HS 565 – SOCIAL ASPECTS OF HOUSING

ASSIGNMENT – 1

SOCIAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT

SUBMITTED BY:
MAHIMA SALUJA I CHETNA GODIYAL
M.PLAN (HOUSING)
Social Impact Assessment
Social impact assessment can be defined as the process of assessing or estimating, in advance, the social consequences
that are likely to follow from specific policy actions or project development, particularly in the context of appropriate
national, state, or provincial environmental policy legislation.
Hazard
An international document produced under the auspices of a major Assessment
organization such as the International Association for Impact
Assessment could: Project
• Assist in the development of legislation and policy at the Program Risk
national level; and Policy Assessment
Evaluation
• Provide standards for SIA practice in international contexts
(transboundary projects, development cooperation, foreign Social
investments, international banking); Impact
• Increase the appeal of SIA to a wider range of audiences, Assessment
through increasing its legitimacy/standing;
• Establish minimum standards for SIA practice;
Cultural Economic
• Provide an articulation of best practice in SIA as a model; Impact Assessment
• Remove confusion over terminology by establishing a
definitive glossary;
• Establish the appropriate scope of the social component of Environmental
Impact
impact assessments; Assessment
Social Impact Assessment 2
Emergence of Social Impact Assessment
Social impact assessment was formalized with the introduction of the U.S. National Environmental Policy Act
(NEPA) legislation of 1969.
• The first international conference on SIA was held in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1982 and gave academic and
political credibility to the new field.
• The activities of this first conference have been combined into the International Association for Impact
Assessment (IAIA) which held its first meeting in 1981 in Toronto, Canada.
• By 1983, most US federal agencies had formalized environmental and social
assessment procedures in agency regulations.
• In 1986, the World Bank decided to include both environmental and social
assessment in their project evaluation procedures because
• In the United States, SIA reached its highest legitimacy when at the conclusion
of the April 1993 ‘Forest Summit’ in Portland, Oregon,

EIA and SIA

• The definition of the environment in impact assessment has been expanded
to include a ‘social component’.
• SIA now increasingly carries equal weight with both economic and
environmental impact assessment in decisions to change policy or approve
ecosystem alteration Figure 1: source -
https://www.ocmsolution.com/social-impacts-assessment/
Social Impact Assessment 3
SIA is best understood as an umbrella or overarching framework that embodies the evaluation of all impacts on humans and
on all the ways in which people and communities interact with their socio-cultural, economic and biophysical surroundings.
SIA thus has strong links with a wide range of specialist sub-fields involved in the
assessment of areas such as:
• Aesthetic impacts (landscape analysis),
• Archaeological and cultural heritage impacts (both tangible and non-tangible),
• Community impacts,
• Demographic impacts and development impacts,
• Economic and fiscal impacts,
• Gender impacts,
• Health and mental health impacts,
• Impacts on indigenous rights,
• Infrastructural impacts,
• Institutional impacts,
• Leisure and tourism impacts,
• Political impacts (human rights, governance, democratisation etc.),
• Poverty,
• Psychological impacts,
• Resource issues (access and ownership of resources),
• Impacts on social and human capital, and other impacts on societies
Figure 2: source - https://simfoni.com/impact-assessment-101/
Social Impact Assessment 4
 Core Values
Fundamental, ideal-typical,
enduring, statements of
belief that are strongly held
and accepted as premises
(is-statements).
Principles
General statements of
either a common
understanding or an
indication as to a course of
action about what ought to
be done (ought statements).
Guidelines
Statements by which to
plan a specific course of
action and which clarify
how it should done (action
statements).
The Core Values Of International Principles of SIA
The SIA community of practice believes that:
1. There are fundamental human rights that are shared
equally across cultures, and by males and females alike.
2. There is a right to have those fundamental human
rights protected by the rule of law, with justice applied
equally and fairly to all, and available to all.
3. People have a right to live and work in an
environment which is conducive to good health and to a
good quality of life and which enables the development
of human and social potential.
4. Social dimensions of the environment – specifically
but not exclusively peace, the quality of social
relationships, freedom from fear, and belongingness –
are important aspects of people’s health and quality of
life.
5. People have a right to be involved in the decision
making about the planned interventions that will affect
their lives.
6. Local knowledge and experience are valuable and can
Figure 3: source - Social impact assessments:
be used to enhance planned interventions. Developing a consolidated conceptual framework
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Problems Confronting SIA
Despite the advances of SIA, some conceptual, procedural and methodological difficulties remain.

