Question 1

1) Why is the back end of ValueScope “complex”?

Accepted Answer

Because real life is complex. The back end brings together individual experience, relationships, systems, and empirical outcomes in one structure so you can evidence the full story of change, not just headline activities. We model four kinds of evidence together: (1) subjective accounts of wellbeing, dignity, trust; (2) observable changes in behaviour like school attendance; (3) relational dynamics such as inclusion, voice, and power; and (4) political and economic systems factors like mandates, budgets, or policy shifts. Each theme and sub-theme has indicators and question banks so you capture nuance without losing structure. This lets a single dataset answer human questions (“Do people feel safer?”) and compliance questions (“Which SDG does this contribute to?”) without rebuilding your framework.

Question 2

2) What problem does the back end actually solve for our organisation?

Accepted Answer

It solves the “we know we create change, but we cannot prove it” problem. It gives you a ready-made analytic backbone to describe, measure, and defend impact in ways communities, funders, and regulators can trust. In practice, themes → sub-themes → indicators → questions → dashboards create a traceable line from lived experience to decisions. Because everything carries provenance (who/when/how), you move from narrative claims to traceable, decision-ready evidence.

Question 3

3) How does the back end map to SDGs, ESG, and NbS standards?

Accepted Answer

Every theme and sub-theme is tagged to relevant frameworks, so one round of data collection can serve multiple reporting requirements. Each sub-theme carries multiple labels (SDG targets, ESG pillars, resilience dimensions, certification requirements). When you tag a result to “participation” or “economic resilience,” the platform already knows which standards it relates to. You retain local meaning while gaining cross-project comparability.

Question 4

4) What do you mean by “integration”?

Accepted Answer

Integration is where we sit with you, map your work and intended changes, and connect them to the existing analytic library, adapting or extending it where needed. It is a short, guided process that turns the shared library into your library. Outputs include a tailored outcome framework, pre-configured surveys and question banks, and a data model wired to your sites and roles. You keep your language and practice; we supply the analytic scaffolding that makes it consistent and defensible.

Question 5

5) If we do not have social scientists on staff, can we still use this properly?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The hard conceptual work lives in the back end; you bring your practice. ValueScope bakes in social-science rigour - validated scales where appropriate, clear definitions of constructs, and conservative rules to avoid over-claiming. Templates flag when a subjective item should be paired with an observable or relational indicator. Tooltips explain why an item exists and how to interpret movement up or down. Your team focuses on doing the work; the platform guides how to evidence it.

Question 6

6) How will the back end evolve over time?

Accepted Answer

Each project deepens the analytic framework. When we enrich, for example, political-economy indicators for care reform or movement-building markers for youth organising, those updates are versioned and added to the shared library and available to all clients.

Question 7

7) What’s the thinking behind the back end (the “why”)?

Accepted Answer

If you do not look for the full range of human experience, you do not measure it, and it will not count in decisions. We centre a relational epistemology: knowledge is co-created with people, not extracted from them, with ongoing / withdrawable consent. We also draw on integral and systems thinking: the subjective self, the observable individual, the relational field, and the system (institutions and political economy). Designing for all four avoids the trap of counting activities while missing the shifts in agency, norms, and power that determine whether change sticks.

Question 8

8) How does the back end help when we know lives are transformed but cannot show it?

Accepted Answer

It translates “transformation” into trackable sub-themes. For a paediatric surgery programme, that might include dignity and self-worth, caregiver capacity, family stability, community inclusion, access to services, educational participation, and economic resilience. Each has indicators (subjective and observable) and suggested questions. Over time you see trajectories, not anecdotes: which domains move first, which lag, which sustain. You can explain why your approach works and where to adapt.

Question 9

9) In carbon projects, we are audited rather than supported to learn. Can ValueScope help?

Accepted Answer

Yes. It reframes MRV from pure compliance to learning - clear structure, traceability to standards, and psychological safety to ask hard questions. MRV processes often reduces insights to “did you hold meetings and share revenue?” We add the missing layer: meaningful participation, trust and safety, distributional fairness, and service responsiveness, all mapped to certification language. Developers gain structure to talk about people with the same confidence they talk about hectares and credits.

Question 10

10) We talk about systems change and movement building but cannot show them. Can the back end do this?

Accepted Answer

Yes. It treats political economy, power, relationships, mindsets, practices, networks, and narrative shifts as measurable domains. Evidence can be qualitative (e.g., narrative shifts) or quantitative (e.g., network measures, budget line movements). You can link these to people-level outcomes, showing how system shifts enable or hinder lived change.

Question 11

11) What exactly does the integration offer deliver?

Accepted Answer

A tailored data model tied to your projects and sites; ready-to-use instruments (surveys and question banks across subjective, relational, systemic, and empirical measures) with consent language; and a living relationship with the shared library. As we extend the library for new use cases, you benefit automatically, keeping evidence current without losing comparability.

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