SROI to IMN Case Study 2: Wellsprings Women’s Support Program

Differences in skin colour, language and culture allegedly make it difficult for immigrants to adapt to new environments, leading to social isolation. This phenomenon may be more pronounced among female migrants who face problems such as domestic violence. To provide physical and mental assistance to these female migrants facing social isolation, Wellsprings for Women launched The Women’s Support Program, and the analysis assesses the impact of its intervention activities in the suburbs of Melbourne in 2020.

Factors like skin colour, language or religious beliefs may add to discrimination and other challenges women encounter in societies, leading to social disconnects and other problems. Such problems are not new to Australia, a country that has recently marked multicultural integration. Surveys reveal that many women undergoing multiple survival challenges even face the threat of domestic violence simultaneously, further tearing up their expectations of a stable life.

Project description

To support women experiencing social isolation, Wellsprings for Women, a women’s only centre operating in Dandenong, Casey and Cardinia in the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne since 1994, initiated the Women’s Support Program. Most women engaging with the Women’s Support Program were socially isolated before engaging with Wellsprings and understandably in urgent need of emotional or mental health support. The women who have accessed the Women’s Support Program in 2020 are from 24 unique countries and speak 28 unique languages, the top six of which are English, Dari, Persian, Urdu, Arabic and Hindi. To assist these women, Wellsprings for Women initiated various activities, including family violence case management; provision of emotional and social support; information and learning opportunities; practical support and material aid; and referrals and support enabling access to external service. To gain a deeper understanding of the social and economic value created, Wellsprings for Women commissioned Social Return on Investment (SROI) evaluation of social and economic value created by activities undertaken from 1^st January 2020 to 31^st December 2020. Over these 12 months, the investment amount in the provision of the above services reached $715,340.

Analysis

The original assessment report applying the Social Return on Investment (SROI) analysis approach is turned into a five-dimension table below, in alignment with the framework of Impact Management Norms (IMN).

The number of outcomes derived from intervention activities by Wellsprings for Women reached 21, and 5 groups of stakeholders felt the changes brought about by their initiatives. Among these outcomes, eight were for clients, four for clients’ partners, client’s children, and volunteers, respectively, and one for the Victorian economy. In this conversion report, only one group of stakeholders, the Client, receives discussion because they experienced changes in the highest values.

The WHAT dimension, the first dimension of the IMN framework, explains the outcomes resulting from intervention activities and involves five categories of data: outcome level in period, outcome indicator, outcome threshold, the importance of the outcome to stakeholders, and SDG. These data correspond to the second step in analyzing using the SROI approach, which is mapping outcomes and can be found in Chapter 5 of the original report. However, the original report lists outcome indicator information but not outcome level in period and outcome threshold (see the original paper, page 61). Therefore, the corresponding  lack of information  in Table 1 below is marked as “n/a.” As for the importance of the outcome to stakeholders, the outcome Reduced Feelings of Isolation Managing and Living with Family Violence is of the highest value, followed by Meeting Basic Financial/Household Needs and Sense of Belonging. (see Appendix F of the original report for more information). Finally, although not specified in the original report, in terms of the content, intervention activities by Wellsprings for Women correspond to three Sustainable Development Goals, namely Good Health and Well -being (SDG 3), Gender Equality (SDG 5), and Reduced Inequalities (SDG 10).

Well-defined Outcome		Sense of belonging	Increased capacity to navigate daily life	Hope for the future	Increased capacity for social participation	Reduced feelings of isolation managing and living with family violence	Increased capacity to parent	Meeting basic financial/household needs	Relief from getting on a pathway to resolution
WHAT	Outcome Level in Period	n/a
	Outcome Indicator	7 point Likert scale I feel understood I feel I belong to a community I have friendships I trust others	7 point Likert scale I am confident in who I am I am confident doing things on my own I know how to get the help I need	7 point Likert scale I have hope for my future I am confident I can realise what’s possible for me	7 point Likert scale I feel motivated to help other women	Through communications with Wellsprings, all those experiencing family violence experience this outcome	7 point Likert scale I have energy for my children I feel confident as a parent I have the support I need to parent	Number of clients who reported they have accessed external financial aid services as a result of Wellsprings’ support (31)	# clients (39) who reported they have accessed external services (housing, FV, maternal health, GP, legal aid) as a result of Wellsprings’ support. Some clients accessed more than one external service.
	Outcome threshold	n/a
	Importance of Outcome to Stakeholders (PROXY, Unit Value per year)	$35,730	$16,857	$9,100	$2,750	$58,607	$18,000	$36,244	$22,880
	SDG	SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being; SDG 5: Gender Equality; SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities

The WHO dimension, the second dimension of the IMN framework, describes those who are affected by intervention activities and includes four data categories: stakeholder, geographic boundary, outcome level at baseline, and stakeholder characteristics. In terms of content, these data correspond to the first step in analyzing using the SROI approach, which is establishing scope and identifying stakeholders. This information can be found in Chapter 4 of the original report. Regardless of the lack of geographical differences among this group of stakeholders (the Client), variances in the experience of family violence may lead to further categorization. As with most SROI reports, the original report does not offer Outcome Level at Baseline information, and accordingly, the corresponding cell  in Table 2 below is marked as “n/a.”