Problems of Social Impact

Assessment

Applying the social sciences SIA process itself The procedures The implications of this
to SIA applying to SIA asocietal mentality

Units of analysis, Data are often poorly An attitude that

theoretical models, and Regulatory agencies
collected, and humans don’t count-
the language of the and corporations
therefore projections amongst the
various social science have not checked
are based on management of
disciplines are the credentials of
inadequate regulatory agencies
sometimes consultants who
information which is and corporations
contradictory undertake SIAs or
often isolated, not (proponents
orinconsistent, making insist that SIA
systematically undertaking the
interdisciplinary consultants have
collected and proposes
communication appropriate social
therefore lacks development) which
difficult science training
validity checks commission SIAs.
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Developing Guidelines
There are many different groups who are potentially interested in
guidelines for SIA. They include:
• SIA practitioners – require guidelines to improve their practice;
• Regulatory agencies – require guidelines in order to specify or
audit the scope of SIA activities they commission as well as
the quality of SIA reports they receive;
• Policy and program developers – require guidelines to ensure
that policy and program development considers social impacts;
• Affected peoples and NGOs – require guidelines to be able to
participate effectively in SIA processes. Local action groups
(resident action groups) and NGOs often act like a regulatory
agency in checking the appropriateness of SIA processes.
• Developers (proponents) and Financiers – require guidelines to
be committed to good practice in environmental and social
impact assessment, to adequately resource such practice, to
liaise effectively with practitioners and interested and affected
parties, and with regulatory agencies.
• Development agencies (multilateral and bilateral aid
organizations) – require guidelines to ensure that the most
benefit is obtained from their aid projects, that SIA
components are adequately resourced, and that the aid projects
themselves do not have unintended environmental or social
consequences.
Figure 3: source - https://www.researchgate.net/figure/SIA-can-be-applied-at-all-phases-of-the-project-cycle_fig1_274254726
Social Impact Assessment 7
Features of SIA
The important features of this understanding of SIA are that:

1. The goal of impact assessment is to bring about a more ecologically, socio-culturally and economically sustainable and
equitable environment. Impact assessment, therefore, promotes community development and empowerment, builds capacity, and
develops social capital (social networks and trust).
2. The focus of concern of SIA is a proactive stance to development and better development outcomes, not just the identification
or amelioration of negative or unintended outcomes. Assisting communities and other stakeholders to identify development goals,
and ensuring that positive outcomes are maximised, can be more important than minimising harm from negative impacts.
3. The methodology of SIA can be applied to a wide range of planned interventions, and can be undertaken on behalf of a wide
range of actors, and not just within a regulatory framework.
4. SIA contributes to the process of adaptive management of policies, programs, plans and projects, and therefore needs to inform
the design and operation of the planned intervention.
5. SIA builds on local knowledge and utilises participatory processes to analyse the concerns of interested and affected parties. It
involves stakeholders in the assessment of social impacts, the analysis of alternatives, and monitoring of the planned intervention.
6. The good practice of SIA accepts that social, economic and biophysical impacts are inherently and inextricably interconnected.
Change in any of these domains will lead to changes in the other domains. SIA must, therefore, develop an understanding of the
impact pathways that are created when change in one domain triggers impacts across other domains, as well as the iterative or
flow-on consequences within each domain. In other words, there must be consideration of the second and higher order impacts
and of cumulative impacts.
7. In order for the discipline of SIA to learn and grow, there must be analysis of the impacts that occurred as a result of past
activities. SIA must be reflexive and evaluative of its theoretical bases and of its practice.
8. While SIA is typically applied to planned interventions, the techniques of SIA can also be used to consider the social impacts
that derive from other types of events, such as disasters, Social
demographic change and epidemics
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Types of Social Impact

