Since launching in 2005, our Reaching Communities programmes in England and Northern Ireland have awarded over half a billion pounds to nearly 2,200 projects.
Both programmes have aimed to encourage positive changes in the lives of those most in need, by:
- giving people more opportunities to gain new skills and knowledge,
- helping them to contribute to their local communities and tackle local problems,
- improving local environments, and
- helping people to be happier and healthier.
Our evaluation has found that the programmes have been doing exactly that. They have supported an incredibly diverse range of projects, achieving an array of positive outcomes for a huge variety of target groups and local communities.
Ecorys evaluated the two programmes between 2007 and 2011. They looked at how our projects approached the ideas of 'need' and 'most in need'. In the final year the evaluators considered the difference that projects were making, and how they were sharing learning and carrying on their work after our funding ended. The evaluation has produced a useful body of evidence about the needs that projects are tackling and the approaches they are using to do so, including they way that they involve volunteers and beneficiaries.
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Please contact us if you have any comments or questions.