Identifying success in building public support for poverty eradication

Project summary: The project aims to identify the key factors which contribute to successful initiatives in building public support for UK poverty eradication. It will also make recommendations on good practice in the evaluation of these types of initiative.

Deadline:	21 February 2008 (Full proposals)
JRF Committee:	Public Interest in Poverty Issues Advisory Group
Timescale:	To complete by end 2008
Budget:	£55,000
Key contacts:	Teresa Hanley (PIPI Manager), teresa_hanley@dsl.pipex.org, 020 7263 8841 Marguerite Owen (administrator), marguerite.owen@jrf.org.uk, 01904 615903

Supporting documents:

Project summary

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) is funding a programme which focuses on understanding of, and equipping better those seeking to build support for UK poverty eradication. We do this through analysis of attitudes to poverty and facilitating dialogue on their implications for communication and change. A number of agencies are involved in trying to influence attitudes towards poverty employing a range of approaches. However, knowledge of the impact of these initiatives is limited. This project aims to provide up-to-date knowledge and analysis of initiatives to build support for UK poverty eradication. In particular it will identify factors which contribute to success. The successful proposal will document what has been learned from good practice in terms of achieving impact and also capturing this.

Background / context

Public attitudes to poverty

Public understanding, attitudes and behaviour in relation to poverty are important. They help to ensure and enable government spending and action on poverty eradication. They also have an impact, through individuals’ own behaviour in private and professional roles on the lives of people living on low incomes and on successful implementation of anti-poverty policies. However, research to date shows that many members of the public have limited awareness of UK poverty. Furthermore, there is little agreement or picture of what constitutes poverty in 21st century Britain, but rather discomfort in talking about it.

Building support for UK poverty eradication

There are a range of initiatives underway to communicate UK poverty. Initiatives tend to aim to achieve 1 or more of the following. To:

bring new people into an informed debate around UK poverty
increase public or particular groups’ understanding of poverty in the UK
build support for particular policies
build practical or political action at local (eg volunteering, lobby council), regional and/or national levels (eg lobbying MPs,).

These are being carried out by third sector organisations, government at different levels and others. They include campaigns around issues of particular groups such as older people, children and disabled people. Some focus on particular policy measures such as minimum income, fair wages, benefits and housing. Others focus on influencing the public in general and others on specific group’s awareness and understanding of poverty. A wide range of creative methods are employed to build support for poverty eradication. These include: media campaigns; providing support and opportunities for people to speak out and tell their of their own experience eg through story telling, theatre and as campaign spokespeople; initiatives to bring people of different backgrounds together through volunteering, informal and social meetings; provision of public fora for debate through poverty hearings and bringing together people with experience of poverty with policy makers and others.

Measuring success

Evaluating the impact of measures to build support for poverty eradication is complex for a number of reasons:

Public attitudes to issues around UK poverty are ambiguous and fluid so determining change is complex;
Evaluation of such measures is sensitive. In some organisations campaigns may be linked with their organisational profile and fund-raising activities (though funds raised and profile may provide proxy indicators of success);
Organisational and individual reputations can be enmeshed in measurement of success so information is not shared widely;
There is little consensus on identifying what counts as success in these initiatives. This is partly because the collective effort is not targeted at a particular policy change ie is it greater understanding, behaviour change (what type), at what point can success be determined given the fluidity of attitudes (immediate/long term);
Increased understanding, awareness and concern about certain issues, sometimes used as a proxy indicator for success does not always or even usually result in individual action particularly if apathy and/or distrust of government and official agencies is present . Furthermore, there is no consensus on what would constitute success in terms of individuals actions in response to communication initiatives.

It is believed that there are limited formal and large scale evaluations of the impact of initiatives to build public support for UK poverty eradication. However, informal assessments of impact are often undertaken and are certainly calculated within organisations. This call seeks proposals to establish what lessons can be drawn on how to achieve impact successfully from experience to date. This includes considering formal evaluations but also, often undocumented informal, organisations’ internal reckonings of impact. This in turn will assist in identifying how success can be calculated in the future and any capacity development needs amongst organisations. This project aims to provide a resource both to organisations engaged in building support for poverty eradication directly and also those that support them through financial or other means.

Aims

The aims of the project are two-fold:

To identify means and good practice in identifying success eg proxy indicators of impact and methods for verification
To identify approaches and factors which contribute to successful initiatives in building public support for UK poverty eradication.

Key activities

a) Map the range of initiatives which have been/are being undertaken to build public support for poverty eradication. These should include local and large scale initiatives and those carried out by third sector and government. The time frame to consider is the past 3 years and plans upcoming for 2008-10. JRF can assist in identifying priorities for the mapping process in the first stage of the project. The emphasis will be on mapping the range of initiatives being undertaken rather than a comprehensive list of all initiatives. This is foreseen to be a brief exercise to provide a basis for the activities below.

b) Identify how success and lessons learned are currently identified. Factors to consider include:

methodology;
indicators used;
how sustainability of any impact is assessed;
timescale – at what point results and impact are assessed (if it is) ;
resources allocated (time and money)
how information that review and evaluation generates is used and shared internally and more widely.

