MCA is an appraisal and evaluation technique that accounts for the role of economic, social and environmental factors in decision-making. Unlike CBA or SROI it does not require the monetization (monetary valuation) of social and environmental outcomes. It highlights the trade-offs among competing interventions, competing interests at play, and competing objectives (social, economic, environmental).
Our experience in applying Multi-Criteria Analysis (MCA) and using Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) suggests that MCA is more useful than SROI or CBA when:
- Clients do not wish to put a monetary tag on social and environmental impacts.
- Applying monetary values on social and environmental impacts is too difficult or too imprecise.
- There are competing objectives or competing stakeholders, and the objective is to build consensus for designing and implementing sustainable interventions, over time.
We can apply MCA and MCDM:
- In a variety of areas, such as social or environmental interventions.
- For a range of sectors including national NGOs, INGOs and across the private and public sectors.
- At a variety of levels – project, programme or policy levels.
For more information on MCA download: Multi-Criteria Appraisal briefing
