London (MCL) began in earnest over the summer and autumn of 2018, with an initial scoping exercise that helped to identify suitable locations to implement and test the approach in the English capital city. Development work with Barking, Haringey and Hounslow began in late 2018 and continues currently as a pilot programme in each of these areas. Coalitions have been established with plans in place to continue in each location; and sport for development activities are both ongoing and diversifying, building on the experiences and impacts of the pilot programme.
The Model City approach is continually evolving, meaning that progress is continually evaluated to see what has worked and more importantly what hasn’t worked.
NDTi (National Development Team for Inclusion) were the evaluation and learning partner for Model City London until spring 2021 and worked closely with each of the three Coalitions to help them explore what they want to achieve through the Model City London programme.
Staying true to the ‘scaffold’ approach, the Model City London evaluation framework has been specifically designed to sit alongside the four phases of the Model City delivery approach:
Phase 1: Research & Strategise (January 2018 – September 2019): Since January 2019, we have been using a Collective Impact approach based on realist evaluation methodologies, called “Building a Vision for Change” which brings people together. Working with the Coalitions we co-designed local Vision and Outcome maps (hyperlink), which outline their visions for the changes in their respective areas and how they intend to evidence against them. The Phase 1 Evaluation Report was published in December 2019. You can also find a shorter summarised version of the Phase 1 report by clicking here.
Phase 2: Invest & Demonstrate (October 2019 – March 2020): Aiming to build community evidence & learning capacity, a detailed framework and guidance for gathering and using evidence and data within and across MCL Coalitions. The Phase 2 Evaluation Report was published in August 2020. You can also find a shorter summarised version of the Phase 2 report by clicking here.
Phase 3: Continuation of Invest & Demonstrate but focusing on what’s changing for whom & how (September to December 2020). The Phase 3 Evaluation Report was published in November 2020.
Phase 4, ran between January and May 2021, and focused on Sharing Impacts, Learning about what works (December 2020 – May 2021). This final evaluation and learning report shares the cumulative findings and lessons from the 3-year pilot Programme, with the aim of sharing what has been learned about “what works, for whom, in which circumstances, how and why”. Practical and factual information about the approach, the MCL locations, as well as detailed findings and lessons can be found in the main report. This summary focuses on the overarching lessons and key messages about “what works” and the key impacts achieved between 2018 and 2021. Click here for a summarised version of the report.
The Future:
The project has received a funding extension to Spring 2022 and secured an expert consultant in October 2021 with skills in working with varied voices and skills sets, that can facilitate, support, and drive the three Coalitions to develop realistic and time-bound sustainability and financial strategies that can enable the coalitions to continue beyond. This is complimenting the transition phase that each coalition is now in, aimed at developing further local ownership.
An important feature of the Model City London approach is the embedded nature of how the on ground teams were working to create and nurture trust amongst these communities, leading to developing solutions to local challenges through the power of sport for social good.
Each coalition used a collective impact approach based on realist evaluation methodologies, called “Building A Vision for Change” which brought people together to:
This has come about from a coordination team who helped creating community steering groups from January 2019, made up of local sport and physical activity stakeholders who wish to advocate or benefit from the placed based approach.
The steering group meet regularly, to use bespoke local Vision of Change goals as a road map to define measures of success and find ways to bring people together to collaborate and share ideas on how to make local change happen. This goals are currently being assessed with help from the consultant expert with the transition phase.
Each steering group is led by a community chair and vice chair team who ensure that decision making is locally led. In 2019 each area renamed each pilot programme to reflect the “personality” of who each community:
Each community is open for anyone interested to learn more or join the movement. For more information contact [email protected].
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