Our work in Afghanistan – tab 3
Return on investment
Hand in Hand recently undertook a major audit of our programme in Afghanistan establish our return on investment (ROI): the amount our members earn per year for every dollar donated. The review was conducted across two of our biggest completed projects to date, one funded in-house, the other by the European Union.
Between them, total project expenditure was US S2.14 million. And the total annual income generated by our members’ enterprises in the first year alone? US $3.12 million, for an ROI of 46 percent.
To put those figures in context, consider that the S&P 500 has generated annualised returns of 9.7 percent, including dividends, since 1965. Or, to pick a more ambitious comparison, that Berkshire Hathaway’s average annual stock price gain under Warren Buffet, the world’s most successful investor, is circa 20 percent.
Our work in Afghanistan – tab 2
Low cost
Hand in Hand spends significantly less than comparable programmes on training each member in Afghanistan. That’s according to new research from our colleagues in the country, who polled staff and managers from six major government or NGO livelihoods projects.
Across all six programmes, the price per member trained ranged from US $361 to US $2,000, for an average of US $957. Hand in Hand spends less than one-third of that: just US $298.
But low costs have not meant sacrificing high returns (see next tab).
