Renata Arantes Villella

The case of Brazilian Fellow Renata Arantes Villella and her organization Flor Amarela illustrates some of the challenges in quantifying and evaluating social change for the work of even a single entrepreneur.

Renata joined the Ashoka Fellowship in 1995 for her efforts to implement a comprehensive model for the education, rehabilitation, and social integration of disabled people of all ages. The following information comes from a case study conducted by an Ashoka staff member in 2000:

• Renata directly serves the 200 students with disabilities attending a high school she created in rural Brazil.
• Renata worked with local hospitals to introduce a test for newborn children that ensures early diagnosis and thus opens the door for prompt treatment. Hospitals now register disabilities and refer qualified children to Renata’s school.
• Renata changed policy on the municipal and state levels to free funds for special education programs.
• An estimated 600 people have participated in workshops on pre-natal care, nutrition, and alcoholism—key causes for disability.
• Renata broadcasts a monthly radio program on subjects relating to prenatal care which reaches 5,000 people.

Impact by the Numbers

The simplest approach to impact assessment begins with the most basic of questions: how many? But even a quick analysis of Renata’s work highlights the limitations of any purely quantitative approach. Numbers alone fall short of describing the diverse set of changes set forth by Renata’s work. Consider the following:

• The 200 students enrolled in the Flor Amarela School will live profoundly improved lives, each individual functioning more independently and as part of a family and community that recognizes his or her humanity and potential. These students come from a total of 150 families, each with multiple members that will directly experience this change in their newly independent son, sister, or cousin.

• Hospital-based programs both broaden and deepen Renata’s impact. Early diagnosis improves outcomes for all children diagnosed through the procedure, but even more so for those then referred to Renata’s school. Moreover, the hospital registry, through its mere existence, profoundly alters the traditional Brazilian paradigm around disability. Before Renata’s registry, many disabled people remained hidden in their homes while others were ignored by society and left to beg or wander the streets. This treatment becomes untenable when a respected public institution—such as the hospital—and a group of revered professionals—the local doctors—officially acknowledge and record disability.

• Policy changes, and especially the number of people they ultimately reach, can be particularly difficult to quantify. The funds available from Renata’s municipality, along with money trickling down from the state level, clearly enable her local success. State funding also reaches untold numbers outside this local context.

• Renata’s work on prevention constitutes yet another strata of impact. Downstream indicators, such as rates of birth defects or demand for prenatal care, might provide some indication of the project’s reach. But with such a widely dispersed audience, the influence of Renata’s work is difficult to identify. For those whom it reaches, program effects may vary widely—some mothers will entirely avert birth defects, while others will marginally improve their infant’s health.

Numbers alone represent just one dimension of a rich set of changes in the way society functions; only in the context of qualitative information do they provide a sense of scale and enhance understanding of a Fellow’s work.

Impact as Systemic Change

Each of Renata’s successes independently represents a critical step toward integrating disabled individuals into society as productive and respected members. Together, however, they create a new system for dealing with disabilities on the community level. Renata does not single-handedly seek out individuals with disabilities and draw them into her program. Instead, through her work in local hospitals, she has created a systematized process that allows the medical community to perform that function for society. Nor does she independently raise the money needed to maintain her program; instead she has changed policy on the state and local levels to free necessary funds.

Renata has built a new system that empowers both disabled individuals and their communities (doctors, families, etc.) to change the way disabilities are treated. Over time, this system creates a more enabling environment by changing the community mind set toward disability.

Renata reports clear signs that attitudes have changed within the larger community—people with disabilities are now widely viewed as productive members of society. As stereotypes dissolve, individuals with disabilities face a friendlier environment with more opportunities and less dismissal.

Impact over Time: Spread and Trajectory

According to her 2000 interview, Renata began by locally demonstrating her work to create a replicable model. However, at the time of the interview, she had not yet spread that model beyond the area served by her school. This raises the third critical difficulty in measuring social impact. Ashoka specifically selects for individuals with broad visions for changing nationwide systems. This change takes time. As with many social entrepreneurs, we can not judge Renata’s overall trajectory by the achievements of her first five years alone.