Impact case study database

1. The process of evidencing social value has led to tangible improvements in the content, design, management and delivery of eight publicly funded projects, programmes and related policies, in turn leading to real world benefits for target communities, participants and service users. In parallel the evidence itself has enabled clients to secure additional funding to continue and extend their projects and programmes, thus extending and magnifying these real world impacts. The tools and evidence generated by the research has enabled clients to convince their funders and commissioners of two things: 1) the return on investment the funding will have in terms of social value generated for individuals and communities; and 2) the systems and processes they have in place to monitor and evaluate this social value on an on-going basis.

• The knowledge and experience gained through CCRI’s development of a Social Return Assessment (SRA) tool for smaller VCS organisations under Proving Our Value helped South West Forum build their impact measurement capacity and become accredited as a provider under the Cabinet Office ‘Impact Readiness Fund’ in 2013/14 and 2014/15. They subsequently won funding to support six organisations to carry out further impact measurement activities and expand the breadth of their service to beneficiary communities. Subsequent application of the tool equipped the Community Council for Somerset with solid and relevant information “in the language of commissioners”, demonstrating the value for money of the project and securing expansion of the Somerset Village Agents, improving the health and wellbeing of an additional 2,000 individuals a year - worth an estimated £5.2m in social value and cost savings to the state according to the original value for money estimates derived through the tool.

The Active Together Programme (ATP) evaluation directly informed the design, delivery and evaluation of subsequent projects in Gloucestershire between 2015 and 2020, such as the ‘Growing Our Communities Fund’, the ‘Children’s Activities Fund’ and another on Adult Social Care. A total of 494 new grants all operating on similar principles to the ATP and worth £1.5m are estimated to have generated up to £10.9m in health, wellbeing and social impacts for beneficiary communities according to the original Active Together SROI estimates. This evidenced-based shift towards smaller funding pots for local groups has led to new ways of working collaboratively with communities in terms of grant provision and has enabled GCC to broker new, improved and trusted relationships with the VCS. This has now become firmly embedded in the ways the Council operates and they have expanded into other thematic areas. More recently this cultural shift - stemming directly from lessons learned through the ATP evaluation - has fed into the design and delivery of GCC’s Covid Recovery Fund.

The process of developing a theory of change model for the Going the Extra Mile (GEM) project helped design the induction and exit interview processes, underpinning delivery of 365 paid employment placements and 120 education and training placements by Dec 2020 for socially excluded participants, and satisfying the strict auditing requirements of the ESF and Big Lottery. The subsequent evaluation has also been used to systematically and periodically improve the management and implementation of the programme and the operation and development of the voluntary sector partnership (involving over 50 VCSE organisations locally), and hence the substantial employment and quality of life benefits provided to the cohort of 1,668 participants registered up to Dec 2020. Evaluation findings “were fundamental” in helping to secure an additional £2.8 million from the Big Lottery-ESF BBO Programme to extend the project for a further two years (2019-2021), reducing social exclusion and improving psycho-social outcomes for a further 540 participants and leading to a further 227 employment and training placements between Jan 2019 and Dec 2020. This is worth an estimated £3.8m in social value alone when applying the SROI metrics.

• The Garden Organic Master Gardener Programme used the SROI evidence provided by the CCRI to secure ongoing funding from Public Health departments as well as to promote the benefits of the training and mentoring education work. This has led to the programme being recommissioned in two locations and commissioned in six further locations in England and one in Wales. It is estimated that at least 6,000 individuals have experienced improved health, wellbeing and employability as a result of the programme continuing, worth over £10.5m in health, well-being and social value.

• The SROI assessment for Defra on the Axis 1 and 3 funding under the 2007-14 Rural Development Programme for England directly informed the rationale, focus and budget of the economic and social funding proposed for the 2014-2020 period, as evidenced in Defra’s (2014) RDPE Final Impact Assessment. Programme managers indicate that many more communities will have experienced magnified real world impacts as a result. The mid-term evaluation of England’s 2007-14 Rural Development Programme had highlighted the poor evidence base pertaining to the social impacts of schemes and CCRIs work had subsequently addressed this for the 2014-20 programming period. The evidence (See section 5, source 9) helped demonstrate to the EC that the funds for the 2007-13 period had been well spent, which allowed the programme to be officially closed. The same SROI evidence fed into the benefit-to-cost ratios (BCRs) used in Defra’s business case to HM Treasury for match-funding for the 2014-2020 RDP, for the continuation of LEADER funding and for a new growth fund for SMEs, engaging additional communities and benefiting many more SMEs with support and services as a result. “HMT commented that they were pleased to see CCRI’s SROI evidence used”.

