SOPHIA Oxford and KOMUNIKA LATAM sign alliance

SOPHIA Oxford and KOMUNIKA LATAM signed an alliance – with the objective of developing and managing companies’ programs to improve the quality of life of their employees – that will allow them to offer a measurement methodology that helps reduce the level of multidimensional poverty in businesses, in order to identify opportunities that will generate actions that contribute to closing existing social gaps in the country.

As COVID and lockdowns have impacted employees, companies are struggling to figure out how to prioritize support and who to provide it to.  At the same time there is pressure in the financial markets and international supply chain regulators to ask companies for social indicators and for sustainability reporting.

The multidimensional poverty index is a way of measuring poverty in a comprehensive way that considers other factors other than lack of money, like level of education, health, among others, and that are fundamental for human development. With the signing of this partnership, companies have the possibility of improving the wellbeing of their employees through the implementation of a methodology developed by SOPHIA Oxford, a social enterprise created by the University of Oxford, to help businesses measure and manage their social investments.

The multidimensional poverty index is a methodology that will allow companies to measure different aspects that affect the lives of their employees and their families, such as the quality of housing, access to water and sanitation, level of indebtedness, among others. The results obtained will allow them to better understand the situation of their employees and develop action plans to improve their condition.

To achieve this, SOPHIA Oxford has developed a set of tools called Wise Responder Action Kit (WiRe) which is articulated through three key components to generate impactful results: technical assistance, multidimensional welfare survey, and a technological platform. These three components will allow the company to understand the level of multidimensional wellbeing of their employees and develop programs that improve their quality of life.

In the framework of the partnership signed between KOMUNIKA LATAM and SOPHIA Oxford, this tool will be able to be implemented in the private sector of the country, allowing to improve the condition of the employees, and bringing benefits to the company. By being able to identify the specific necessities of the employees, the companies will be able to better orient their efforts and resources, prioritizing the measures that generate a bigger impact of the action plan developed. This makes WiRe a win-win investment for everyone as it generates a feeling of gratitude on the part of employees and their families towards the company, which in turn translates into more commitment, lower staff turnover and higher productivity. The results provide companies with data for their sustainability reporting.

The Wise Responder Action Kit has been specifically adapted for the private sector and originates from the multidimensional poverty index developed by the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI), which measures multidimensional poverty situations in countries and whose work is used by international organizations such as the United Nations Development Program and the World Bank.

This alliance seeks to encourage companies to take a more active role in the eradication of poverty; a commitment that is not only the responsibility of governments. KOMUNIKA LATAM will support companies to develop and implement plans and solutions, which based on the measurements obtained with the SOPHIA Oxford methodology, will positively impact the needs of employees, and improve the social impact of the companies that implement them.