Towards developing innovative evaluation approaches to measure the public health impact of social enterprises
Over the past decade, emerging evidence has identified the potential role of social enterprise in addressing health inequalities. Embedding social impact into the core organisational structure to achieve their social mission, social enterprises work to directly address a social need through business activities that fund their operational expenses. However, diversity within the missions of social enterprises has led to a diversity of approaches to their evaluation. The ways in which social enterprise may impact on the social determinants of health are yet to be fully understood. This project, funded by the Melbourne Disability Institute, aimed to contribute toward understanding current methodological approaches to how individual social enterprises may gather evidence of impact on public health.
This report synthesises key stakeholder experiences of current approaches to measuring and evaluating the public health impact of social enterprises, with a narrative review of current literature examining the evaluation of the public health impact of social enterprises for people who experience health inequities, with our specific focus on people with disability. The synthesis identified a clear need for fit-for-purpose evaluation approaches. We propose priority areas for future research to support development and implementation of accessible and sustainable evaluation approaches, capable of providing consistent and meaningful insights.
 Towards developing innovative evaluation approaches to measure the public health impact of social enterprises. With a focus on impact for people with disability. |
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Project Team
Coordinating Investigator: Professor Lucio Naccarella, University of Melbourne
Co-coordinating Investigators:
- Marie Huska, University of Melbourne
- Jess Rowlings, Next Level Collaboration (Social Enterprise), University of Melbourne
Co Investigators:
- Heidi Butler-Moore, CEO Glen Park Community Centre, Café on the Park (Social Enterprise)
- Chris Riseley, Maroondah City Council
- Sue-Lee Theel, Social Foundry (Social Enterprise)
- Dr. Alexandra Devine, University of Melbourne
- Associate Professor Sue Olney, University of Melbourne
- Associate Professor Matt Harrison, Next Level Collaboration (Social Enterprise), University of Melbourne
- Dr Jemimah Ride, Monash UniversityAdvisory Group
Advisory Group:
- Professor Jo Barraket, Director of the Melbourne Social Equity Institute
- Professor Rob Carter, Chair in Disability Economics, Melbourne Disability Institute
- Dr Kate Barrelle, C-founder & Chief Impact Officer STREAT (Social Enterprise)
- Dr Andrew Joyce, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Social Impact Swinburne
Contact us
Professor Lucio Naccarella, University of Melbourne: l.naccarella@unimelb.edu.au