A UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs 2021 report found that the percentage of people expressing confidence or trust in their countries peaked at 46 percent in 2006 and by 2019 had fallen to 36 percent. This falling trust brings many risks, including increased violence. Political scientists Karin Dyrstad and Solveig Hillesund surveyed countries that had experienced civil war and found that when citizens didn’t trust institutions to address existing grievances or treat citizens justly, willingness to use violence increased.
Social impact organisations are part of a network of other institutions and actors in the spaces where we operate, and our work has implications for not just how we are seen but also for these other organisations. This means that social impact organisations can play a key role in countering the decline in trust and bolstering institutional confidence. Alternately if we are careless in our work we can contribute to the loss of trust.
If people are given the opportunity for their voices to be heard, they are much more likely to trust an institution. When given the choice between an unfair process they benefit from and a fair process that they don’t benefit from, most people prefer the latter
In our work, we must be cautious of having an over-emphasis on narrow theories of change and monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems. Planning and tracking only explicit outcomes of our work may unintentionally and unknowingly undercut local institutions and their relationship with their constituencies. A relatively simple shift in how we think about or assess impact can help social impact organisations consider issues of institutional trust as an integral part of our work. If organisations center issues of process and engagement in their planning and then track the impact of their work on trust, the result can be more effective social impact.
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