How can businesses and investors help fill the multi-trillion gap needed for sustainable development? Simply put, by getting better at measuring and managing impacts on people and planet. Through our new online course, anyone can learn to improve their organization’s practice of impact management, and how to align their ESG or impact activities and reporting with emerging global standards.
Impact Measurement and Management for the SDGs is sponsored by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the global development network of the United Nations which created the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that over 190 countries have signed on to achieve by 2030. But the public sector can’t do this alone. Climate change, poverty, racial and gender equity, food, health, education, clean water — the list of challenges faced by people and planet is too long. Business and investment have stepped in to help. But in a field of evolving acronyms, standards and systems, many are not exactly sure what is required to do this work well. Third party standards and certifications are also evolving quickly to verify and assure impact management practices. What do you need to know to align your work with impact on the SDGs in ways that meet evolving expectations?
Produced by the award winning team at CASE at Duke University, and developed in collaboration with the UNDP SDG Impact team and advisors from around the world, this course consolidates several decades of work around impact management into a cutting-edge guide based on short videos and lessons with concrete practical examples.
“This new course will help participants to gain access to vital knowledge in this rapidly emerging field of impact investment — helping them to better measure the socio-economic and environmental impact of the private sector on people and planet,” said UNDP Administrator, Achim Steiner. “In doing so, the course is also fostering a much-needed cultural shift that will feed into global efforts that are needed to shift trillions of dollars towards the Global Goals.”
The course emphasizes ways to improve decision-making for impact on SDGs through changes enterprises and investors can make in strategy, management approach, transparency, and governance, which we have translated into 4 universal practices of impact measurement and management – SET STRATEGY, INTEGRATE, OPTIMIZE and REINFORCE.
These steps are aligned with the UNDP’s SDG Impact Standards for enterprises and investors, as well as others, such as the Operating Principles for Impact Management.
People who know how to apply these standards are increasingly in demand by institutions globally as they work to improve their performance and reporting around ESG and impact management.
“We see this as a cost-effective way for organizations to train their staff, level-set their new hires, and increase their own effectiveness at addressing the UN SDGs,” said Bill Boulding, Dean of Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. “We are excited about this effort, as it fits with our goal of helping develop practices that enable businesses to work toward the common good.”
If you work or wish to work within an enterprise, a corporation, a fund that manages assets or an asset owner or advisory that oversees investment assets, or if you just want to learn more about impact investing, ESG, social finance, or corporate reporting, this course will help you master the core concepts and practices in impact management for the SDGs and other impacts from both an enterprise and investor perspective.
Sign up for the course today: https://bit.ly/impactforSDGs
It takes up to 10 hours to complete, and you can do it all in your own time, for free. In addition, you may register for the course for $49 and if you pass the required quizzes, you can earn a certificate of completion you can post on your LinkedIn profile.
If you are an academic and would like to use the course components in your teaching, you may download the materials directly from the Coursera site. They are copyrighted and owned by the UNDP, and Duke has been granted rights to use and share them for educational purposes.
Acknowledgements
Our team at CASE is especially grateful to all the people around the world, at UNDP, and at Duke who have made this course possible.
United Nations Development Programme
Fabienne Michaux, Director SDG Impact
Elizabeth Boggs-Davidsen, former Director SDG Impact
Sebnem Sener, Senior Specialist
Belissa Rojas, IMM advisor
Jeremy Nicholls, SDG Impact Assurance Framework Lead
Rosemary Addis, former advisor
Amanda Feldman, former IMM advisor
Ellen Maginnis, former IMM coordinator
Lorena Sander, Legal Innovation advisor
Duke University
Cathy Clark, Faculty Director, CASE and CASE i3
Carrie Gonnella, Senior Program Director, CASE i3
Lucy Pless, Instructional Designer
Jason Van Sant, Video Producer
Cindy Lurie, Manager of Educational Technology Services
John Shelton, Academic Video and Technology Specialist
Henry Cuthbert, Office of Counsel
Quentin Ruiz-Esparza, Associate Director, Online Duke
Tara Kramling, Learning Experience Producer, Online Duke
Van Giles, Associate Director of Public Relations
Vrinda Gupta, CASE i3 Fellow and Research Associate
Reem Fatayerji, CASE i3 Fellow and Research Associate
Academic Working Group
This is a group of faculty from around the world with experience in teaching and performing cutting edge research on impact management. For over two years, they have provided invaluable feedback on the course’s structure and content, contributed global perspectives and examples, and tested course components with their global students and colleagues.
ARGENTINA: Jaquie Pels, Universidad Di Tella
AUSTRALIA: Jodi York, University of Melbourne
AUSTRALIA: Ioana Ramia, University of New South Wales
BRAZIL: Sergio Lazzarini, Insper
CANADA: Kate Ruff, Carleton University
INDIA: Jeremy Wade, O.P. Jindal Global University
LATVIA: Karen Wilson, Stockholm School of Economics
SOUTH AFRICA: Aunnie Patton-Power, University of Capetown
SPAIN: Lisa Hehenberger, ESADE
USA: Saurabh Lall, University of Oregon
Other Contributors, Reviewers, and Informal Advisors
Eric Archambeau, Astanor Ventures
Beth Bafford, Calvert Impact Capital
Clara Barby, Impact Management Project
Ben Carpenter, Social Value International
Ben Constable-Maxwell, M & G Investments
Claudia Coppenolle, Founder Impact Classification System powered by GIIN
Mark Crosswell, GoATL Fund
Alnoor Ebrahim, The Fletcher School
Nick Flores, CapRock
Laura Gitman, Business for Social Responsibility
Karim Harji, Evalysis and Possibilian Ventures
Leslie Kapin, Astanor Ventures
Mike McCreless, Impact Frontiers at Impact Management Project
Christina Leijonhufvud, BlueMark and Tideline
Meredith Lorenz Heimburger, Global Endowment Management
Ilana Mayid, PayPal
Sarah Millar, CityLight Capital
Dan Osusky, B Lab
Olivia Prentice, Impact Management Project
Cliff Prior, The Global Steering Group on Impact Investment
Luba Shabal, Closed Loop Partners
Marieke Spence, Impact Capital Managers
Eric Stephenson, Align Impact
Laurie Spengler, Courageous Capital Advisors
Ben Thornley, Tideline
Brian Trelstad, Bridges Ventures and Harvard Business School
Matthew Weatherley-White, Strategic Advisor to CASE i3