Impact Areas & What They Mean

From the Recharge perspective, we encourage you to try to think especially across social, economic, organisational, and environmental areas of impact. You can but don’t have to address them all. They need to make actual sense for the participatory initiative you are putting in place.

Social impact analyses the changes participatory practices in CHOs have on the involved communities, their motivation, well-being, social cohesion and sense of belonging, etc. How many and who are your volunteers? Why are they involved? How does the involvement change their everyday lives?

Economic impact examines the effect of the participatory process and activities on the economic side of things for the involved stakeholders. It usually measures changes in business revenue, business profits, personal wages, and perhaps even the creation of jobs through your project.

Organisational impact examines potential internal changes within the organisations involved in the participatory practices around the CHOs. This includes shifts in organisational strategy, the creation of new workflows or roles to support the Living Labs process, and adaptations in internal structures. It also assesses changes in governance and organisational transformation, such as the emergence of new decision-making spaces, collaborative structures, or participatory processes that reflect the influence of the Living Labs approach.

Environmental impact accounts for the environmental values of actions performed as participatory in the CHOs and understands their impact on the environment, whether it's recycling, repairing, or reusing resources, participating in circular economies, reducing your energy or water usage, or even raising awareness about the environmental changes where you are.