Social Investment Blog #1: How to Harness Data and Analytics to Deliver Better Social Services
Whether through media articles, workplace discussions or community forums, there is one term you may have heard doing the rounds over the last year: ‘Social Investment’.
It’s a popular discussion point and rightly so. Social Investment has the potential to shape how future (and existing) resources are allocated by the government across Aotearoa.
As a data science consultancy based in Wellington, we are often approached for our take on this topic. The organisations we talk to - which include both funders and providers of community services - are eager to understand how they can apply elements of Social Investment in practice.
However, before we can provide our thoughts on this we first need to unpack the term ‘Social Investment’.
From our kōrero with our clients and partners, we know that for many the concept of ‘Social Investment’ is still rather opaque. In her address to the NZ Economic Forum in February 2024, Minister for Social Investment Nicola Willis stated:
"For me, social investment is about using data, evidence and modern analytics to invest in earlier and better intervention that can effectively break cycles of disadvantage, dependence and despair... We need to get much more systematic about what we invest in and how we measure our results"
In reality, the concept will be defined and then redefined by how it plays out in practice, with the Social Investment Agency playing a key role in this.
Despite this ambiguity, one thing is clear - data and evidence will be vital to the Social Investment approach.
Regardless of how our understanding of Social Investment evolves over time, data and evidence will be important for understanding who to invest in and how effective interventions are.
At Nicholson Consulting, our mahi is all about using data and analytics to create practical solutions to complex problems.
So, rather than sharing our thoughts on what we think Social Investment means and what structural changes will be required to ensure its success, we will be sharing our thoughts on how organisations might implement key aspects that will most likely form the basis of the Social Investment approach.
Over the next couple of weeks, we will be sharing our thoughts based on topics we believe the Social Investment approach will likely address.
Where possible, we will illustrate how we have applied these in practice through our work. Our future articles will outline how data and analytics can address the following questions:
How can I use data and analytics to better understand the people I am serving? Community providers know our communities best. They know the challenges being faced and understand the social, cultural and economic context which shape our communities’ lives. Data can help strengthen this knowledge. This can be through providing a greater understanding of the characteristics of a group being served, or by highlighting the complex intersection of needs faced by a specific population. These insights can help us shape interventions and identify who will benefit from them the most.
How can I use data and analytics to know more about unmet need? Whether you are a service provider or commissioning agency – some of the biggest questions you will ask are 'who am I not reaching with my services but should be' and 'why is this the case?’ By drawing on multiple data sources, we can uncover information about unmet need and support future decision making by service providers and investors alike.
How do we measure effectiveness and outcomes with a Social Investment approach? Measuring effectiveness is not new. However, within the Social Investment framework we expect efforts towards a more robust understanding of the impact of Government investment, with a greater focus on longer term outcomes. This article touches on two other factors that make the Social Investment Framework approach different from the status quo. Firstly, outcome-based contracting which will necessitate clarity and agreement on outcomes, and secondly, the opportunity to use administrative and IDI data.
How do we know what is working? This question speaks to the heart of Social Investment. It allows service providers, commissioners and philanthropic investors to understand 'what works' so that these learnings can be used to inform future investment decisions. This article focuses on both quantitative and qualitative techniques that can be used to understand the impact of an intervention.
There are a number of outstanding questions to be answered about Social Investment, especially in relation to how it will be embedded in the budget bid process, what the Social Investment fund will look like and who will bear the cost burden for robust evaluations.
But even if the concept of Social Investment doesn't withstand the test of time, we believe that understanding how data and analytics can be utilised to answer these questions is inherently useful for anyone working to deliver services within the social sector.
We invite you to join us over this series as we break down how we can use data and analytical tools to create services that truly deliver for our communities.
By understanding the tools for change we have at our disposal, we are better equipped to support better services and better outcomes for our communities.
Would you like to learn more about how your organisation can utilise data and analytical techniques within a Social Investment context? Reach out for a kōrero - we’d love to chat hello@nicholsonconsulting.co.nz