Stby was invited to carry out an impact evaluation for a research programme co-led by De Montfort University and the University College of London. The programme, CHAMPIONS, examines how to better support children experiencing homelessness and living in temporary accommodation.
Four years packed with many activities and complex stakeholder networks
The research programme started in 2020 with a series of studies on the impact of the pandemic on children and families living in temporary accommodation (TA). It then developed a framework to guide support for these families in collaboration with a range of local and national charities, such as Shelter England and Scotland, Shared Health and Institution of Health Visiting. Between 2021 and 2023, the programme has also furthered its engagement with children and families in TA in a range of locations within the UK, using creative and art-based methods to engage these children and families through mural making, festival activities, food programmes, and particularly music making, drawing, and theatre creative sessions. The programme leads have been busy helping children and families, networking with practitioners, presenting at conferences and advocating for policy change. Now, they asked Stby to help them look back at those four years of work and articulate the impact they have made.
Collecting stories of impact at different levels
We started with a 2-hour workshop with the programme leads, mapping out the timeline of the key activities that took place in the past four years, how one event led to another, and who the key players were. We then completed a stakeholder map that identified a list of key stakeholders to be engaged in the impact evaluation process. Over six weeks, we asked a wide range of stakeholders for feedback, from parents of children living in TA, to health workers, charity advocators and theatre producers. Some people we interviewed online or via phone, and others completed a qualitative survey.
Impact is about how deep and far these engagements plant seeds of hope in people’s heads and give them the power to make the change they want to see
All participants gave detailed answers to describe the activities they were involved in and the short-term and long-term impact of these activities on their personal, professional and organisational situation. We heard a story of a mum describing the joy they felt when their kids sang songs based on the reflection of their experiences living in TA; A story of a nurse finding the courage to discuss their struggle of supporting families in TA with their professional peers; A story of a charity worker finding confidence and validation from academic research to support the change they believe should take place; A story of an actress who experienced homelessness herself and discovering the power of theatre in supporting children living in TA; And a story of an all-party-parliamentary-group that got inspired to challenge a national policy to ensure safe sleep for every baby in TA. The impact of such a complicated research programme is deeply qualitative. It’s not just about the number of people participating in this session or that meeting. It’s also about how deep and far these engagements plant seeds of hope in people’s heads and give them the power to make the change they want to see.
Three types of impact from CHAMPIONS from the past to the future
The data were reviewed through discourse analysis and four rounds of clustering. We used a customised version of the Input to Impact model for the analysis and clustering. Based on the outcomes of this process, we created a Theory of Change for CHAMPIONS.
The model illustrated a wide range of impacts made by CHAMPIONS in the past four years, some through working directly with families, others through working with collaborators. These impacts can be seen from three different angles, each taking a different approach, but each intrinsically connected on a higher level.
We then produced a comprehensive report with graphs of the Theory of Change, illustrations of the connections between the three types of impact, and quotes that bring to life some of the stories of making impacts in people’s lives, professional practices, and the quality of social & health services.
We also identified, for each type of impact, several future opportunities that would help CHAMPIONS to prioritise their future funding application efforts and provide a bigger picture to guide future research and future engagement activities that support children living in TA.
These impacts can be seen from different angles, each taking a different approach but each intrinsically connected on a higher level
In November 2024, we discussed some aspects of this project on our podcast, Discovery Dialogue. We had a lovely conversation with two of our Reach partners, Nuria from The Care Lab in Spain and Yvette from Matchboxology in South Africa, exchanging our experiences in measuring impact in social & health-related projects. In this podcast episode, you can hear some stories from this project, alongside other stories from TCL and Matchboxology. Enjoy!