MAY 2018

Healthy Choices and Ethical
Challenge Workshops
The Healthy Choices and Ethical Challenge
Workshops are delivered in schools to educate
students around healthy eating and Fairtrade.
A total of 2,329 students have participated in
the Healthy Choices Workshops and 1,500 in the
Ethical Challenge Workshops during the past year.
Healthy Choices offers the chance for children
to get hands-on with a range of activities,
including how to make fun fruit kebabs, gain an
understanding of food labelling, and learn about
the importance of getting meal portion sizes right
so that no food goes to waste.
Ethical Challenge Workshops are designed
to teach people how Fairtrade ensures better
prices, decent working conditions and fair terms
of trade for farmers and workers across the world.
Recently, 140 children from Tibshelf Infant and
Nursery School, in Alfreton, were treated to a
special assembly talking about the importance
of Fairtrade and Healthy Choices.
Zoe Andrews, a teacher at Tibshelf Infant and
Nursery School, said: “Events like these are
important as the children really enjoy learning how
to make more informed choices and where their
food comes from.”
The SROI for Healthy Choices and Ethical
Challenge Workshops is based on the feedback
from teachers, students and colleagues
who volunteered.
The total social value achieved by the Healthy
Choices Workshops is £84,553, giving an SROI
of £44.50 for every £1 of grant spent.
The total social value achieved by the Ethical
Challenge Workshops is £57,837, which gives an
SROI of £26.41.
These initiatives provide significant social value
and SROI figures primarily due to the large number
of students who have benefited from the workshops
and the outcomes around healthier eating.
Why SROI? Q&A with Caroline Maddox,
CEC Engagement and Public Relations Manager
WHY DID CEC DECIDE TO PRODUCE AN SROI REPORT?
We decided to break new ground as the first co-operative to undertake
an SROI report last year, as we wanted to ensure the projects we undertake
are making a real difference in our communities. Measuring SROI assigns
a monetary value to the social value created by an organisation – social
value is anything that has a beneficial impact on people, economics,
the environment or community regeneration.
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF SUCH A REPORT?
Both the first and second reports allowed us to make honest
assessments of inputs and robust valuations of the impacts they have
been having. It allows us as a Society to validate our community and
corporate responsibility strategies, providing us with metrics we can
use to continue to evaluate future projects and also identify areas
where we can improve in the future.
HOW WERE COLLEAGUES AND MEMBERS INVOLVED IN THE REPORT?
Given that our community investment is one of our core differentiators
and key to the Society’s operations, we sought colleague feedback on
both individual projects and the Society’s values, allowing us to really
find out the differences that are being made. We also engaged with
several other stakeholders including customers and people involved
with our various projects and campaigns. This helped us find out that,
for each pound invested in particular activities, we generate an average
social return of £23.15 – an increase on the first report which saw us
record a figure of £20.50.
HOW WILL THIS HELP THE SOCIETY AND ITS COMMUNITIES IN THE FUTURE?
Working once again with specialists Make an Impact CIC, we have
achieved a robust analysis of our community impact and the SROI report
continues to be great indicator of how we are doing – and will also help us
plan for the future. Overall, by offering training and educational activities,
we, as a Society, help build loyalty, which in turn promotes economic
participation. By creating a surplus, this helps us continue to deliver
community-based activities while building sustainable communities.
MAY 2018 | 31