The C&A Foundation and Giving Evidence have partnered together to share the full story 
of a programme which C&A Foundation ran, including the parts which went well, the parts which didn’t and the performance data. In the social sector, such transparency and candour is highly unusual.
C&A Foundation’s Sustainable Supplier Programme aimed to improve working conditions (pay, hours etc.) and also productivity (reject rate, lead times etc.) in factories which supply to C&A stores. The programme began in 2011 and ran in 18 factories in five Asian countries (Bangladesh, China, Indonesia, India and Cambodia). The report is here.
Giving Evidence is delighted that this report and detail has been published because we want to see giving based on sound evidence. It’s hard to make evidence-based decisions if much of the evidence is missing or lame, (that phrase is fast becoming our motto) and the fact that so many foundations and charities publish only the good stories, and withhold the negative stories and full detail, means that much relevant evidence is effectively missing. We’d love to see many more foundations, charities, social enterprises, impact investors and everybody else publish similarly candid accounts and data about their programmes and results.
If you’re looking to learn from others’ experience, we recommend the following resources which stand out in terms of their candour and hence usefulness:
– Shell Foundation’s report about its first 10 years.
– the annual ‘Failure Reports‘ by Engineers Without Borders
– the ‘Failure Report‘ by the Dogwood Initiative, an environmental campaign based in Vancouver
– the Admitting Failure website which collates many stories.
Other initiatives around evidence which is missing or lame–>
C&A’s SSP case study featured in Ethical Corporation, Alliance Magazine, Stanford Social Innovation Review, Spears Wealth Management and Third Sector.
giving-evidence.com 