Measuring Big Local change: top tips

In May and June 2020, we held two online training sessions to help Big Local areas measure the changes they’ve been bringing about in their areas. Find out some of the top tips that came out of the sessions and download the resource booklet to learn more about the different digital tools you can use. 

As lockdown continues to ease and we return to a version of normality, it might be a good time to review the work of your Big Local partnership over the last few months and think about the changes you’ve been making. You may want to set aside time to review and evaluate your work to date and understand your priorities going forward. COVID-19 may have also forced your partnership to rethink how you collect data which doesn’t rely on face-to-face engagement.

The measuring change session was facilitated by Coalition for Efficiency and Superhighways who shared some top tips for Big Local areas who wanted to measure the impact of Big Local during COVID-19: 

• Make your approach to measuring change flexible. If something isn’t working for you – change it! Measuring change isn’t a one size fits all, so be open to trying different things until you find what works best for you.  
• Prioritise! Focus on what your Big Local area needs to know now in order to make good decisions. Before you start collecting data, think about how you’re going to use it. Consider working through the measuring change action plan on page 9 of the booklet with your partnership to identify what data is most important to collect. You can also get in touch with the research team if you want some more support around this.  

• Feedback, feedback, feedback! Listen to your community and keep interested stakeholders in the loop.  Think about how to share the data you’ve collected in a compelling way that suits your different stakeholders. Infographics can help bring together statistics or data in an engaging way
• Storytelling is a powerful tool and there are some digital tools that can help you. It doesn’t need to take a lot of time to collect people’s stories and you can use tools that work best for you, such as recording audio and videos or taking photos. 

For more advice on the best ways to measure change in your community, download the resource booklet for further tips and useful links.

We have also recently launched a new measuring change support offer which is available to all Big Local areas. If you’re interested in learning more, get in touch with us at research@localtrust.org.uk  

Download the Big Local measuring change resource booklet