Technological development has profound impacts on our lives. Just Economics are experts in the measurement of the social impacts of technology and have a good understanding of the challenges of doing evaluation in this area. We have carried out several evaluations, literature reviews and research studies in this field, inclduing evaluations of interventions to tackle digital exclusion in the UK and internationally. Clients have included BT, the Scottish Government and Microsoft.
The Technology Enabled Care (TEC) Programme is a £9 million a year Scotland-wide programme designed to increase choice and control in health, well-being and care services. Just Economics was commissioned by the Scottish Government to synthesise and review existing TEC evaluation evidence and provide recommendations for future evaluation activity.
Microsoft India commissioned Just Economics to conduct a social impact study of the Microsoft Philanthropies India (MPI) portfolio for 2019-20. The study had two principal objectives:
The study was guided by the OECD/DAC evaluation criteria with research undertaken between April 2020 and July 2020.
YouthSpark is a flagship programme of Microsoft Philanthropies that aims to enable young people around the world to learn digital and computer science skills. Just Economics was commissioned to evaluate the extent to which YouthSpark is achieving its mission and objectives. Using qualitative methods, over 100 stakeholders were engaged and site visits were conducted in the Middle East, Africa, Europe and Asia. The evaluation was commissioned to feed into Microsoft's strategic planning process and to inform its future strategy for YouthSpark.
As a companion paper to the Get IT Together evaluation, this paper places an economic value on being ‘digitally included’. Adopting a ‘bottom up’ approach, the paper uses the findings of the Get IT Together evaluation to explore the difference that becoming digitally included makes to an individual and uses economic valuation techniques to monetise these changes.
Just Economics was commissioned to undertake an SROI analysis of the work by UK Online Centres to promote digital inclusion. UK Online Centres is a network of local organisations that approach digital skills training as part of their wider community development work. This study assessed the impact of training using the the Learn My Way platform developed by the Good Things Foundation.
Just Economics was commissioned by BT to carry out an SROI evaluation of BT’s digital skills programme aimed at older people and people living in remote locations. This was one of the first SROIs to be produced on digital inclusion in the UK and was accompanied by a report on valuing digital inclusion.
CleverCogs™ is a digital care and support system developed by Blackwood Homes and Care. It was designed to increase digital participation in adults receiving care and support packages and enable increased use of technology enabled care. Just Economics was commissioned by Carnegie UK Trust to carry out a mixed methods study to measure changes in outcomes for customers before and after the introduction of the technology. The linked report sets out the key findings from the evaluation. The full evaluation report is available on request.
Technology for Good supports NGOs worldwide to increase their reach by providing subsidised software, funding and technical support. In 2017, Just Economics worked with Microsoft Philanthropies in Asia to assess the impact of the programme. The evaluation included extensive fieldwork in Asia.
Internet access is still beyond the reach of many people worldwide. BT’s Connecting Africa programme aims to reduce the digital divide by providing internet access to orphaned and displaced young people in Africa. This evaluation by Just Economics explores the difference getting online has made to these young people and their communities.
Developed for the Government Digital Service, this toolkit by Just Economics supports NGOs working on digital inclusion to carry out impact evaluations. The toolkit takes novice users through an accessible manual that includes a bank of outcomes, indicators and survey questions.
Just Economics supported BT to measure the impact of its investments in health and education projects in Sub-Saharan Africa. As part of this, Just Economics was commissioned by BT to carry out a social impact analysis of the Electronic Medical Record (EMR) systems installed in seven medical centres run by the international children’s charity SOS Children’s Villages (and funded by BT) in sub-Saharan Africa.
