2024
​

​

A literature review on methodologies to evaluate place-based environmental projects

Some of the biggest challenges for evaluating place based projects include discerning attribution and contribution of actions to effects to the myriad interconnected interventions in a place, emergence and change in what is happening in a place, lack of baseline data and challenges of measuring effects over time, the range of stakeholders in a place with sometimes divergent views on what is needed, and limited resources for evaluation. I'm advising a team at ICF as they deliver a review of literature on the evaluation of place based iniatives for Natural England.

​​

​

2023

Developing an Environmental Policy System Review (EPSR) tool

During 2023-34 I worked with ICF and CECAN to develop an Environmental Policy System Review (EPSR) tool to map and assess government’s actions to deliver Thriving Plants and Wildlife in England. This project commissoiend by Office for Environmental Protection will enable them to structure and better assess the overall adequacy of the vast range of government policies for meeting Apex targets in the Environmental Improvement Plan.

​

Evaluation of Defra's Farming in Protected Landscapes.

The Farming in Protected Landscapes programme is a part of Defra’s Agricultural Transition Plan. Through its work the Protected Landscape Organisations, the programme provides funding to farmers and land managers in Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), National Parks and the Broads. The programme funds projects that support nature recovery, mitigate the impacts of climate change, provide opportunities for people to discover, enjoy and understand the landscape and its cultural heritage and support nature-friendly, sustainable farm businesses. I worked with ICF Consulting, LUC (Land Use Consultants) and CCRI (Countryside and Community Research Institute) to develop the evaluation framework and advise on the evaluation of this programme during 2022-23.

​

Priority Places Evaluation

The Priority Places initiative is a new way of working for Natural England central and local teams in 49 geographical locations across England. In each area teams are develop strategic ambitions for nature recovery and will work with  local stakeholders to clarify actions needed, agree delivery plans, catalyse and coordinate funding and optimise delivery. Local and central NE teams are expected to work in a more integrated way than has been the case in the past.  I worked with ICF to design and deliver evaluation and learning for this initiative.

​

Mapping government actions towards the Thriving Plants & Wildlife Goal

The Government set out over 70 actions which aim to contribute to the Thriving Plants and Wildlife Goal in the Environmental Improvement Plan (2023). I worked with ICF and CECAN to map out these actions for the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) to enable them to better understand government's plans, including clarifying how they meant to work together, to support the transition from biodiversity decline to 'thriving plants and wildlife'.  We developed a means of classifying and cataloguing government actions towards the TPW goal including mapping the stakeholders involved in each and the 'maturity' of different actions. OEP used the findings and outputs from our work in chapter 3 of their annual progress report. 

 

​​

Read about this, and find our full report on the OEP website here:

​​

​​

​

​

Evaluation of Youth Endowment Fund's Turnaround Programme 

YEF worked with Ministry of Justice during 2022-23 to scope and commission an evaluation of the MoJ Turnaround Programme operating in 154 Youth Offending Teams during 2023-25.  I managed the project for YEF during 2022-23, scoping the evaluation, establishing relationships with MoJ, commissioning and managing a feasibility study and the development of a protocol for a Randomised Control Trial.

 

Evaluation Framework for Natural England's Nature Recovery Network Programme

During 2022-23 I worked with ICF to develop an evaluation framework for Natural Englands Nature Recovery Programme which aims to support the delivery of the England wide Nature Recovery Network. 

 

Preventing and Tackling Mental Ill Health through Green Social Prescribing Project Evaluation 

I worked with University of Sheffield, Sheffield Hallam University, University of Exeter, and University of Plymouth on this National Evaluation of Green Social Prescribing in eight pilot areas during 2021-2023. The final report has just been published. I led the workstream that brought together the National Partnership involving 9 national partners [NINE national partners!] to facilitate ongoing policy learning and development during this project which sponsored and partly funded through the Shared Outcomes Fund (HM Treasury). I also led the research to draw out their reflections on the programme at various points - it was a fascinating and challenging piece of work!

The report below provides a treasure trove of insights and evidence regarding the implementation and efficacy of these diverse local initiatives which aimed to connect people with nature to benefit mental health. The extensive learning, implications and recommendations for spreading and scaling GSP in the pilot areas and beyond are invaluable for anyone working health, nature and / or wider social prescribing policy and practice. 