Well-defined Outcome		Sense of belonging	Increased capacity to navigate daily life	Hope for the future	Increased capacity for social participation	Reduced feelings of isolation managing and living with family violence	Increased capacity to parent	Meeting basic financial/household needs	Relief from getting on a pathway to resolution
WHO	Geographical Boundary	Dandenong, Casey and Cardinia in the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne
	Stakeholders	Clients
	Outcome Level at Baseline	n/a
	Stakeholder Characteristics	Women not experiencing family violence				Women experiencing violence	Women who parent	All Women

The HOW MUCH dimension, the third dimension of the IMN framework, describes the importance of outcomes derived from intervention activities and involves three data categories: scale, depth, and duration. In terms of content, these data correspond to the third step in analyzing using the SROI approach, which is Evidencing outcomes and giving them value. Chapter 6 of the original report provides these data; the most detailed data can be found in Appendix F of the original paper. Given that the original report provides the required data for the three categories, relevant figures are filled in Table 3.

Well-defined Outcome		Sense of belonging	Increased capacity to navigate daily life	Hope for the future	Increased capacity for social participation	Reduced feelings of isolation managing and living with family violence	Increased capacity to parent	Meeting basic financial/household needs	Relief from getting on a pathway to resolution
HOW MUCH	Scale	57%	61%	69%	59%	100%	61%	69%	59%
	Depth	1.72	1.84	2.08	1.78	n/a	1.40	n/a	n/a
	Duration	1	2	1	2	1	2	1	1

The CONTRIBUTION dimension, the fourth dimension of the IMN framework, clarifies whether and to which extent intervention activities lead to outcomes, involving four data categories: deadweight, attribution, displacement, and dropoff. In terms of content, these data correspond to the fourth step in analyzing using the SROI approach: Establishing impact and can be found in Chapter 6 of the original report. Among the four factors, only the value of displacement is 0%, indicating that stakeholders believe intervention activities by Wellsprings for Women brought about changes and did not shift the problem elsewhere. The values of the four factors are presented in Table 4.

The RISK dimension, the final dimension of the IMN framework, explains possible risks of intervention activities involving two data categories: type and level. In the IMN framework, type is categorized into nine categories, while level is classified into three types: high, medium, and low. None of the six stages of SROI directly address differentiating risk types and levels. As reported in Chapter 9 of the original report, two types of risks may affect the value estimation of outcomes derived from intervention activities by Wellsprings for Women: Stakeholder Participation Risk and Evidence Risk. The relevant data has been shown in the ‘Level’ cell of Table 4.

Well-defined Outcome		Sense of belonging	Increased capacity to navigate daily life	Hope for the future	Increased capacity for social participation	Reduced feelings of isolation managing and living with family violence	Increased capacity to parent	Meeting basic financial/household needs	Relief from getting on a pathway to resolution
CONTRIBUTION	Deadweight	16%	16%	16%	16%	16%	16%	27%	27%
	Attribution	80%	50%	80%	80%	80%	50%	50%	80%
	Displacement	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%
	Dropout	0%	20%	0%	40%	0%	20%	0%	0%
Risk	Type	Stakeholder Participation Risk Evidence Risk
	Level	Numerous factors might have posed barriers to women attending, including that school-aged children were on summer holidays when the session was planned, and many clients were primary caregivers. Other possible obstacles include the situational distress faced by the clients, including family violence and the fact that COVID-19 still impacts the degree to which people interact face-to-face.

The case study, “SROI to IMN Case Study 2: Wellsprings Women’s Support Program,” conducted an impact analysis of Wellsprings for Women’s activities in aiding female immigrants facing social isolation and other issues in Melbourne’s suburbs in 2020. The conversion report revealed that the original SROI report was generally of good quality and mostly in alignment with the current SROI framework. However, it lacked some essential elements required by the IMN framework, such as information on Outcome Level at Baseline. Therefore, the conversion report points to potential areas of improvement in combining different impact analysis approaches. Despite these shortcomings, the case study provides a detailed and valuable insight into the significant positive impacts of the Wellsprings Women’s Support Program.