The main types of social impacts that occur can be grouped into five overlapping categories:

Cultural Impacts – on shared

Lifestyle Impacts – on the way Community Impacts – on
customs, obligations, values,
people behave and relate to infrastructure, services, voluntary
language, religious belief and
family, friends and cohorts on a organisations, activity networks
other elements which make a
day-to-day basis and cohesion
social or ethnic group distinct

Quality Of Life Impacts – on Health Impacts – on mental,

sense of place, aesthetics and physical, and social well-being,
heritage, perception of although these aspects are also
belonging, security and livability, the subject of health impact
and aspirations for the future assessment

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Aspects of Social Impact Assesment

SIA is a process of analyzing the impact of public/government intervention on the social aspects of the human
environment. These aspects include:
 The ways people cope with life through their economy, social systems, and cultural values.
 The ways people use the natural environment, for subsistence, recreation, spiritual activities, cultural activities, and so
forth.
 The ways people use the environment for shelter, making livelihoods, industry, worship, recreation, gathering together,
etc.
 Organization of the community, social and cultural institutions, and beliefs
 Preservation of the community identity.
 Art, music, dance, language arts, crafts, and other expressive aspects of culture.
 A group's values and beliefs about appropriate ways to live, family and extra-family relationships, status relationships,
means of expression, and other expressions of community.
 The esthetic and cultural character of a community or neighborhood-its ambience.

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Process of Social Impact Assessment
 Social assessment or social impact Identify stakeholders – perform
Analyse project context
stakeholder analysis
assessment is a process for ensuring
that development activities are:
 Informed by and take into
account the key relevant social
issues and formulate mitigative Analyse data and assess
Identify social factors/variable
measures, and priorities
 Incorporate a strategy for the
participate ion of a wide range of
stakeholders.
 Social assessment is an iterative Consult stakeholders and Implement mitigation plan and
process that has to be organized in a develop mitigative plans public participation
phased manner in several stages.

Ensure monitoring with active

stakeholder involvement and
modify it
(Adapted from Rietberg-McCracken and Narayan 1998)
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Stages of Social Impact Assessment

(Adapted from Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal, 2003)

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Parameters of Social Impact Assessment

Social impact assessment can be performed some times to get an overview of the social issues associated with the project in
terms of some of the parameters:
Socio-Economic Determinants:
Factors affecting income and Social Organization: Organization
productivity, such as risk aversion of and capacity at the household and
Demographic Factors: Number of
the poorest groups, land tenure, community levels affecting
people, location, population density,
access to productive inputs and participation in local level institutions
age etc
markets, family composition, kinship as well as access to services and
reciprocity, and access to labor information.
opportunities and migration

Socio-Political Context: Needs and Values: Stakeholder

Implementing agencies’ development attitudes and values determining
goals, priorities, commitment to whether development interventions
project objectives, control over are needed and wanted, appropriate
resources, experience, and incentives for change and capacity of
relationship with other stakeholder stakeholders to manage the process
groups. of change.

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Variables of Social Impact Assessment
Social impact assessment variables point to measurable change in human population, communities, and social relationships
resulting from a development project or policy change.
Population • It mean present population and expected change, ethnic and racial diversity, and influxes and outflows of
Characteristic temporary residents as well as the arrival of seasonal or leisure residents.
s
Community
• It means the size, structure, and level of organization of local government including linkages to the larger
and political systems. They also include historical and present patterns of employment and industrial diversification,
Institutional the size and level of activity of voluntary associations, religious organizations, and interests groups,
Structures
Political and • It refer to the distribution of power authority, the interested and affected publics, and the leadership capability
Social and capacity within the community or region.
Resources

Individual and • It refer to factors which influence the daily life of the individuals and families, including attitudes, perceptions,
Family family characteristics and friend-ship networks. These changes range from attitudes toward the policy to an
Changes alteration in family and friendship networks to perceptions of risk, health, and safety.