 

The final report is on the Defra website:

 

 

 

 

2022

​

Evaluation of Youth Endowment Fund (YEF)'s Neighbourhood Fund

The Neighbourhood Fund is testing whether and how empowering people to make decisions about their local neighbourhoods can prevent children from becoming involved in violence. Working with YEF and five 'hyper local' areas, I supported YEF to scope a high quality evaluation of the initiative during 2022.

​

Evaluation of the Modern Energy Partners programme

MEP was a public sector energy innovation programme led by BEIS and delivered in collaboration with Energy Systems Catapult (ESC). It was  set up to accelerate deployment of integrated energy efficiency solutions on large public estate sites. It was part of the BEIS’ Energy Innovation Programme (EIP) which aims to support the public sector and the supply chain in the realisation of the Clean Growth Strategy objectives to meet carbon emission reductions targets. I worked with Technopolis Ltd and Carbon Trust to evaluate this programme during 2021-22.

​

​Evaluation of the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund Demonstrator and the Whole House Retrofit Programmes

These key BEIS programmes aimed to accellerate national capabilities for cost effective whole house retrofit, whilst promoting economic recovery. I worked with Technopolis and Ipsos Mori and the Energy Saving Trust advising on this evaluation during 2021/22.

​

2021

​

​

Evaluation of The Health Foundation's Inclusion Panel

The Health Foundation (THF) commissioned 'Community Bridges to evaluate their Inclusion Panel. The Panel was set up in summer 2020 and aims to contribute to THF's aims to mainstream and embed diversity and inclusion (D&I) across the organisation and to improve the ability of THF's research to better represent different communities and people with different backgrounds. I provided advice to the evaluation team during 2021.

​

Evaluation of Defra's Sustainable Farming Incentive pilot

The Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme is one of 3 schemes being developed to encourage environmental land management. The other schemes are Local Nature Recovery and Landscape Recovery. The Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme will reward farmers for managing their land in an environmentally sustainable way. The pilot is in its early stages - over 2,000 farmers submitted expressions of interest earlier in 2021 and were invited to apply to take part. The full scheme will launch in 2022, initially for farmers in England who currently get payments under the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS). I worked with ICF Consulting, Fera and the University of Exeter and with Defra staff to collaboratively design the evaluation framework including detailed theory of change and evaluation questions (Nov 2020 - March 2021). 

​

Evaluation Framework for the Nature Strategy 2020-2030 (Department for the Environment Food and Agricultural Affairs (Defra))

Defra's 10 year Nature Strategy will articulate the many ways in which Defra funding and encouraging action to tackle the drivers of biodiversity loss and nurture resilience for the future. I worked with ICF Consulting Ltd and ICF associates, College of Ecology and Hydrology, and Centre for Evaluation of Complexity at the Nexus (CECAN) to design an evaluation framework to underpin the ongoing monitoring and evaluation of the strategy and its key programmes (November 2020 - May 2021)

 

Theory of Change Tool (Defra)

Defra commissioned Technopolis Ltd and CECAN to produce a bespoke Theory of Change (ToC) tool that could be appiled in the complex policy arena that Defra operates in - supporting both robust policy design and the design of policy evaluations. This tool will enable Defra evaluation teams to develop strong causal frameworks for evidencing and assessing policy processes and impacts in support of the Defra 25 Year Environment Plan. I worked closely with the team to design the tool (December 2020 - June 2021).

​

​

​

​

​

Industrial Fuel Switching and Hydrogen production Evaluations (BEIS)

​These two innovation programmes aim to develop,  demonstrate and reduce the cost of fuel switching and hydrogen production, storage and supply. They are part of the BEIS’ Energy Innovation Programme (EIP) which aims to reduce the UK’s carbon emissions and the cost of decarbonisation, by accelerating the commercialisation of innovative clean energy technologies and processes into the 2020’s and 2030s. I worked with CAG Consultants to develop the evaluation framework for these evaluations (2021).

​

2020

​

Scoping the Whole House Retrofit Evaluation (Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS))

The whole House Retrofit programme is part of BEIS' Energy Innovation Programme which aims to accelerate the commercialisation of innovative clean energy technologies and processes into the 2020s and 2030s. I worked with Technopolis Ltd to develop programme and project level theories of change, and scope evaluation purposes, questions, data / data collection and suitable evaluation methods (January - June 2020)

​

​​​​​​​​​

​

​

​​

​