SICO project aims to measure the social and environmental impact of such organisations in order to deepen their current influence on local communities. The novelty of the project lies in its contribution to shedding light on the future role of Alpine collective ownerships and their social and environmental impacts. The measurement of such value is relevant in evaluating their importance, guaranteeing their future survival by legitimating their actions in their respective territories.
Aims
This project aims to measure the social and environmental impact of such organisations in order to deepen their current influence on local communities. The idea is that by enabling these institutions to overcome possible problems connected to the consensus regarding their activities, they can still provide a valuable contribution to sustainably managing natural resources and to aggregate individuals on Alpine lands. Ultimately, the project proposes instruments for measuring collective ownerships’ social and environmental impacts while evaluating how possible problems related to their identity can influence their actions regarding the environment they must preserve and develop. The necessity to measure social impact arises from the peculiarities of collective ownerships, organisations for which traditional financial performance analyses provide scant informative value because they are not driven by the profit maximisation paradigm. The importance and strong interest in measuring these impacts are demonstrated by a recent policy brief by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development of the European Commission.
Implications
We expect the S.I.C.O. project to generate valuable outcomes in theoretical and practical terms which could be used by the collective ownership system desiring to adopt sustainable behaviour and accounting to provide transparent and exhaustive reporting to their legitimate stakeholders. In the short term the project would impact on sustainability studies at a single enterprise level as well as at the EGTC and European level.
On a wider spectrum the study will investigate the impact of a sustainable strategy adopted in the Alpine areas by the collective ownership system. It is believed that the cultural and historical characteristics of the Alpine areas could be an example for the European sustainable development of other, non-EGTC areas. The Alpine model in managing the natural environment through the collective ownership system has allowed growth and competitiveness.
The S.I.C.O. project has high implications beyond the specific field of social impact measurement. We list below some possible extension of the S.I.C.O. outcome:
– It will allow the diffusion at a European level of knowing how important a sustainable approach is for the rural and Alpine areas – they being the fulcrum of European growth and competitiveness.
– It will enhance the sense of belonging of the lands affected by the collective ownership and it will promote a common-good approach to preserve the areas.
– It will reinforce the historical knowledge of the EGTC areas and the historical development of the collective ownership system
– It will foster the cultural dimension within the EGTC areas and it will promote its peculiarities as an example of sustainable development.
Duration
36 months
Work packages
The S.I.C.O. project is divided into 6 Work Packages:
- WP 1: Project management
- WP 2: Theoretical model of different meanings of collective ownership in EGTC
- WP 3: Theoretical model of social impact measurement of collective ownership in the Alps
- WP 4: Empirical analysis
- WP5: Model sharing and fine-tuning
- WP6: Dissemination
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