Bringing Communities Together To Reduce Loneliness
As part of the ‘levelling up’ agenda, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) created the Know Your Neighbourhood Fund (KYN). Over the course of three years, the £30m fund was distributed to over 100 grassroots community groups in nine deprived areas to deliver projects aimed at reducing chronic loneliness and increasing volunteering.
We carried out a formative impact evaluation over three years to help shape the programme and inform delivery in real time. The scoping phase involved:
- Reviewing existing research about what works to reduce loneliness and increase volunteering.
- Co-creating the theory of change and evaluation framework.
- Designing the fund application and selection process to assess whether projects could be evaluated to demonstrate causality through a quasi-experimental design (QED) approach.
The Year 1 impact evaluation focused on a ‘test and learn’ phase after projects had been delivering for only a few months. Findings shaped delivery in subsequent years.
The Years 2 and 3 impact evaluations involved a longitudinal survey of 700+ project beneficiaries. It measured changes in loneliness, wellbeing, skills and confidence, and pride in the local area, and used validated questions from national sources where possible. The survey was designed to be completed online or in-person and was translated into Easy Read. We trained delivery partners to administer the survey with their participants and supported them throughout the three-year period. We also delivered learning sessions to feedback emerging findings and discuss how more participants could be encouraged to complete the survey three times.
We also carried out a ‘deep dive’ into the impact of improving digital skills on increasing social connections. We interviewed project leads and participants to add rich detail to survey data. Our sampling strategy ensured a mix across areas, organisation size and participant type, including vulnerable people and volunteers. We engaged participants ethically by using delivery partners as trusted intermediaries and following their advice on the best methods. We also adopted a trauma-informed approach to designing questions, provided them in advance to overcome fears and uncertainties, sought informed consent, and provided a £25 gift voucher, in line with Social Research Association guidance. We also prepared a directory of local services, in case participants disclosed support needs.