Are we really measuring impact?

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Antonio and his wife with their new baby in Darien, PanamaAntonio and his wife with their new babyHaving read various Duflo and Banerjee papers (see their book Poor Economics), I understand the frustration expressed in this blog post about measuring impact investments. As the post author Anya Kamenetz points out, in measuring our efforts social entrepreneurs incorrectly equate monitoring impacts with measuring the actual impacts created by the initiative.

I’ve always been a bit exasperated by the talk of impacts, and I suspect other social entrepreneurs are, too. It’s tedious to fill out impact performance metrics, especially when those metrics aren’t directly applicable to your project. That doesn’t mean we don’t believe our projects are making a difference or that monitoring isn’t important to do. It’s just that some of the “apples to apples” metrics that allow investors to easily compare projects don’t really quantify the actual impacts.

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Indigenous Land Rights and Economic Efficiency

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Assessing the encroachment of squatters into Arimae's reservation.Assessing the encroachment of squatters into Arimae's reservation.An interesting piece of news recently came out of Indonesia regarding the need for land and carbon rights for Indigenous Peoples if conservation programs (especially REDD) are to work. One of the higher level politicians announced a new focus by the government to deliver and enforce territorial land rights for forest communities.

Often we hear calls for the recognition of Indigenous Peoples land rights, but what is encouraging about this is the government’s recognition that their lack of land rights is economically inefficient. Because the Indigenous Peoples don’t have legal rights to their land, it is partitioned inefficiently and is not generating the potentially significant economic gain and poverty reduction.

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Indigenous land rights: is modernization the answer?

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An indigenous woman in Arimae mixes jagua inkAn indigenous woman in Arimae mixes jagua inkIn an article entitled “Can Free Market Economics Boost Amazonian Land Rights?” Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto proposes that modern property rights are the key to propelling indigenous communities with communal land out of poverty. He believes that breaking up collective lands and establishing individual titles will enable community members to gain access to capital and credit, allowing them to become part of the global economy.

Indigenous communities like our partner Arimae utilize collective land ownership to ensure the economic, social, and cultural way of life for all members of the community. Even with established titles from their national governments, Indigenous groups worldwide are at risk from outsiders appropriating their natural resources for their own gain.

The problem is not the absence of land titles, but the deficiency of the State in enforcing collective ownership as equal to that of private ownership.

Land titles are important because they eliminate issues of ownership and create an indisputable definition of property rights. As a fundamental piece of the Equitable Forestry model, our partners provide proof of land ownership before any contracts are signed or planting takes place.

We strive to work with individuals who have a long term vision of cultivating their land in a sustainable manor while maintaining the area’s rich biodiversity. These tenets are inherent in indigenous cultures with communal lands which is why we support their struggle to obtain equal property rights and maintain control of their land.

Have your [cacao] and eat it, too

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Planting Empowerment employee Liriano tends to a cacao sapling planted for the UNDP projectConventional thinking by most agronomists holds that creating a more biodiverse field or planting area ultimately reduces yields. However, a recent study entitled "Combining High Biodiversity With High Yields in Tropical Agroforests" suggests just the opposite: that increased yields and biodiversity can go hand-in-hand. The article, authored by Clough et al., examined biodiverse cacao (cocoa) plantations in Indonesia. 

Last year through the UNDP's Small Grants Program we worked with Arimae to plant cacao in some of their older tree plantations. Arimae planted some of the cacao beneath the canopy of a 10-year old mahogany stand, and the rest in a new parcel of rosewood with more sun exposure. We will be closely monitoring the differences in growth and yield between the two parcels as they mature and begin to produce.

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