Social Progress Index applied in the Sustainable Territories Program
The Social Progress Index (SPI) is a comprehensive measure of the well-being of a society, which aims to support decision-makers in identifying development priorities to generate plans and projects in pockets of high social and environmental vulnerability. The index is based on social and environmental indicators, such as wellness (health, shelter, and sanitation), equality, inclusion, sustainability, and personal freedom and safety.
Training sections with SPI interviewers in Oriximiná municipality, Pará, Brazil. Photos: Vivian Zeidemann (CIAT).
Along the same line and supported by the United States Agency for International Development in Brazil (USAID/Brazil), the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and the Avina Foundation created a first set of metrics and baseline tool to measure the social progress index and monitor impact over time under the Private Sector Engagement (PSE) strategy within the Sustainable Territories Program (PTS, its Portuguese acronym).
The PTS started in 2015 as an initiative to develop and deploy, over a 15-year period, a regional sustainable development strategy in collaboration with the public and private sectors, civil society, and communities, to improve the well-being of the region by boosting economic growth and sound environmental management and biodiversity conservation.
Training sections with SPI interviewers in Oriximiná municipality, Pará, Brazil. Photos: Vivian Zeidemann (CIAT).
The SPI survey created by CIAT and the Avina Foundation was applied last June at the household level to collect data from riverine communities and Quilombola territories in the Brazilian Amazon, and establish a baseline for the PTS pilot integrated program. In October, the results will be disseminated and validated with social leaders from the communities participating in the PTS.
The SPI is expected to be a key impact indicator designed and rolled out to help measure and learn from a robust monitoring and evaluation (M&E) framework under the PSE strategy. Following on from there, M&E will become a core component of the program called “Catalyzing and Learning Platforms and Partnerships for Biodiversity Conservation (CALPP),” led by CIAT and supported by USAID/Brazil.