The value of the Poverty Footprint is its ability to provide business and civil society organisations (CSOs) with the framework to partner and learn where and how a company impacts poverty, leading to recommendations for action. It provides the roadmap for partners to define steps to minimise negative impacts and enhance positive contributions to poverty eradication, and to develop pro-poor business models that drive development and potentially business growth.

Every Poverty Footprint builds on a set of six essential steps. These are:

(1) Establishing a formal partnership with a validated CSO.

(2) Developing a collaborative project governance process that includes consistent dialogue with key stakeholders.

(3) Agreeing on one of three implementation levels the Poverty Footprint will apply, ranging from assessments across two priority issues, to assessing the impact across the company’s value chain and multiple dimensions of poverty.

(4) Using a decision-making framework that covers the “5 by 5 Poverty Framework”, which helps set focus, priorities, scope, and indicators.

(5) Conducting research using the “5 by 5 Poverty Framework” and related indicators.

(6) Publishing a report co-authored by the partners with findings, lessons learned recommendations, and commitments.

The report itself is broken down into two main sections. Section I “Overview” explains the approach, goals, requirements, and unique value of the Poverty Footprint to both business and CSOs. It states that a Poverty Footprint is an impact assessment of where the company and its value chain are functioning as a force to alleviate poverty, and where their actions are exacerbating poverty. Following on from this, a public report, recommendations and relationships among the company and its CSO partner are used to build mutual understanding between the partners, collaborative learning, and joint action.

Section II “Implementation Guidance” explains the steps involved in conducting a Poverty Footprint. The first part of this section is about establishing a formal partnership, by building relationships and establishing trust, as well as setting jointly agreeable goals. Partners can also choose one of three levels of study that reflect different kinds of poverty concerns, resources, and capacity that affect their target situation. Level I introduces the partners to the Poverty Footprint process and establishes a baseline across a narrow or broad scope. Level II concentrates on exploring performance and impact in-depth across two to four priority issues, whilst Level III defines a scope that assesses impact across a key part of the company’s value chain.

Partners will publish their findings and plan to conduct a progress review, by meeting after an agreed period of time to assess the steps that the company has taken related to the commitments it has made. The progress review should involve a presentation by the company, supported by evidence, of the steps it has taken to address commitments and related outcomes.

1. Poverty is about more than monetary income. According to UN Develop Program’s Human Development Report 2014, over 2.2 billion people (more than 15% of the world’s population) are either near or living in multidimensional poverty. Similarly, the World Bank estimates 2.2 billion people live on less than $2 (purchasing power parity) a day.
2. The Poverty Footprint uses a decision-making framework that covers five key poverty dimensions: livelihoods; empowerment; health and well being; security and stability; diversity and gender equality. As well as five corporate practice areas: the value chain; macro economy; institutions and policies; social implications of environmental practices; product development and marketing. This is referred to as the “5 by 5 Poverty Framework”.
3. There are wide-ranging opportunities for companies to positively affect the lives of people living in poverty through employment practices, vital products and services, business development and purchasing through the value chain, community investment, and public policy engagement.
4. Poverty has a range of different socio-economic dimensions, including: the ability to access services and social networks and to express opinions and choice; the power to negotiate; and social status, income, and opportunities.
5. Business will be crucial to achieving the vision of a world without poverty. Funds flowing from the private sector to developing countries now exceeds that of foreign aid, making the private sector one of the most significant influences of global poverty.
6. Population groups such as women, persons with disabilities, children, and in many cases, indigenous peoples or minorities, and those living in geographically remote or conflict-affected areas, are disproportionately represented among the poor, and face additional constraints in escaping poverty.
7. The value of the Poverty Footprint lies in its ability to create recommendations for companies by showing where and how poverty impacts them, opening up opportunities to take action.
8. The Poverty Footprint produces relationships among the company, its civil society organisation (CSO) partner, the researchers and wider stakeholders that build mutual understanding between the partners to enable collaborative learning and joint action towards ending poverty.
9. There is a wide variety of shared value that can be created for companies and CSO's through the Poverty Footprint. Managing poverty impacts will increasingly affect performance across core areas of business including: marketing and sales; supply chain management; human resources; facilities management; product design; investment and capital allocation; brand and reputation; risk and license to operate; and overall valuation. CSO's will benefit by learning more about corporate strategies, incentives and impacts of business operations and value chains.
10. The outcome of the Poverty Footprint process is a comprehensive assessment of the positive and negative impacts a company and its value chain have on people living in poverty. Using this
    information, a company and its CSO partner can identify actions to enhance positive impacts
    and minimise negative, as well as develop new business models and strategies that can meet both
    sustainable development and business objectives.