How can businesses and investors help fill the multi-trillion gap needed for sustainable development? Simply put, by getting better at measuring and managing impacts on people and planet.
Through our online course Impact Measurement and Management for the SDGs, anyone can learn to improve their organization’s practice of impact management, and how to align their ESG or impact activities and reporting with emerging global standards.
Impact Measurement and Management for the SDGs is sponsored by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the global development network of the United Nations which created the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that over 190 countries have signed on to achieve by 2030.
The Need: Climate change, poverty, racial and gender equity, food, health, education, clean water — the list of challenges faced by people and planet is too long. Business and investment have stepped in to help. But in a field of evolving acronyms, standards and systems, many are not exactly sure what is required to do this work well. Third party standards and certifications are also evolving quickly to verify and assure impact management practices. What do you need to know to align your work with impact on the SDGs in ways that meet evolving expectations?
The Training: Produced by the award winning team at CASE at Duke University, and developed in collaboration with the UNDP SDG Impact team and advisors from around the world, this course consolidates several decades of work around impact management into a cutting-edge guide based on short videos and lessons with concrete practical examples.
UNDP Administrator, Achim Steiner. Credit: UNDP/Michael Atwood, March 2021
“This new course will help participants to gain access to vital knowledge in this rapidly emerging field of impact investment — helping them to better measure the socio-economic and environmental impact of the private sector on people and planet, In doing so, the course is also fostering a much-needed cultural shift that will feed into global efforts that are needed to shift trillions of dollars towards the Global Goals.”
People who know how to apply these standards are increasingly in demand by institutions globally as they work to improve their performance and reporting around ESG and impact management. It takes up to 10 hours to complete, all at your own pace, and participants can earn a certificate of completion that can be posted on LinkedIn.
Bill Boulding, Dean of the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University, 2021
“We see this as a cost-effective way for organizations to train their staff, level-set their new hires, and increase their own effectiveness at addressing the UN SDGs. We are excited about this effort, as it fits with our goal of helping develop practices that enable businesses to work toward the common good.”
For teaching: If you are an academic and would like to use the course components in your teaching, you may download the materials directly from the Coursera site. They are copyrighted and owned by the UNDP, and Duke has been granted rights to use and share them for educational purposes.
Acknowledgements
Our team at CASE is especially grateful to all the people around the globe who made this course possible.
United Nations Development Programme
- Fabienne Michaux, Director SDG Impact
- Elizabeth Boggs-Davidsen, former Director SDG Impact
- Sebnem Sener, Senior Specialist
- Belissa Rojas, IMM advisor
- Jeremy Nicholls, SDG Impact Assurance Framework Lead
- Rosemary Addis, former advisor
- Amanda Feldman, former IMM advisor
- Ellen Maginnis, former IMM coordinator
- Lorena Sander, Legal Innovation advisor
Duke University
- Cathy Clark, Faculty Director, CASE and CASE i3
- Carrie Gonnella, Senior Program Director, CASE i3
- Lucy Pless, Instructional Designer
- Jason Van Sant, Video Producer
- Cindy Lurie, Manager of Educational Technology Services
- John Shelton, Academic Video and Technology Specialist
- Henry Cuthbert, Office of Counsel
- Quentin Ruiz-Esparza, Associate Director, Online Duke
- Tara Kramling, Learning Experience Producer, Online Duke
- Van Giles, Associate Director of Public Relations
- Vrinda Gupta, CASE i3 Fellow and Research Associate
- Reem Fatayerji, CASE i3 Fellow and Research Associate
Academic Working Group
This is a group of faculty from around the world with experience in teaching and performing cutting edge research on impact management. For over two years, they have provided invaluable feedback on the course’s structure and content, contributed global perspectives and examples, and tested course components with their global students and colleagues.
- Jaquie Pels, Universidad Di Tella, Argentina
- Jodi York, University of Melbourne, Australia
- Ioana Ramia, University of New South Wales, Australia
- Sergio Lazzarini, Insper, Brazil
- Kate Ruff, Carleton University, Canada
- Jeremy Wade, O.P. Jindal Global University, India
- Karen Wilson, Stockholm School of Economics, Latvia
- Aunnie Patton-Power, University of Capetown, South Africa
- Lisa Hehenberger, ESADE, Spain
- Saurabh Lall, University of Oregon, US
Other Contributors, Reviewers, and Informal Advisors
- Eric Archambeau, Astanor Ventures
- Beth Bafford, Calvert Impact Capital
- Clara Barby, Impact Management Project
- Ben Carpenter, Social Value International
- Ben Constable-Maxwell, M & G Investments
- Claudia Coppenolle, Founder Impact Classification System powered by GIIN
- Mark Crosswell, GoATL Fund
- Alnoor Ebrahim, The Fletcher School
- Nick Flores, CapRock
- Laura Gitman, Business for Social Responsibility
- Karim Harji, Evalysis and Possibilian Ventures
- Leslie Kapin, Astanor Ventures
- Mike McCreless, Impact Frontiers at Impact Management Project
- Christina Leijonhufvud, BlueMark and Tideline
- Meredith Lorenz Heimburger, Global Endowment Management
- Ilana Mayid, PayPal
- Sarah Millar, CityLight Capital
- Dan Osusky, B Lab
- Olivia Prentice, Impact Management Project
- Cliff Prior, The Global Steering Group on Impact Investment
- Luba Shabal, Closed Loop Partners
- Marieke Spence, Impact Capital Managers
- Eric Stephenson, Align Impact
- Laurie Spengler, Courageous Capital Advisors
- Ben Thornley, Tideline
- Brian Trelstad, Bridges Ventures and Harvard Business School
- Matthew Weatherley-White, Strategic Advisor to CASE i3