Methodological proposal for organizational sustainability based on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): a case study of the Asociación Colombiana de Personas con Esquizofrenia y sus Familias (ACPEF)

Abstract

The Latin American third sector continues to face challenges in operationally integrating environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria and aligning them with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly in social organizations with limited resources, fragile governance structures, and limited process systematization. This article addresses this gap by proposing a methodology for systematically incorporating these sustainability frameworks into the management of a Colombian social organization: the Asociación Colombiana de Personas con Esquizofrenia y sus Familias (Colombian Association of People with Schizophrenia and Their Families – ACPEF). The study adopts a mixed-methods approach and is conducted in three phases: a comparative documentary analysis of sustainability experiences, participatory action research to co-construct an ESG-SDG alignment matrix, and the design of indicators for pilot implementation. The process yields two main outputs: a methodological pathway and a matrix linking ESG dimensions, prioritized SDGs, and monitoring indicators. Validation combined semistructured interviews with a Likert-scale survey administered to fifteen beneficiaries before and after implementation (pretest and posttest); the results were analyzed using the Wilcoxon test. The findings show statistically significant improvements in perceptions of financial sustainability, social impact, and accountability, as well as an increased role of institutional communication as a source of legitimacy. Given the exploratory nature of the study and its validation through a single case, the results do not constitute definitive verification; however, they provide initial evidence of the relevance of this methodological proposal for third-sector organizations in Latin American contexts.