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The Social Value of SomosVoz – A Social-Educational Innovation Model with Children and Families in Vulnerable Situations

The Social Value of SomosVoz – A Social-Educational Innovation Model with Children and Families in Vulnerable Situations

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This executive summary offers a clear and succinct presentation of the most significant findings, recommendations and essential procedures of the study on Monetized Social Return (SROI) applied to the SomosVoz socio-educational intervention model. This report focuses on evaluating the Social Value derived from the model by defining “Social Value” as; “The importance that people give to different aspects of their well-being and the changes they experience (in these aspects of well-being).”

This Social Return on Investment (SROI) evaluation assesses the social value created by SomosVoz, a socio-educational innovation model designed to reduce the risk of institutionalization of children and adolescents through integrated work with minors and their families in socio-educational centers across Spain. The model was piloted over 12 months in 2023 in 25 centers across 9 Autonomous Communities, within the national “Innovation Program for the Prevention of Institutionalization in Childhood,” coordinated by the State Coordinator of Salesian Social Platforms and the Pere Tarrés Foundation.

Method and scope. The study applies accredited SROI standards to identify, measure, and monetize material changes for key stakeholder groups: children and adolescents, mothers and fathers, professionals, and participating socio-educational organizations. Mixed qualitative and quantitative methods were used with strong stakeholder involvement and validation, and transparent treatment of limitations and risks. The evaluation period covers January–December 2023; data were collected February–June 2024.

Who was reached and how robust are the findings? Target populations were 384 children/adolescents, 320 mothers/fathers, 91 professionals, and 39 socio-educational organizations. Samples achieved statistical representativeness for children/adolescents (sampling margin of error: 5.33%), mothers/fathers (7.23%), and professionals (8.36%); organizational data were partially representative (sampling margin of error: 17.17%).

SROI results.

  • Headline ratio: Between €1.42 and €3.37 of social value generated per €1 invested, depending on whether results reflect only the direct sample (lower bound) or are extrapolated to the full population (upper bound). The extrapolated SROI is 3.37. Total investment considered: €1,559,073.95; corresponding Net Present Value (NPV) of social value (net of investment): €5,249,076.49.
  • Distribution of value: 66.42% of total social value accrues to children and adolescents (≈ €3,481,242.81); 28.57% to mothers and fathers (≈ €1,499,741.02); 4.84% to socio-educational organizations (≈ €254,079.13); 0.27% to professionals (≈ €14,013.52).
  • Per-person values (illustrative): Children/adolescents: €9,066 per child; mothers/fathers: €4,687 per parent; professionals: €670 positive and –€546 negative per person (net reduced by stress).
  • Balance of impacts: Positive impacts account for 99.05% of total value; negative impacts 0.95%, arising exclusively from increased stress among professionals.

What changed and where the value concentrates. The largest contributions come from children’s outcomes: improved intra-family relationships, better relationships with peers, improved behavior in school/other settings, broader support networks, and greater autonomy. For families, high-value outcomes include personalized socio-emotional and community help, enhanced family atmosphere and wellbeing at home, and greater family autonomy. At organizational level, material outcomes include improved quality and efficiency of services, increased possibility of obtaining financing, and enhanced technological assets.

Domains of wellbeing. The program’s social value concentrates in Interpersonal Relationships (60.20%) and Social Inclusion (19.38%) within the Schalock–Verdugo framework, underscoring the model’s relational and community strengths. Inputs and sensitivity. The investment figure combines financed and non-financial resources, including significant in-kind contributions and professional overtime reported by centers. Sensitivity tests show the SROI ratio remains within the stated range under conservative assumptions.

Recommendations

  • Mitigate staff stress: Add regular supervision, manageable caseload guidelines, and brief psychosocial check-ins to address the identified negative effect among professionals.
  • Prioritize high-value outcomes: Focus delivery tools and supervision on intra-family relationships, peer relationships, behavior in educational settings, support networks, and autonomy.
  • Strengthen family partnership practices: Systematize personalized socio-emotional support, referral pathways, and family goal-plans with scheduled follow-ups.
  • Safeguard model fidelity at scale: Define core components, minimum dosage, and supervision cadence to maintain quality during expansion.
  • Targeted capacity building: Provide short, practice-oriented training in relational work, behavior support in schools, and community network mapping.
  • Improve organizational evidence quality: Increase center participation and standardize data capture to reduce the organizational sampling margin of error in future cycles.
  • Establish feedback loops: Create a simple dashboard of key outcome indicators and hold quarterly learning reviews to iteratively refine delivery.

Conclusion. SomosVoz demonstrates strong social value creation, especially for children and families, with material improvements in family dynamics, peer relations, autonomy, social support, and inclusion. While staff stress emerged as a compensating negative effect, overall impacts are highly positive and robust—supporting scaling and operational refinement of the model across socio-educational centers in Spain.

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