Professor Tony Chapman and Emma Dunkerley

Policy & Practice has been co-funded by Cabinet Office and O2/Teléfonica Foundation, via the National Youth Agency to undertake an evaluation of the Government’s Social Action Fund in four English regions. The project, which runs for 18 months, compares the experiences of young people who have recently graduated from the National Citizen Service with other young people who join the programme.

Young people who join the programme create an O2 Think Big project where they gain £300 to spend on their work together with support from youth organisations or O2 mentors. The aim is to find out how to embed commitment to stay involved in social action, especially amongst young people who are new to volunteering.

The final report will be published in December 2013.

Professors Fred Robinson and Tony Chapman

This action research project aims to: encourage social enterprises to assume responsibility, through asset transfer, for community buildings in County Durham; produce an environment which is conducive to the development of social enterprise in the delivery of public services in Northumberland; explore ways of examining the contribution of the third sector to ‘social growth’ in Northumberland; and, improve understanding about the relationship between the public sector and third sector in Northumberland

The project was commissioned by the Institute for Local Governance in collaboration with Durham County Council and Northumberland County Council. The first phase of the research took place in 2012-2013 and has been extended for a further year in County Durham.
A report on the Northumberland project will be published in January 2014.

Professors Tony Chapman and Fred Robinson

This longitudinal study, which begun in 2008, is exploring the impact of social and economic change on the structure and dynamics of the third sector in North East England and Cumbria.

The project is co-directed by Prof Fred Robinson and Prof Tony Chapman at St Chad’s College, with colleagues from Social Futures Institute at Teesside University. The project has already produced many reports, available here.

• Assessment_willingness-Third_Sector
• The-Reality-Check-Final-0613
• NRFTST-organisational-self-appraisal-framework
• The-Crystal-Ball-Finalon-the-money-final
• on-the-money-final
• Walking-a-Tightrope
• NRF-TSTS-Taking-the-temperature-report-September-2012
• Journeys-and-Destinations
• Measuring-Impact-easy-to-say-hard-to-do
• Taking-Stock-Moving-On
• Building-better-boards
• Keeping-the-show-on-the-road-Report
• Forearmed-with-Foresight-Report
• NRF-TST-Report-What-makes-TSO-tick
• Mosaic_Jig_or_Abstract_Report
• NRF-TSTS-Taking-the-temperature-report-September-2012

The project is now in its final phase, running from 2013-2015, including a major survey of the third sector in June 2014 and a third phase of case studies with 50 organisations across North East England and Cumbria.

Professor Tony Chapman

This is a collaborative project working group including, Professor Tomoaki Shibukawa (Tohoku University of Community Service and Science), Dr Tomohito Nakajima (Sanno University) and Professor Tokihiko Takatani (Tohoku Koeki University).

The project is a cross-national study of social enterprise funded, initially, by the Japanese Government from 2007-12. The study is continuing, involving a series of annual visits and collaborative research which aims to explore:

● different ways that social enterprises have been established in their cultural, economic and political context;
● identify how social enterprises produce innovative solutions to encourage the development of sustainable communities.
● how areas which have suffered from significant restructuring adopt different approaches to the development of social enterprise in order to encourage economic regeneration.

As the project evolves, new members have joined the study group and engaged in visits to North East England and Yamagata and the Tokyo metropolitan area of Japan. Findings from the study were recently published in Leary and McCarthy The Routledge Companion to Urban Regeneration 2014.

Professor Tony Chapman and Stephanie Rich

Tony Chapman led an evaluation of the social impact of O2/Teléfonica Think Big corporate social responsibility programme between 2010-2013 culminating in a final report published in November 2013.

The evaluation involved a variety of quantitative and qualitative methods to assess how the project contributes to the building of young people’s confidence, resilience and pro-social behaviour.

Findings from the research were published at regular intervals to show how the project contributed to individual and community wellbeing. Evidence from the research has been used by the OECD and Education Select Committee on young people and has been widely reported in the media.

The final report can by found here: Think Big Evaluation Report 2014

Professor Tony Chapman

This project, which ran from 2012-2013, funded by the Institute for Local Governance, examined the relationship between the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector (VCSE) and the public sector in Stockton on Tees.

Its purpose was to look at ways that successful relationships have developed over the prior four years and assess what strategies might usefully be put in place to embed and strengthen existing positive relationships.

Particular emphasis was placed on: the development of commissioning and procurement strategies; assessing the impact of public sector investment in the VCSE; and, working with local infrastructure organisations to build capacity in the community.

The final report is currently being used by Stockton Borough Council to develop its third sector strategy. Much of the learning gained from the project will be published in a report on its sister project in Northumberland which was also completed in 2013.

The report will be published in January 2014

Professors Fred Robinson and Ray Hudson with Ian Zass-Ogilvie

This project, supported by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, was about unlocking the potential of universities to support hard-pressed communities in difficult times. It aimed to encourage and challenge the universities to use their considerable resources to engage more fully and deeply with disadvantaged communities and respond to the issues facing them.

Such engagement can undoubtedly benefit universities as well as communities. A comprehensive questionnaire survey of all universities in the UK has been undertaken (85% return), followed by in-depth case studies of 30 universities. The research sought out good practice and identified barriers and opportunities.

The project was led by Fred Robinson, supported by Ian Zass-Ogilvie and Ray Hudson, the University’s Pro-Vice-Chancellor.

Professor Tony Chapman

This three year project was funded by the Department for Education ran from 2007-2011. The research involved an action-based research evaluation of the Youth Achievement Foundation programme which is was managed by UK Youth. The programme combined UK Youth’s Youth Achievement Award and an innovative approach to alternative education provision for young people by 7KS Enterprise College – an independent education provider. The final research report focused on the positive impact of the programme in terms of young people’s attendance, commitment to vocational training and pro-sociality.

Professor Tony Chapman

This collaborative project was led by Professor Tony Chapman, supported by Dr Peter van der Graaf, Dr Victoria Bell, Graeme Oram, CEO Five Lamps Organisation, Allison Agius, CEO Catalyst.

This project involved analysis of evaluation reports on Total Place pilots, funded by Regional Improvement and Efficiency Partnership and the Institute for Local Governance in 2010.

The analysis was used to inform a half day workshop on the third sector involvement in new place-based approaches to service delivery. Completed in 2009

Professor Tony Chapman, John Bateman (UK Youth), Diane Evans (National Youth Agency).

The Aiming High for Young People strategy set an ambitious goal to develop a skilled and confident workforce which can deliver the most effective practice to improve young people’s outcomes.

Government recognised that the third sector has an important role to play in the delivery of services to young people, but acknowledged that involving the Third Sector in meeting this agenda may present particular challenges.

This programme of research aimed to find out what challenges the third sector faced and make concrete proposals for the training and accreditation of the youth sector work force. The final report was submitted to CWDC in 2009.