The practice of social impact assessment background

Abstract

The goal of social impact assessment is to help individuals and communities, as well as government and private-sector organizations, understand and better anticipate the possible social consequences for human populations and communities of planned and unplanned social change resulting from proposed policies, plans, programmes and projects. Like all assessments, the SIA model is comparative. We look to similar settings for direction as to what will happen in the future. Based on decades of research, we have organized SIA indicators under the general headings of population characteristics, community and institutional structures, political and social resources, individual and family changes, and community resources. The SIA process identifies alternatives to a proposed action as well as guidelines for enhancement and mitigation.

Keywords:

• social impact assessment
• social change
• planning process
• SIA myths