• It includes patterns of natural resource and land use; the availability of housing and community services to
Community include health, police and fire protection, and sanitation facilities. A key to the continuity and survival of human
Resources communities is their historical and cultural resources.
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Principle of Social Impact Assessment Some other guiding principles of social impact
assessment:
1. Achieve an extensive understanding of local
Involve the Analyze impact Focus the and regional settings to be affected by the
diverse public equity assessment action or policy.
2. Focus on key social and cultural issues
related to the action or policy from the
community and stakeholder profiles.
Identify methods Provide feedback
and assumptions on social impacts Use SIA 3. Provide quality information that prescribes
and define to project practitioners scientific norms for use in decision-making.
significance planners 4. Identify research methods, assumptions, and
significance that are holistic, transparent, and
replicable.
Establish
monitoring and Identify data Plan for gaps in 5. Ensure that any environmental justice issues
mitigation sources data are fully described and analyzed by taking
programs into consideration the vulnerable
stakeholders and populations.
6. Undertake evaluation/monitoring and
mitigation measures
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Method for Analysing and Predicting Social Impact

Comparative • This method examines how an affected community has responded to change in the past, or the impact on other communities
that have undergone a similar action. The present is compared to the future with the proposed action. Based on past research
method and experiences in similar cases, determination of significance is made based on the comparative data presented.

• This method takes an existing trend and simply projecting the same rate of change into the future; we assume that what
Straight-line happened in the past is likely to happen in the future. For example, visitations for recreation increase each year at about the
trend projection same rate they did in the past.

Population
• In this method, each specified increase in population implies designated multiples of other variables, such as jobs, housing
multiplier units and other infrastructure needs.
methods
Statistical
• It involves calculations to determine probabilistic differences between with and without the proposed action. A social assessor
significance could employ comparative statistical methods to determine statistical significance for appropriate SIA variables.
means
• These refer to logical-imaginations based on construction of hypothetical futures through a process of mentally modeling the
Scenarios assumptions about the SIA variables in question. Scenarios include exercises to develop the likely, alternative or preferred
future of a community or society. Scenarios can be used to compare different outcomes (e.g., Best versus worst case).

Consulting • Use of expert knowledge such as researchers, professional consultants, local authorities, or knowledgeable citizens. Such
persons familiar with the study area could be asked to present scenarios and assess the significant implications for the
experts proposed action.

Calculation of • A number of methods have been formulated to determine what options would be given up irrevocably as a result of a plan or
‘futures project, for instance, river recreation and agricultural land use after the building of a dam. The wetlands mitigation strategy is
forgone’ such an example.
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Questionaire in Social Impact Assessment
1. What is your age?
2. Do you have any children under 18?
3. What is your employment status?
• Full-time
• Part time
• Self-employed
• Retired
4. In which year did you move here?
5. Are you aware of a new project starting here?
6. Did you know that there is a planned change in your community?
7. Would you like more detailed information about activities associated with this project/policy?
8. Would you be interested in attending public hearings related to this project/policy?
9. What questions would you like to ask related to the proposed project/policy?
10. What is your perception of the project/policy change?
11. What fears do you have about new projects in your community?
12. What negative impacts do you fear from the project?
13. What positive impacts are you looking forward to/hoping for from the project?

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Question in Social Impact Assessment
Some of the common questions in the social assessment include:
1. Who are the stakeholders of the project/proposed action?
2. Are project objectives consistent with their needs, interests, and capacity?
3. What social and cultural factors affect the ability of stakeholders to participate or benefit from the proposed policy or
project?
4. What will be the impact of the project or program on the various stakeholders, especially women and vulnerable
groups?
5. Are there plans to mitigate adverse impacts?
6. What social risks might affect project or program success?
7. What institutional arrangements are needed for participation and project delivery?
8. Are there plans to build capacity at appropriate levels?

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Aspects of Social Impact Assessment

The major advantages of undertaking a systematic SIA include:

• Identifying project/ programme stakeholders • Identifying
and prioritizing social issues associated with project •
Mitigating negative impact on communities or individuals •
Enhanced benefits to those affected • Avoids delays and
obstruction in gaining development approval • Acts as a
precautionary measure and avoids costly errors in the future •
Builds the trust and cooperation between community and
stakeholders that is necessary for successful implementation of
the project.

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