Experience in Social Assessment and Civil Society Building

Blackstone's assignments have included a large number of social analyses and social assessment projects in Canada and in several countries around the world. As the field of “social impact assessment” has evolved and become more comprehensive over the past several years, many of our assignments have come to include strong components related to “building civil society” – that is, increasing opportunities for individuals and groups to interact effectively with all levels of government to achieve positive societal changes and contribute to democratic processes. A fundamental aspect of all of our social assignments is institutional analysis at all levels of project implementation, including incisive diagnoses of how decisions are being made and provision of recommendations addressing improvement of institutional capacity and processes.

Our company’s assignments very often involve highly participatory, multi-component, iterative stakeholder development processes. We carry out social analysis work based on a sustainable livelihoods approach focused not only on needs assessment and problem identification, but also on detailed analysis of the assets that are available to build upon, particularly with regard to social capital and “social energy” among the local people. We look for realistic solutions that can work for all of the stakeholders, including the most vulnerable people. Our strong analytical approaches strive to avoid re-hashing of existing data, curtail the production of simplistic “wish lists” that do not lead to any action, and present clients and all stakeholders with action-oriented recommendations. It is our experience that this type of approach leads to widespread agreement among the various parties, and can avoid painful and expensive conflict resolution processes down line. Our work has included design and development of operations manuals for local initiatives funds.

Blackstone carries out assignments in all of the following areas:

• Social impact assessments for proposed projects;

• Social, demographic and economic analysis to document and ground-truth existing conditions;

• Post-project evaluations;

• Needs assessments and consensus-building about priorities for action, coupled with asset-based analysis to develop sustainable livelihood solutions;

• Participatory programming, consultation and stakeholder development;

• Poverty assessment;

• Post-conflict analysis;

• Economic development and community-based/local initiatives programmes;

• Human rights, democracy and good governance;

• Gender equality and child labour studies and action plans;

• Migration studies;

• Social infrastructure assessment;

• Awareness-building programmes;

• Indigenous peoples research;

• Qualitative and quantitative research (i.e., focus groups and workshops; key informant interviews; case studies; surveys);

• Monitoring and evaluation;

• Civil society building: institutional analysis and strengthening; legal/regulatory analysis; policy analysis; anti-corruption strategies; decentralization and municipal capacity building strategies; applied political, historical and economic analysis; social capital assessment.

Blackstone’s assignments have ranged across many sectors including:

• social infrastructure (water and sanitation; energy; waste management; transportation);

• urban development;

• tourism, parks and protected areas;

• rural development, farm restructuring, rural-to-urban migration, and irrigation and drainage;

• cadastre and land tenure programmes;

• cultural heritage management;

• environmental management and conservation;

• resource development (e.g., mining; energy facilities and corridors);

• transportation;

• economic development and inter-sectoral linkages.

Project Examples:

• Azerbaijan: Social Infrastructure for Internally Displaced Peoples (IDPs) and Vulnerable Populations (Asian Development Bank 2005-06) Blackstone successfully won and led this major multi-disciplinary project designed to assess the needs of the one million persons displaced as a result of the Armenia-Azerbaijan war (IDPs) and prepare a $15 million loan to develop social infrastructure for these very vulnerable populations in several regional towns. The project involved extensive consultation with stakeholders, design and implementation of a participatory needs assessment process, asset analysis, detailed institutional and legal/regulatory analysis, resettlement of IDPs from several occupied school facilities, development of new housing and design of a Local Initiatives Fund for community-based grant applications, and capacity-building for municipal government agencies and local groups;

• Serbia: Social Assessment for Irrigation and Drainage Rehabilitation Project (World Bank and CIDA 2005-2006): Project to assess socio-economic implications of major drainage and irrigation rehabilitation works in Serbia and design/deliver capacity building programme for government, NGOs and other stakeholders;

• Georgia: Cultural Heritage Asset Management and Tourism Development Strategy (World Bank, 2004) Assignment to assess resources, define linkages between cultural heritage resources and tourism, and design/evaluate options for improving the sustainability of the “Fund for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage of Georgia”;

• Serbia: Minority Populations Property Rights - Social Assessment for Cadastre Project (World Bank 2004): An assessment of the potential impact of the Bank’s cadastre project on women and on minorities (Internally displaced persons – IDPs from Kosovo; refugees from Bosnia and Croatia; Roma; ethnic Albanians, Slovaks, Hungarians, etc.);

