"This is a new tool, there is little practical application experience, the regulatory documents are still to be worked out, so understandably mid-level officials are quite alarmed about it. Preparing the paperwork to launch the project proved to be a complex and time-consuming job, and we must give credit to the persistence and professionalism of VEB.RF specialists, the procedure becoming more and more streamlined with each new project launch", says Tatiana Burmistrova, co-founder and Chair of the "Toward Change" Foundation Board.
Judging from the available progress reports on the projects nearing completion, another major challenge is developing a system for monitoring the interim results of the project.
"Since the project conditions change all the time, it is vital that the contractors are flexible and focus on the end results. In general, it would be very interesting to do case studies of social impact projects, including the factors that influence the success and difficulties", Tatiana Burmistrova added.
Social impact projects require constant close interaction between the customer and the contractor. In case of the project "Improving the Educational Performance of Students in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia)", the customers are the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) and the National Research University – Higher School of Economics. Hence the first difficulty related to communication: the Republic of Yakutia is 5,000 kilometers and 6 time zones away from the contractor, NRU HSE – by the time Moscow gets to the office, the working day in Yakutia is almost over. At the same time, it is impossible to have the specialists from HSE to be permanently present in Khangalassky ulus.
"Therefore, the key to project implementation is delegation of responsibilities, high mutual contractor discipline, coordination of the positions, and reliance on local staff. Equally difficult is to develop a unified vision of the works aimed at achieving the planned results. Trust between the customer and the contractor is a very important part of success. NRU HSE has made some effort to jointly chart a development path for the municipal education system. Horizontal methodological interactions between schools in the district have been created and are sustained solely by the teachers’ enthusiasm. In the future, when implementing social impact projects, it is necessary to create special conditions for the experimental areas. As our experience has shown, the workload of the municipal project coordinators increases considerably", says Olga Balabkina.