Bloom by IMPACT

Our out-of-the box monitoring and evaluation tool empowers you to understand how your supply chain affects communities. Know whether you are having a positive contribution in people’s lives and where to improve practices. Put the “responsible” in responsible sourcing and create transformative change around the globe.

Know the impact of your supply chain.

Use your data to seed change. Help communities thrive.

The Bloom by IMPACT prototype is available for demos starting in June 2022. For more information, contact us at info@impacttransform.org.

About Bloom by IMPACT

How it works:

Create a Monitoring & Evaluation Framework to select the objectives you want to measure.
Generate a Data Collection Protocol for your Framework and share with your team.
Collect the data using the information provided in the Protocol.
Request a Report for your Framework and upload the data.
Receive a report against your Framework’s selected objectives.
Use the report’s analysis to transform lives and source responsibly from communities.

Key features:

Out-of-the-Box: Create an M&E framework and data collection protocol ready-to-use for your team
Aligned with ESG and SDGs: Report against your selected Environmental, Social, and Governance targets and Sustainable Development Goals
Aligned with Supply Chain Standards: Report against your selected sourcing standards or compliance frameworks
Standardized Data Reporting: Speak a common data language on responsible sourcing and compare against national statistics

Target Users:

Private sector: Large and small enterprises who want to understand how their supply chain affects communities and where to improve practices. Report against selected ESG targets, SDGs, or sourcing standards, such as the OECD Due Diligence Guidance.
Civil society: Groups implementing or overseeing projects in producer communities and require monitoring & evaluation. Gather data against selected against SDGs and more.
Government, donors or regulatory bodies: Add your M&E requirements into Bloom by IMPACT to create a standard compliance framework which stakeholders can report against across commodities, supply chains, and geographies. Use the data generated to guide compliance and policymaking.
Producer communities: Local communities in producing countries can use the analysis generated to create community-based responses to the challenges they face and prosper.

Due Diligence Reporting Made Easy

Bloom by IMPACT allows users to easily generate a monitoring & evaluation framework for selected sourcing standards. Users select which standards they require from selected options, such as the OECD Due Diligence Guidance, the ICGLR Regional Certification Mechanism, CRAFT Code, relevant government regulations, and more.

Users are then presented with measurement guidelines for each standard—which they can tailor, based on their own reporting requirements. Based on their selections, they automatically create their own unique monitoring & evaluation framework which identifies indicators, metric objectives, and aligned SDGs.

Once a user has created their monitoring & evaluation framework, they are able to automatically generate a data collection protocol which includes all of the questions and information required to collect data. Users can share this protocol with their team, external suppliers, supply chain actors, or other partners.

By using Bloom by IMPACT, users have all the information they need at the click of the button to know how to complete their required responsible sourcing standards.

Context

Bloom by IMPACT was first developed in the context of IMPACT’s Just Gold project. In this project, IMPACT works with miners, traders, and exporters to create incentives for legal sales and provides capacity building to implement the traceability and due diligence required by the Just Gold project, in alignment with regional and international standards. The Just Gold project was first launched in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in 2012 and achieved a traceable and legal chain of custody in 2017. It had regular exports, with accompanying data, until 2020. The Just Gold project began operations in Côte d’Ivoire in 2019, and new locations are expected to start in 2022.

IMPACT’s Just Gold project evolved beyond traceability and due diligence to a comprehensive approach to responsible sourcing that is fundamentally about realizing development and security outcomes for entire producer communities to advance the SDGs. IMPACT developed Bloom to create a common language around responsible sourcing. We had data on what impact the Just Gold project and responsible sourcing is having on miners – women and men – and their communities, but there was no standard approach in analysis. In DRC, sourcing data for each gold export was assessed alongside gender-disaggregated, community-wide, socio-economic data. The resulting analysis provides a holistic and accurate picture of what is working, not working, and needs to change.

IMPACT brings a unique experience, working at the policy and local-level implementation, combined with advanced monitoring & evaluation expertise, to render supply chains more responsible. We are a longstanding member of the OECD Forum on Responsible Mineral Supply Chains and played a key role amongst civil society members in drafting and reviewing of the Guidance. We are the lead architect of the OECD’s Monitoring and Evaluation Framework for its Due Diligence Guidance applicable to mineral supply chains. We’ve supported the International Conference on the Great Lake Region through the design of the Regional Certification Mechanism, in line with the OECD Due Diligence Guidance.

Bloom by IMPACT has been tested with artisanal gold in Côte d’Ivoire, Zimbabwe, and Uganda, as well as artisanal cobalt in DRC. The system is currently being adapted beyond ASM, to small-scale mining operations in the 3Ts, LSM, and the agricultural sector.

Social Impact Reporting Simplified

Bloom by IMPACT allows users to easily generate a monitoring & evaluation framework against selected ESG targets or SDGs. Users select which ESG targets or SDGs and associated indicators are relevant to them, which they can tailor based on their own reporting requirements. Based on their selections, they automatically create their own unique monitoring & evaluation framework which identifies indicators, metric objectives, and aligned SDGs.

Bloom by IMPACT has adapted internationally tested Indexes and Common Indicator Frameworks for use at a local level and aligned them with SDGs. By using Bloom by IMPACT, not only do users have all the information they need at the click of the button to know how to report against ESG targets or SDGs, but also can compare against national and global benchmarks.

Equitable Data

Bloom by IMPACT is grounded in the recognition that too often, small producers and communities are providing data to companies, responsible sourcing schemes, and NGOs without receiving anything in return or even having access to this data. This is despite the fact that this data has value, that individuals have rights over their data, and that communities themselves can use this data to inform community-based interventions and advocacy for their rights and needs vis-à-vis government and companies. The system will support mineral producing communities to have the crucial insight on their livelihoods and vulnerabilities, in order to shape strategies to improve their development, equality, and security.

About IMPACT

Bloom is built by IMPACT, a global leader transforming how natural resources are managed in areas where security and human rights are at risk. We are an independent non-profit, collaborating with local partners for lasting change.

Bloom by IMPACT sits within our social enterprise, Knowledge for Impact. Knowledge for Impact deploys IMPACT’s field-tested approaches to supply chain transparency in the natural resource sector, with deep expertise in monitoring and evaluation, supported by advanced and relevant technology adapted to local contexts. It develops innovative solutions with local partners to support transparency and enable artisanal producers and their communities to benefit from the value of the data they provide.