After refining its educational databases that track the progress of First Nations students, Dadavan Systems is demonstrating its commitment to social good by acquiring B-Corp (Benefit Corp.) certification.
A growing U.S.-based initiative, B-Corp certification requires companies to prove that they meet high standards in terms of social and environmental practices, accountability and transparency.
B-Corp status is tough to acquire. Dadavan is just the eighth company in Nova Scotia to gain the designation, but Dadavan president Jenny Hill said it was important to do so.
“We have been practising a lot of what B-Corp stands for, but we didn’t know about the certification,” she said. “Once we did, we realized it was a good fit for us.
“The process has provided us with an even greater degree of transparency and accountability. The process also revealed ways in which we can improve.”
Hill said acquiring B-Corp status makes good business sense.
“The convergence of technology and social businesses is the way of the future. It’s a strategic business move.
“The process was a lot of work but we did very well. We scored a total of 102 in our B-Corp assessment, compared to B-Corp’s median score of 80.”
The Waverley company began in 1998 and works with First Nations communities by providing databases that track students’ attendance and marks, as well as curriculum requirements and lesson plans.
Improving the high school graduation rates of First Nations students is important.
The graduation rate of First Nations youth living on-reserve was 35.5 per cent in 2011, compared with 78 per cent in the general population, according to figures in a 2013 report by the School of Policy Studies at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont.
The Mi’kmaw Kina’matnewey community of Nova Scotia has been using Dadavan for the past 10 years as part of a school success program, and now has an 87.7 per cent graduation rate, according to the company.
Hill said Dadavan helps communities customize their databases to keep track of students, whether they attend school on- or off-reserve.
“We have different products that track the progress of students depending on where they go to school,” she said. “They’re designed to ensure no students slip through the cracks.”
Teachers can also search for certain things on the Dadavan database to see correlations between information.
For instance, a teacher can search for all students with grades below 60 per cent, and see the students’ attendance records. The teacher can then ascertain if poor attendance explains students’ poor marks.
Privacy is important and the First Nations communities own their data and are the only ones that can access their information.
Hill said that Dadavan learns about students’ success from conversations with their clients.
“We’re here to provide support with the software and help them use it to the most benefit,” she said. “But it’s their data.”
The company works with more than 100 First Nations communities in Central and Eastern Canada and Saskatchewan, with 40 per cent of its revenue coming from Atlantic Canada.
Hill said the company now intends to devise methods of measuring their products’ social impact on First Nations communities without infringing on the privacy of the communities’ data.
“We are presently working on developing metrics for measuring our own company’s social impact,” she said. “Demonstrating our effectiveness while ensuring the privacy of our clients’ data is a tricky balance.”
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