Human Impact Assessment
Human Impact Assessment (HuIA) is a form of prospective (ex-ante) assessment. Ex-ante assessment of the impacts of decisions is a way to assess in advance how a decision that is still under preparation would affect the lives of different groups of people.
The processing of different alternatives and the analyse of impacts help towards anticipating what is the come. These pages describe in particular the ex-ante assessment of the impacts of decisions in municipal and regional decision-making and in the preparation of decisions.
In Finland, Human Impact Assessment integrate different forms of social and health impact assessment as integrated impact assessment.
60% of municipalities use HuIA at least "sometimes".
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Assessment is required by law
Many laws require a preliminary impact assessment to be carried out. For example:
- the Act on Organising Healthcare and Social Welfare Services obliges municipalities (section 6, Finlex) and wellbeing services counties (section 7, Finlex) to take into account in their decisions the estimated impacts of their decisions, by population group, on people’s wellbeing and health
The Act on Organising Healthcare and Social Welfare (in Finnish, Finlex) - the Health Care Act (section 11, Finlex) requires a preliminary impact assessment for decisions that affect human health and wellbeing
The Health Care Act (pdf 196 kb, Finlex) - the Act on Equality between Women and Men (section 4, Finlex) requires a preliminary assessment of decisions’ gender impacts
The Act od Equality between Women and Men (pdf 46 kb, Finlex) - the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (Article 3, Finlex) requires that decisions relating to children give primary consideration to the best interests of the child
The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (in Finnish, Finlex)
Impacts are assessed from many perspectives
Impact assessments combine different perspectives within the same assessment process. The issue under consideration affects the perspectives that should be taken into account.
The different perspectives within impact assessments can be divided into those that impact people directly and those that impact indirectly. These are not separate from each other, but rather different perspectives on the same matter. The approach taken depends on what perspectives should be emphasised in the impact assessment – whether it is children or the environment, for example. Nevertheless, it is best not to carry out assessments from a single perspective.
Human Impact Assessment (HuIA)
Human Impact Assessment, as a form of integrated impact assessment, is an overarching concept that seeks to bring together different perspectives on human impacts. Human impacts are also referred to as municipal resident impacts. These include:
Child Impact Assessment
Child Impact Assessment (CIA) involves forecasting and monitoring the impacts on children resulting from different decisions and measures. The process also takes into account the children's own assessment of the impacts.
Gender impact assessment
Gender Impact Assessment (SUVA) involves advance assessment of measures and decisions from the perspective of their potential gender impacts. The aim is to prevent undesirable gender impacts and promote equality.
Health impact assessment
Health Impact Assessment (HIA) refers to the identification and assessment of the health impacts caused by a project or decision. The assessment must take into account both the impacts on physical health and the effects on the mental and social dimensions of health.
Social Impact Assessment
Social Impact Assessment (SVA) examines the impacts of projects or activities on people's living conditions, comfort and welfare. It is usually part of zoning work or extensive projects in which an environmental impact assessment is required by law. Social impact assessment is typically used in urban planning and zoning.
Equality Impact Assessment
The purpose of equality impact assessment is to identify discrimination and ways to improve equality.
Linguistic impact assessment
Linguistic impact assessment refers to the assessment of the impacts of legislative proposals and decision proposals which relate to the provision of services in the languages mentioned in section 17 of the Constitution of Finland, and particularly the national languages Finnish and Swedish. Linguistic impact assessment includes consideration of impacts on the realisation of the linguistic rights of the individual, changes in regulation for administrative areas, impacts on official activities and impacts on personnel.
Human impacts are also assessed in other impact assessments that relates to people:
Environmental impact assessment
According to the Act on Environmental Impact Assessment Procedures (252/2017), environmental impact assessment (EIA) and the related assessment of impacts on health, comfort and living conditions must be carried out for the types of projects specified in the EIA Decree (277/2017).
Environmental impact assessment for plans and programmes
The authorities must investigate and assess the environmental impacts of the plans and programmes they have prepared if, among other factors, their implementation could have a significant impact on people. Environmental impact assessment must be carried out for certain plans and programmes in accordance with the Act on the Environmental Assessment of Authorities’ Plans and Programmes (SOVA Act).
Impact assessment in land use planning
According to the Land Use and Building Act, environmental impacts of plans and the different options involved must be assessed during the preparation phase, including assessment of economic, social, cultural and other kinds of impacts.
Economic impact assessment
Assessments of economic impacts may include the costs of producing services and also the cost savings obtained from preventative measures. In addition, decisions may affect income transfers and households’ disposable income. In this way, the economic impacts of decisions can reduce or increase welfare and health inequalities.
Business Impact Assessment
The assessment of business impacts assesses the impacts of decisions on the operating conditions of companies of different sizes, including impacts on entrepreneurs, employment or the supply of labour.
