Quantifying Impact: From Aspirations to Measurable Collaboration

It is both an honour and a responsibility to reflect on the challenge of quantifying impact, particularly as the world approaches the 2030 horizon of the Sustainable Development Goals.

The language of the SDGs is familiar to us all. We recognise their urgency. We acknowledge their ambition. Yet too often they remain abstract aspirations. Without the ability to measure progress, we cannot convert intent into achievement. Impact, however noble in its intention, must be quantifiable if it is to endure.

Through my research, I have developed two frameworks to address this gap: the Governance in Motion Model and the Alignment Presence Nexus. Drawing on data already made available by the United Nations, alongside independent sources, these models track the current status of nations across the 17 SDGs and project their likely outcomes by 2030. What emerges is a clear insight. Every country prioritises differently, shaped by its own context. In the Netherlands, climate change is paramount. In many African countries, the goal of zero hunger takes center stage. Yet when nations or organisations with overlapping or complementary priorities align their resources, their combined impact is significantly greater than the sum of individual efforts.

If the most influential organisations in two countries could align policies, frameworks, and funding, the results would far exceed what is possible in isolation. The mathematics is not complex. The lesson is straightforward. Collaboration multiplies impact, while fragmentation diminishes it.

The data is available. The structures exist. What is missing is leadership at the macro level to bring these possibilities into practice. Too often, efforts remain confined to silos. Without leadership to unite them, progress is slower than the urgency of our goals will allow.

Quantification is not about numbers alone. It is about an enabling strategy. When leaders can see the measurable outcomes of collaboration in advance, they are able to focus resources, save time, and accelerate execution. This is the bridge from aspiration to achievement.

The Sustainable Development Goals cannot be achieved through goodwill alone. They demand measurable collaboration. They demand leaders willing to translate models into practice and to align institutions for the greater good.

If aspiration is to become achievement, impact must be made measurable. And if impact is to endure, collaboration must be its foundation.

Timecode:

00:00 Introduction to Quantifying Impact

00:14 Governance in Motion Model

00:53 Analyzing Sustainable Development Goals

01:21 Country-Specific Priorities

01:50 Collaborative Models for Greater Impact

03:39 Quantifying Collaborative Impact

04:28 Building Replicable and Rewarding Models

04:52 Conclusion and Strategic Execution

Transcript:

I think when we speak about, um, quantifying impact, it has to be, um, we have to also then give an example what we are talking about. How does this work, how does this look? And what I've been working on with regard to my research then is, uh, developing a governance in motion model and an Alignment Presence Nexus model and basically, uh.

I look at the Sustainable Development Goals that need to be achieved by 2030. We have vastly available information from the UN tracking it, and of course, independent, independent, verified figures and numbers and data is available to us. So with my models. I've analyzed the current progression of, of countries with regard to achieving their SDG goals, their current status as of 2025, and their projected status to achieving those goals in 2030.

And what I've looked at is every country has across 17 SDG Sustainable Development Goals of the UN across all 17 every country. Has its own priorities basis that is quite simple, dependent to what is relevant to that country in the Netherlands. It's climate at this point. Um, in, in an African country, zero hunger would be indeed one of the SDGs that take priority.

But what if two country countries, either with overlapping or complimentary focuses on SDGs, have. Mutual organizations or organizations that exist in both mutual countries, what if these two countries could come together in a model track? The five or 10 highest social impact organizations, most visible, most uh, uh, projects, most financially available, contributing most to the achievement of those SDG goals as is available if those companies and those institutions could collaborate on alignment of policies, frameworks, funding.

And indeed up until the detailed projects that they're working on, it is quite clear without difficult maths that the combination of the efforts will be far greater than the individual countries trying to achieve a higher projected result by 2030 as individual silos. There are already structures in place that allow for this, but there is very little.

Available knowledge and leadership at the macro level to bring this vision into a reality. We need to make aware of people the potential that this has. So what my model does is using 17 SDG sustainable development goals. 169 targets and a number of KPIs spread across each SDG. It is quite possible based on available data to quantify the projected and collaborative impact of two countries working together.

It is at a very simple level because of course, the model will have to consider soft issues like. Cultural, uh, reach the, uh, trade ties, the ability to have direct flights, languages spoken, ability to work in each other's countries, trade tariffs, um, and political sanctions factor, which brings in where the possibility of these structures are allowed to exist or not.

Then we have a quantifiable result through valid equations, and we try to then build a model on this. To convert blueprints and an academic thought and equations on paper into relevant, intellectually appropriate tools that are able to be replicable, financially rewarding. Therefore, because of the social good that it is able to.

Um, advance the advancement of SDGs as a result of collaboration and identifying upfront the potential for enhancing various collaborative effects saves time. It aligns immediately focus, it allows for effective strategy and immediate execution.