Original alignment date: 2013
Updated alignments: 2016, 2020, 2021
Metrics that align with those developed by the IFI Working Group on Development Results Indicators Harmonization.
Individual IRIS metrics were mapped with the Harmonized Indicators for Private Sector Operations (HIPSO) developed by the IFI Working Group on Development Results Indicators Harmonization. Overall, these metrics help organizations ask a series of important questions which, together with a deep understanding of the context, provide a more complete picture of social performance.
In 2013, 25 International Finance Institutions (IFIs) signed a memorandum to ease the reporting burden on shared private sector clients and facilitate learning from each other. Together, the organizations created a harmonized set of 38 core indicators for 12 different sectors. The full memorandum and indicators are available for download on the HIPSO website. The governance and evolution of these indicators remains with the IFI Working Group. During the first alignment between IRIS and HIPSO, 15 out of 27 HIPSO indicators (56%) were aligned to IRIS metrics.
In 2016, IRIS and HIPSO updated their alignment. At that point, 19 out of 38 HIPSO indicators were aligned to IRIS metrics (50%).
In 2018, the GIIN/IRIS became an official observer to the HIPSO Whole Group (now comprising of 27 DFIs).
Throughout 2020, IRIS+ and HIPSO worked closely together with a focus on deepening harmonization. In early 2021 the Joint Impact Indicators were launched. The Joint Impact Indicators (JII) are a subset of the HIPSO indicators and the IRIS Catalog of Metrics in topics that are common across investments, including Gender, Jobs, and Climate.
The JII provide the shared high level-indicators that impact investors can use to measure and report on their activities across sectors, themes, and/or categories. For detailed understanding of impact performance in specific sectors, themes and/or categories, impact investors use IRIS+ Core Metrics Sets.
The JII represent a major step forward for harmonized impact measurement and reporting. Offering an important opportunity for widespread adoption and use of effective impact metrics, the JII help reduce reporting burden on investees and increase availability of comparable impact data to inform decision-making. The JII are housed in IRIS+ and in HIPSO. Click here to view them.