyles
 Historical Features
 Worldviews, Beliefs,
Perceptions and
Definitions of Reality
 Intercultural Perceptions

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Some Tools for Social Analysis

 Positions, Interests and

Needs (PIN) Analysis
 Strengths,
Weaknesses,
Opportunities, and
Threats (SWOT)
Analysis
 Problem Tree or
Webbing
 Modified Venn Diagram
 SIA Step 2: Projection

 Projection involves the selection of a broad

range of alternative courses of action, and
elaborating their consequences for the
present profiled situation over a specified
period of time (Van Tassel and Michaelson
1976).
 Forecasting – to actually predict the future.

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 Some Forecasting Techniques

 Flow chart and

diagram construction
 Metaphors, analogies,
and comparison
 Delphi technique
 Trend extrapolation
 Scenarios
 Cross-impact matrices

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 SIA Step 3: Assessment of Impact

 Involves
summarization and
comparison of
various projections.
 Type of assessment
used relates very
closely to the kinds
of projections

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 Characteristics to be Assessed

 Affected groups  Breadth and depth

 How they are of impact, or
affected diffusion of effects
 Likelihood of effects  Source of impact, or
 Timing of effects the organization
 Magnitude of effects  Controllability of the
impact generated by
 Duration of impact given technologies
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 SIA Step 4: Evaluation

 A political process that takes the form of a

selection from among the alternatives.
 The analyst does not evaluate in the final
accounting. This is the task of political
officials and/or the public.
 Often difficult because of confrontation
between local community and development
agency values. Transparency in decision
making can minimize this difficulty.
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 Poor Practice of SIA

 Undertaking SIA only for compliance

purposes (i.e. to comply to government
regulations or funding agency requirements).
 “Cut-and-paste” type of SIA output.
 Assessment only made by experts and
excluded community participation.
 Neglecting heterogeneity of stakeholders and
impacts on them.
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 Case Study: Resettlement of
Mamanwa indigenous people

 The Mamanwa are

indigenous people of
northeastern Mindanao,
Philippines.
 Traditionally, they were
semi-nomadic
horticulturists although
many of them have
been transformed to
wage labourers since
the 1980s.

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 Original Mamanwa settlements in
Tubod, Surigao del Norte

 In 2002, there were two

Mamanwa villages in
the Municipality of
Tubod, namely in
Cawilan and Purok 2.
 In the village of
Cawilan, the Mamanwa
residents primarily
engage in cultivating
banana, sweet
potatoes, and other root
crops in backyard plots.

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 Mamanwa settlements in Tubod

 In the village of Purok

2, the Mamanwa
residents are
primarily wage
labourers, working as
coconut farmers and
wood haulers.
 Both villages are
located in landslide-
prone areas.

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 Establishment of Mamanwa
Resettlement Site

 Upon the initiative of the

local government unit,
and supported by private
entities, the Mamanwa
residents were
transferred to a
resettlement site located
away from the danger
zones.
 The new houses were
made of more durable
materials and now had
access to electricity.

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 Establishment of Mamanwa
Resettlement Site

 A school house was

also built for the new
community.
 The originally two
distinct villages are now
found in one single
community.
 The houses are more
clustered compared to
the original scattered
settlement pattern.

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 Adverse impacts of the
resettlement project

 There is increased conflict between the two original

villages because of the proximity with one another.
The two sections of the community had their own
Tribal Councils and their own set of leaders.
 Even within the same “tribe”, there is increased
jealousy between neighbours.
 Many of these new houses were eventually
abandoned by their owners because they returned to
the mountains in order to cultivate crops and to hunt.
 There was also increased morbidity in the new
settlement.

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 Lessons from the Mamanwa
Resettlement Project

 The resettlement project was planned by

outsiders for the Mamanwa. The Mamanwa
people were not really involved with the
project’s conceptualization, planning, and
construction. Government planners believe
that they know better than the people.
 Socio-cultural factors were never considered
in the project design. There was no SIA prior
to project implementation.

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Cultural Competence

 An ongoing process by which individuals and

systems respond respectfully and effectively
to people of all cultures, languages, classes,
races, sexes, ethnic backgrounds, religions,
sexual orientations, abilities, and other
diversity factors in a manner that recognizes,
affirms, and values the worth of individuals,
families, and communities, and protects and
preserves the dignity of each.
- NASW 2001
Operationalization
of cultural competence

 Culturally competent organizations and

individuals are able to integrate and
transform knowledge about diverse groups of
people into specific standards, policies,
practices, and attributes used in appropriate
cultural settings to increase the quality of
services, thereby producing better outcomes.
- Davis and Donald 1997
 Social Impact Assessment

 Thank you very much.

 Questions, Comments?
 Email: ntcastro1@up.edu.ph

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