Evaluation of Connecting for Change: The story so far!

Since May 2019, Institute for Voluntary Action Research (IVAR) has been working with us to evaluate our ‘Connecting for Change’ programme (more commonly known as Connect). Connect is a four-year initiative funded by The National Lottery Community Fund that works to support residents to ‘own’ the solutions to the challenges they are facing in their local communities by providing access to services and information.

The Institute for Voluntary Action Research is a charity that works closely with people and organisations striving for social change. Since the National Lottery Fund started to support the Connect programme back in 2019, IVAR have been facilitating annual interviews with local residents, partners and staff who have been engaged through Connect. These interviews work to learn about people’s experience of engaging with our Connect services. The interviews also enable us to identify the benefits of the programme as well as the areas that need to be adapted in order to meet the evolving needs of residents.

What our partners have said about Connect

To find out more about the experiences of our partners who we work with through Connect, read our blog post here.

What our residents have said about Connect

In the Summer of 2021, IVAR carried out interviews with residents who have been engaged with our Connect services – read about our residents experiences here.

Find out more!

Stay up to date about our work and successes! Find out more about other reports and publications about our work here.