Social impact assessment is a methodology to review the social effects
of infrastructure projects and other development interventions.
Definition The origins of SIA largely derive from
the environmental impact assessment model, which first emerged in the 1970s
in the U.S, as a way to assess the impacts on society of certain
development schemes and projects before they go ahead - for example, new roads,
industrial facilities, mines, dams, ports, airports, and other
infrastructure projects. SIA has been incorporated into the formal planning
and approval processes in several countries, in order to categorize and
assess how major developments may affect populations, groups, and settlements.
SIA is often carried out as part of, or in addition to, environmental impact
assessment, but it has not yet been as widely adopted as EIA in formal planning
systems, often playing a minor role in combined environmental and social
assessments. Definitions for "social impact
assessment" vary by different sectors and applications. According to the
International Association for Impact Assessment, "Social impact assessment
includes the processes of analyzing, monitoring and managing the intended and
unintended social consequences, both positive and negative, of planned
interventions and any social change processes invoked by those
interventions. Its primary purpose is to bring about a more sustainable and
equitable biophysical and human environment."
SIA overlaps with monitoring and evaluation. Evaluation is particularly
important in the areas of: public policy,
health and education initiatives, and international development projects more
generally, whether conducted by governments, international donors, or
NGOs. In all these sectors, there is a case
for conducting SIA and evaluations at different stages.
The Hydropower Sustainability Assessment Protocol is a sector specific method for
checking the quality of environmental and social assessments and management
plans. Non-experts and local people should
participate in the design and implementation of proposed developments
or programmes. This can be achieved in the process of doing an SIA, through
adopting a participatory and democratic research process. Some SIAs go further
than this, to adopt an advocacy role. For example, several SIAs carried out in
Queensland, Australia, have been conducted by consultants working for
local Aboriginal communities who oppose new mining projects on ancestral land. A
rigorous SIA report, showing real consequences of the projects and
suggesting ways to mitigate these impacts, gives credibility and provides
evidence to take these campaigns to the planning officers or to the courts.
References Further Reading
A listing of the key citations in social impact assessment, prepared by the
International Association for Impact Assessment.
Barrow, C.J. 2000. Social Impact Assessment: An Introduction. London:
Arnold. Becker, H and F Vanclay. 2003. The
International Handbook of Social Impact Assessment. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
Becker, H.A., 1997. Social Impact Assessment: Method and Experience in
Europe, North America and the developing world. London: UCL Press
Burdge, Rabel J. 2004. The concepts, process and methods of SIA. Middleton,
WI: The Social Ecology Press. ISBN 0-941042-35-9.
Burdge, Rabel J. 2004. A Community Guide to Social Impact Assessment. Middleton,
WI: The Social Ecology Press ISBN 0-941042-17-0.
Franks, Daniel M. 2011. Management of the Social Impacts of Mining. In Peter
Darling, SME Mining Engineering Handbook Third ed. Chapter 17.4, pp. 1817–1825.
Littleton, Colorado, USA: Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration.
Franks, Daniel, Fidler, Courtney, Brereton, David, Vanclay, Frank and
Clark, Phil Leading practice strategies for addressing the social impacts of
resource developments Brisbane, Australia: Centre for Social
Responsibility in Mining, Sustainable Minerals Institute, The University of
Queensland & Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation,
Queensland Government. Franks, Daniel M 2012. Social impact
assessment of resource projects. Mining for Development: Guide to Australian
Practice, International Mining for Development Centre, Australian
Government, University of Queensland and University of Western Australia.
Franks, D.M. and F Vanclay 2013. Social Impact Management Plans: Innovation in
corporate and public policy, Environmental Impact Assessment Review,
43, 40–48. Hanna, P. & Vanclay, F. 2013. Human
rights, Indigenous peoples and the concept of Free, Prior and Informed
Consent, Impact Assessment & Project Appraisal, 31(2), 146-157.
Howitt, Richard 2003. Local and non-specialist participation in impact
assessment, in: C.-Q. Liu, Z. Zhao, T. Xiao and J. Guha, Strategic Management
of Environmental and Socio-Economic Issues: A Handbook. Guiyang, China,
Guizhou Science and Technology Publishing House, 27-36
Howitt, R. 2001. Rethinking resource management: justice, sustainability and
indigenous peoples. London: Routledge. Kemp, D. & Vanclay, F. 2013. Human
rights and impact assessment: clarifying the connections in practice, Impact
Assessment & Project Appraisal 31(2), 86-96.
Kirkpatrick, C. and Lee, N., Editors, 1997. Sustainable development in a
developing world: Integrating socioeconomic appraisal and
environmental assessment. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
Mayoux, L & R. Chambers 2005 Reversing the paradigm: quantification,
participatory methods and pro-poor impact assessment. Journal of
International Development 17(2) 271-298. Roche, C. 1999. Impact assessment for
development agencies. Learning to value change. Oxford: Oxfam
Taylor CN, Bryan CH, Goodrich CG. 2004. Social Assessment: theory, process and
techniques. Middleton, WI: The Social Ecology Press ISBN 0-941042-37-5.
Vanclay, F. 1999, ‘Social impact assessment’, in J. Petts Handbook of
Environmental Impact Assessment, Oxford: Blackwell Science, pp. 301–26.
Vanclay, F. 2002a, ‘Conceptualising social impacts’, Environmental Impact
Assessment Review, 22(3), 183–211. Vanclay, F. 2002b, ‘Social impact
assessment’, in M. Tolba Responding to Global Environmental Change, Chichester:
Wiley, pp. 387–93. Vanclay, F. 2003, ‘International
principles for social impact assessment’, Impact Assessment and
Project Appraisal, 21(1), 5–11. Vanclay, F. 2006, ‘Principles for social
impact assessment: a critical comparison between the international and US
documents’, Environmental Impact Assessment Review, 26, 3–14.
Vanclay, F. 2014. Developments in Social Impact Assessment. Cheltenham: Edward
Elgar. Vanclay, F. & Esteves A.M. 2011. New
Directions in Social Impact Assessment. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
Vanclay, F., Esteves, A.M., Aucamp, I. & Franks, D. 2015 Social Impact
Assessment: Guidance for assessing and managing the social impacts of projects.
Fargo ND: International Association for Impact Assessment, vii+98 pages
Wong, CHM, Ho, WC. 2015. Roles of social impact assessment practitioners.
Environmental Impact Assessment Review, 50(1), 124-133.
doi:10.1016/j.eiar.2014.09.008 Federal Department of Town and Country
Planning, Peninsular Malaysia 2012,'Manual for Social Impact
Assessment Manual of Project Developmentt',ISBN 978-983-2839-43-9
External links Belgian EU Presidency Summary on Social
Impact Assessment Website of the SIAhub, a sharing
platform for SIA practitioners The Social Performance practitioners
platform, a community of practice for social performance practitioners working
in the extractive industries International Principles for Social
Impact Assessment US Principles and Guidelines for Social
Impact Assessment International Association for Impact
Assessment Wiki - SIA page Using Stakeholder Network Analysis in
Social Impact Assessment Malaysian Association of Social Impact
Assessment Kakadu Region Social Impact Study