The Essl Social Index is the Essl Foundation’s second major enterprise and represents an entirely new approach to advocacy, on a broad basis, for the concerns of socially disadvantaged persons.
The scientifically rigorous, yet clear, appraisal of inequalities and injustices is proven to be an efficient method for engaging the interest of the media, and thus, also, policymakers, in otherwise elusive issues, and, likewise, for achieving improvements. The Pisa-Study and UN Millennium Development Goals 2015 are particularly outstanding examples of this. But foundations and civil society have also been doing remarkable work in this field for a considerable time; for example, the Mo Ibrahim Foundation’s African Governance Index and the Global Corruption Report of the NGO Transparency International, as well as the Bertelsman Foundation’s Transformation Indices, stand out in this regard.
The Essl Social Index for Disability Governance (ESI-DG), which surveys both the legal situation and living conditions of persons with disabilities, launches in 2010.
