enabling positive change
Icarus has just completed evaluation of a Heritage Lottery Funded project – Stone to Steel. Run by the Steel Valley Project in north Sheffield / Rotherham it is not surprising that this was an initiative that aimed to increase access to and understanding of the local natural and heritage landscape. Both local people and visitors were targeted by the project and there is a real sense that it has achieved what it set out to do and has played a part in raising awareness that has led to Stocksbridge’s bid to achieve ‘Walkers Welcome’ status. Icarus used primary and secondary research methods for this final evaluation and provided a helpful insight into the successes of the project, alongside the challenges it faced and what succession might look like.
VCS infrastructure organisations have been working with OCN to develop and test a series of accredited bite sized learning opportunities to meet sector needs and build towards a credit accumulation model. Our final evaluation explored the impact and legacy of this work.
Assessing the role and impact of creative arts programmes for people with identified mental health needs. The evaluation engages service users and artists in a reflective process designed to track change through the use of a Wellbeing Star (an adaptation of the Outcomes Star).
Investing in Communities has been a fascinating programme in Cumbria, looking for efficiency savings in planning’s development control section of the Lake District National Park Authority through improved community planning processes. It has been Icarus’ role to provide an ongoing evaluative input into the programme over its 3 year lifetime and to support the partners in its development over time. As its funding comes to an end we have examined its overall legacy and have worked with the partners to produce an action plan to ensure the key learning from the work is not lost.
In 2008 Voluntary Action Kirklees (VAK) secured funding from the Big Lottery BASIS fund to improve marketing and communication within the voluntary and community sector (VCS) in Kirklees. This funding is now coming to an end and Icarus has been helping VAK and its partners to understand what has been learnt about what kind of marketing and communication support the VCS needs, how this should be delivered and why marketing and communications are important. Our report will use case studies to evidence the substantial contribution that community media (in the form of press releases, websites, audio materials, social networking, film making etc) can make to strengthening relationships, identity building and income generation within the VCS.
Access to Nature is an England wide £25million grants scheme that is led by Natural England and which seeks to increase access to the natural environment for people and communities who have limited opportunities to engage with the outdoors. Icarus has developed an evaluation framework for the programme, advised on monitoring arrangements and has created a project self assessment methodology. Each year until 2013 we are producing a large summary evaluation report of progress and a second analysis of case study projects for this extensive and interesting programme.
Evaluation of the impact for parents and children of 16 courses of the Strengthening Families, Strengthening Communities programme delivered to families identified as at risk. The evaluation process directly engaged parents in identifying outcomes and behaviour changes within families over a period of time as a result of the courses.
Evaluation of Treasury funded ‘Invest To Save’ programme desigend to improve working relationships between the public and voluntary sectors
Evaluation of this deliberative forum on the future of aviation in the UK involving government, NGOs, industry and community organisations.
V6 is a consortium of voluntary organisations in Kirklees working with young people not in education, employment or training. The peer education programme engages young men and women at risk through drug and alcohol issues, using this experience to provide learning for other young people. The evaluation uses creative approaches to engage the group in understanding the impact of the work.