Social return on investment (SROI) – a practical framework for strengthening localisation and social justice

The last few years have seen a rise in commitments to localisation or locally led development. However, different actors have understood the meaning of localisation and its goals differently. Furthermore, challenges remain as to putting localisation into practice. This article introduces a practical framework – Social Return on Investment (SROI) analysis – which can assist organisations in enhancing localisation through their program planning, implementation, and evaluation processes. It also demonstrates how SROI can strengthen evidence-based funding decisions. The article proposes SROI, a stakeholder-driven participatory methodology, as a social justice approach to evaluation and discusses its added value over traditional evaluation approaches within the development sector. It also explores the broader implications of the SROI framework for fostering a deeper engagement between localisation and social justice. An illustrative case study applies SROI to evaluate peacebuilding interventions in Kenya, showcasing the practical application and impact of the resulting data.