Findings of the Rural Community Energy Fund (RCEF) evaluation for Defra led directly to increased funding being made available for Stage 1 feasibility grants and the establishment of five local energy hubs providing mentoring and support for local community groups – all leading to magnified real world impacts through effective local energy projects across England. The SROI element of the evaluation formed an integral part of the business case put together to justify the continuation of the fund to the RCEF Board and to Ministers. “Without the CCRI evaluation evidence we would have struggled to justify continuing the fund”.

• Social value narrative and metrics taken directly from the CCRI SROI report were included in the Crowdfunding Business case (See section 5, source 10) that raised £204,850 from 221 investors in 24 days through a match funded community share offer for Hulme Community Garden Centre, securing mental health and social inclusion impacts for service users. This included an interest free £50K loan to support an infrastructure expansion project. The same CCRI material was used to lever in £75K core funding over 3 years from Manchester City Council (in turn sustaining 80-100 volunteer placements per quarter, the equivalent of 1 additional FTE job per quarter) and a £20K ESF grant to fund some 6-week social enterprise courses, with the CCRI outcomes tool subsequently used to evaluate distance travelled uplift in psycho-social outcomes for an additional cohort of participants as a result of the courses.

CCRI’s research and evaluation activities, supporting and enabling co-production and co-design of environmental initiatives with farmers, land managers and rural communities, have resulted in three main impacts, identified by key actors:

1. A shift in appreciation by Defra of the benefits of working with place-based, bottom-up initiatives, and the adoption of co-design as a central feature in development of the Environmental Land Management Scheme (ELMS) as the future farm support policy for England;

2. Enabling and strengthening local actor interconnections, reflexive practice and capacity-building within initiatives, generating more local impact and greater confidence to engage with and influence national policy;

3. Evidence and facilitation to ensure these initiatives can secure funding for the future.

A. Influencing government thinking and approaches to agri-environmental policy design

CCRI’s work has helped these initiatives to influence Defra’s approach to developing the Environmental Land Management (ELM) scheme for England.

Because of CCRI’s research activities in these cases, there is:

• Greater appreciation by local stakeholders of the complexities of public goods and ecosystem services delivery (Dwyer et al 2020), stimulating innovative local action with direct relevance to national policy.

• stronger evidence of the value of co-design approaches (Ingram et al 2020) feeding into the national policy development process (Short et al 2018);

more confidence that targeted and tailored actions that meet both environmental and socio-economic needs locally (Dwyer 2014) are simultaneously meeting national policy objectives (Short 2015).

B. Strengthening the development and implementation of local initiatives

CCRI’s action-oriented research with local initiatives has led to effective governance approaches based on partnership, where researchers engage with land managers and policy actors in the co-design, ongoing reflection and shared implementation of agri-environmental schemes and sustainable land management initiatives (Dwyer et al 2020). Through CCRI research teams’ facilitation, continuous evaluation and feedback, improved relationships have been promoted between land managers and local organisations, enabling empowerment of these partnerships. In turn this has led to tangible environmental and social benefits, including enhanced biodiversity and landscape quality in Exmoor); reduced flooding in Stroud); improved water quality in the Upper Thames and in the generation of local social capital and quality of life in all locations, evident through new recreation opportunities, stronger community bonds, more shared understanding between actors and greater confidence to work together.

In Exmoor, CCRI has stimulated collective action among farmers to form the Exmoor Hill Farming Network (EHFN), with support of Exmoor National Park Authority (ENPA), and subsequently worked with these partners and others to build a shared vision for future farming and the environment, culminating in the publication of the ‘Exmoor Ambition’. The Chair of EHFN and the Chair and Chief Executive of ENPA highlighted that CCRI’s involvement transformed the relationship between the NPA and land managers, for the better (Mills et al 2016). Without this they would not have been able to bid for Defra’s ‘test and trial’ and influence the development of ELM. The Exmoor Ambition received significant attention from Defra, including a Ministerial visit, and the NPA and EHFN have been overwhelmed by the number of farmers wanting to engage as a direct result of CCRIs research.

C. Securing future funding

CCRI’s focus on sustainability and resilience within local initiatives has shown the value of institutional innovation, which has in turn proved to be instrumental in securing future funding. Investment in strong, multi-actor partnerships facilitated by the research has ensured that partners are able to access wider and more varied funders.

In WILD, CCRI acted as a critical friend (Dwyer et al 2020) in an EA-funded initial project (2013-16). This was continued in a follow-on project (2016-19) with three separate funders. The current project runs for a further 3 years with five funding streams covering a diverse range of issues, all hinging around local actors implementing and achieving improved natural resource management. WILD’s innovative capacity has made the case study a flagship Defra ‘test & trial’ project and stimulated funding successes for broader goals and new project activities, including major new charity-funded project investigating WILD’s potential to deliver local food.