This will include identifying the main challenges and successes organisations face in identifying success. The successful applicant will also, where appropriate engage with the methods used for evaluation to assess critically what could have made them more robust.

c) Analyse existing evaluations and additional data collected in interviews/workshops to identify trends in what has been successful in building public support for poverty eradication. In particular consider:

What factors have contributed to bring more people into debate and engagement on UK poverty;
what has had an impact on people’s understanding of UK poverty;
how have agencies successfully stimulated public action on UK poverty.

d) Develop guidance on good practice in evaluation of initiatives to build public support for poverty eradication. This will include identifying a menu of practical indicators that could be used to identify success (that go beyond process and output indicators) and guidance on methodology. It will include recommendations on approaches to build capacity in the sector if appropriate.

Methods

Literature review of available evaluations in public domain and others. This is foreseen to be a brief exercise to provide a basis for the main activities below;
Interviews with key individuals and communication departments of groups carrying out initiatives to build awareness of UK poverty. Consider the methods they employ to identify success and factors which have led to success of their initiatives. JRF can assist in identifying initiatives and facilitating links and introductions if necessary.
Consider relevant findings from awareness and public influencing activities in other areas
Workshops with a range of organisations to identify key challenges in evaluation, obstacles and develop indicators for success. These workshops could also be used to build learning on what has worked.
Analysis of data to identify what has been successful and what factors led to this success both externally and in terms of methods used. This includes assessment of what could have made evaluations of methods more robust.
The range of initiatives should consider the four countries which make up the UK. It should consider both large scale and local initiatives, highlighting issues which may be relevant to scale.
The methodology should consider how to enable the participation of people on low incomes in this research project.

Expected outputs

Typically, the expected outputs are a 15,000 word report, detailing the methods, results and policy and practice implications, and a 2,000 word summary (the “Findings”). The report will provide an overview of the range of interventions being carried out and an analysis of factors which contribute to success – what interventions seem most successful at bringing about change, what contributed to this success?

Outputs will also include guidance for organisations aiming to build public support on how to monitor and evaluate progress, effectiveness and impact. This may include a menu of proxy indicators for impact and simple guidance on how to assess these. The guidance will be relevant to organisations working at different scales and locations in the UK. Suggestions on how capacity can be built in evaluation, building on organisations own preferences would also be useful.

However, beyond these written outputs we are open to other ideas about effective outputs. If more than one project is funded from this call, then contributions to joint publication(s) may be required.

Previous outputs

Other recent work funded by the JRF that may be of relevance to this call for proposals includes:

Understanding attitudes to poverty in the UK: getting the public’s attention (2007)
Sarah Castell, Julian Thompson

Submitting a Proposal

It is essential that you read the How to apply for funding section of our website before submitting your proposal, together with the Application guidelines containing the necessary forms for completing your application. There are also details available on what makes a good proposal and projects the Foundation does not support, which proposers should read, as well as some other useful information.

Three unbound, hard copies of all documents are required. Please also e-mail a Word version of the complete proposal, summary and budget forms to Marguerite Owen by the deadline below.

Proposals should be submitted to:

Marguerite Owen
Joseph Rowntree Foundation
The Homestead, 40 Water End
YORK YO30 6WP

Timetable

The deadline for receipt of email and hard copies of full proposals is 2.00 pm on Thursday 21 February 2008.

Unfortunately, late submissions cannot be accepted. Following review by JRF staff and advisers, proposals that meet the required standards will be submitted to the Public Interest in Poverty Issues Advisory Group in March 2008 for their consideration. The Trustees of the Foundation will meet to give final approval for funding in June In the event that Trustees do not approve the work, preliminary costs of up to £2,000 will be reimbursed.

Budget

The maximum budget for this call overall is £55,000 (including VAT and all other expenses). It is expected that individual projects should all be complete by end 2008.

How we make funding decisions (full proposals)

The following criteria will be used in coming to a decision on full proposals:/p>

How far the work will offer new insights or developments.
The soundness and appropriateness of how the work will be done (i.e. design, methods and analysis).
Whether partnerships with relevant other organisations are in place, where these are important.
The experience of the proposers in evaluation methodology.
The ability of the proposers to carry out the work and complete on time.
An understanding of the policy and practice dimensions.

Other issues that will be considered include: whether the proposal pays attention to diversity where appropriate (i.e. attending to gender, ethnicity, class, disability etc.) and whether it is written in accessible, lay language. A full yet accessible explanation of the proposed methods to be used is essential, as is full consideration of the ethical implications of the work and the implications for policy and practice across different nations of the UK.

Key contacts

For queries about the research, including the methods, please contact:

Teresa Hanley
PIPI Manager
020 7263 8841)
teresa_hanley@dsl.pipex.com

For queries about the application process, deadlines etc., please contact:

Marguerite Owen (administrator)
01904 615903
marguerite.owen@jrf.org.uk