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3A Measuring Assessment System

3A Social Value Investment Standard and Assessment System

The effective operation of a social value investment market requires assessing the guidelines and results. An investment standard and assessment system is important to the infrastructure of a social value investment market. It can provide systematic, quantitative and scientific evidence of decision-making for the government, business and investors.

Currently, the popular global social impact assessment is based on a quantitative social value results produced by the invested social businesses. So far there is no selection criteria for social value investee, and no integrated and practical system for it. There is a lot of confusion on the concept of social innovation and social enterprise due to the lack of a common definition and a widely recognized standard and assessment system, investees have limited options. This have also excluded some of the commercial enterprises trying to achieve outstanding social innovation during the selection process, becoming a bottleneck which restricts the development and growth of social innovation ideology, concept and entrepreneurial practice.


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To target this dilemma, YouChange proposed a 3A Social Value investment standard, with 3 dimensional factors of Aim (target driving force), Approach (method of innovative force) and Action (force to transfer method into action) to assess the feasibility of investment. Based on this, YouChange researched and developed a set of system which enables the transfer of qualitative judgements into quantitative standard – 3A social value investment standard and assessment system (hereafter 3A system); A customizable, iterative, comparable and traceable online assessment platform based on 3A theory has been put into trial operation. After many application tests at the “Social Entrepreneur Star” and “CASVI” project roadshows and repeated assessments, YouChange has released the 3A system at the China Development Forum in March 2016.    

The 3A system is not only used for investment management, but for organizing strategic management and organizational performance management. It is also the system for organizing the standard, platform, and basis for certifying social values. 


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