• Bulgaria: Farm Restructuring and Rural Development Assessment (World Bank 2003/04): A very detailed and comprehensive social assessment of the effects of farm restructuring following the breakdown of the collective farms on rural populations, utilizing a full range of research tools including a quantitative survey, farm managers survey, focus groups, key stakeholder interviews and household case studies;

• Moldova: Social Assessment for Property Rights/Cadastre Project (World Bank, 2003) Project to assess the impact of the Bank’s Moldova First Cadastral Project on: rural and urban populations, particularly the poor; behaviour of local governments, in terms of the extent to which their ability to manage local government affairs has/has not increased with property registration; businesses/economic development/poverty alleviation;

• Bosnia and Herzegovina: Social Assessment for Roads Maintenance and Safety Programme (World Bank 2002): Identification of means by which the upgrading of Bosnia's roads infrastructure can generate maximum benefit to the various stakeholders (residents, businesses, government). In particular, means by which roads upgrading can help the most vulnerable elements of society (rural elderly, youth, poor) were identified, along with ways to strengthen the institutional capacities of the country's two roads authorities;

• Croatia: Social and Rural Development Assessment, Karst Ecosystem Conservation Project (World Bank, 2000): Detailed stakeholder participation programme and socio-economic assessment project dealing with Croatia's populations in and around four national parks. This project involved determination of the extent to which the Serbs were returning to their pre-war homes, and development of baseline data after ten years of war and a traumatic transformation to a market economy. A tourism assessment was involved in this challenging assignment;

• Argentina: Social Assessment and Environmental Education Programme, Solid Waste Management Project, Chubut Province, Argentina (2000) Responsible for all social, economic and awareness-building tasks associated with this comprehensive SWM project encompassing several towns in central Argentina;

• Trinidad and Tobago: Social Assessment, Solid Waste Management Project (Private Sector Client, 2000): Carried out stakeholder consultation programme and social impact assessment associated with solid waste project in Trinidad;

• Belize: "The Maya Inquiry": Southern Highway Mayan Peoples' Consultation Programme (IADB, 1996): Carried out a sensitive series of consultations among the Mayan villages of southern Belize to address land tenure and other issues associated with the potential impacts of the proposed southern highway on the local people.

• Peru: Monitoring and Evaluation Programme, CIDA Water Supply Projects (1997) Carried out the monitoring and evaluation programme for CIDA's major water supply and distribution projects in peri-urban Lima and Nazca, including assessment of opportunities opened to women who were participating in the establishment and operation of a new community water system;

• Ecuador: Social Impact Assessment and Public Consultation Program for Major Power Sector Project (Private sector client, 1997) Responsible for SIA, public participation programming and consultations with a wide range of stakeholders and communities associated with a 150 km transmission line across Ecuador and thermal power plant at Shushufindi in the Amazon basin area of Ecuador;

• Bolivia : Social Assessment, Thermal Power Project (Private sector client, 1997) Responsible for the determination of socio-economic impacts of a power facility proposed for Riberalta in northern Bolivia, designed to use brazil nut husks for the generation of thermal power. The analysis included consideration of child labour and women's issues;

• Malawi, Africa: Socio-economic Impact Assessment and Tourism Study, Lake Malawi National Park Region, (CIDA 1994-95) Responsible for socio-economic, tourism analysis and gender analysis tasks associated with multi-component development plans for the Nankumba Peninsula and for Lake Malawi National Park in central Africa;

• Cruise Ship Waste & Solid Waste Management Study for 6 Caribbean Countries for the World Bank/OECS (1993). Carried out socio-economic, WID, institutional and environmental education/human resource development tasks for this large study looking at cruise ship wastes being deposited on the islands.

• China: Transport Sector Appraisal, (1993) Carried out overview assessment of China's transport sector for CIDA, including roads, marine, air, rail and pipelines, and addressing institutional capacities, on-going projects, needs assessments, etc.

• Ecuador: Socio-Economic Impact Study, Sayausi-Molleturo-Puerto Inca Highway Corridor, (1990) Our principals carried out all socio-economic assessment components of this major study sponsored by the Inter-American Development Bank to assess the impacts of a 115 km road corridor through the Andes Mountains;

• Bangkok, Thailand: Elevated Expressway Study: Ratchadaphisek Viaduct, (1990) Our partners were responsible for a detailed assessment of the social, economic and gender impacts associated with construction of an elevated toll expressway through the business section of Bangkok.