Participants from the Building Evidence of Impact programme met in Edinburgh on 4 July 2013 to share learning from their ongoing work on self-evaluation.

Group members described the work they had been doing and the different tools and techniques used.  They also looked at what they need to help them fly as they take their work forward and who needs to be on board to ensure their work has impact.  They also worked with the BLERT framework – which tests evidence to ensure that it is believable, legitimate, enough, relevant and transparent.

Almost all of the group members have now completed reports on their self-evaluation work. Together they provide a rich picture of the range of community based activity around food and the role it can play in positive mental health and wellbeing.

CFHS is now commissioning a researcher to look at all the reports and carry out an analysis of learning and evidence from the programme.  This will inform a further networking event for community based organisations working on food, mental health and wellbeing in spring 2014.

The Building Evidence of Impact programme operated in 2012-13 and was designed to help community organisations collect evidence of the impact of their work around food, mental health and wellbeing. Also to contribute to the wider evidence base around the role that food plays in positive mental health and wellbeing. 

The package consisted of:  

• Four days fully funded input from experts in the field
• Ongoing support from CFHS over 12 months to implement learning within organisations. This includes a small amount of funding to cover the costs of carrying out a piece of evaluation.
• All training fees, venue costs and a contribution to reasonable travel costs if required. 

For more details on the programme, contact Sue.