Investing In Londoners “Breathe” Interim report, February 2016
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Interim Report, February 2016 Table of Contents 1. 2. 3.
Executive Summary Background Aim of the Project 3.1 Aim and project plan 3.2 Theory of Change 4. Results & Outcomes 4.1 Headline results 4.2 Project Outcomes 5. Conclusions and Recommendations 5.1 Conclusions 5.2.1 What has been learnt 5.2.2 What worked well 5.2 Recommendations 6. Project spending 7. Appendix
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Summary of Project
London Sustainability Exchange (LSx) with the help of City Bridge Trust has developed BREATHE, a new initiative to actively engage people who would not normally consider taking an active role in conserving and improving the green environment.
A total of 1,231 people reached through project activities
5.5 tonnes of waste saved
36 Groups from 15 London Boroughs 181,800 saved from reduced energy bills
152.5 tonnes of CO2 saved
90% of participants reported an increased level of new learning
9 additional grants secured, representing over ÂŁ140k of funding
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1. Executive summary Behind London's vibrant buzz, lie some of the starkest inequalities in health and environmental quality. London Sustainability Exchange (LSx) have been awarded £66,600 from City Bridge Trust to actively support “non green” groups to plan, develop and deliver their own programme of environmental educational activities to improve the local environment in six communities across London. By the end of the 11th month of the project, LSx has worked with a total 36 groups from 6 communities in the following ways: 1) Green Entrepreneurship in London Borough of Waltham Forest with 16 adults and 46 young people from local colleges. This included the involvement of 11 groups. 2) Tackling Fuel Poverty and promoting energy efficiency in London Borough of Brent with the Community Health Action Trust, in the London Borough of Hounslow with AgeUK and EACH, and with 8 food banks. 3) Gardening project in the London Borough of Wandsworth with two youth groups. 4) Building Community Resilience in the London Borough of Hounslow with four groups. 5) Support to five Big Energy Saving Network Champions in Enfield, Haringey and Tower Hamlets: 6) Measuring and acting on the Air Quality challenge in London Borough of Newham and Hounslow. Key Findings and Results o o o o o o o o
314 people reached directly, who helped an additional 913 people with potential to reach a further 2,482 173 champions trained 95% of 145 people reported an increased level of new learning 152.5 tonnes of CO2 saved 5.5 tonnes of waste saved (from entrepreneurial activities utilizing waste) £181,800 saved (from reduced energy bills of households) 36 groups engaged in projects & project activities 38 Action plans developed
Interim Conclusions o o
There is a strong desire for communities and individuals to learn about sustainability One of the main challenges facing groups of all sizes is funding
Interim Recommendations o o
Work collaboratively to access resources, skills and knowledge Keep it local – focus on the messenger!
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2. Background 2.1 The Challenge This project addresses a number of challenges facing Londoners, third sector organisations and their environment more widely. It is ambitious in its aim; to empower groups to address environmental inequalities through community created and delivered projects and in-turn build capacity and create opportunities for future funding. The challenge extends across the very definition of sustainability, addressing environmental & social inequality, personal choice and behaviour change, health & wellbeing to ultimately create carbon and monetary savings.
“LSx helped me generate ideas in defining the project, handouts and resources were really helpful” - Participant, Selby Trust – Project Champion
2.2 About the project The overall aims of the project are for; 1) Groups not previously engaged in environmental activities to learn about environmental issues and influence their community 2) Groups design, secure funding for, and deliver their own sustainable green initiative. In some cases for the first time. 3) Groups are connected, share knowledge and inspire each other By achieving these aims, the project will create positive benefits for individuals, organisations and the environment. The project will help meet the Trust's goal of more Londoners having a greater understanding of the "green" environment, focusing on groups who have previously missed out.
2.3 Community Groups The original project was conceived to support six communities and non-green groups more specifically. In practice, a much wider range of groups and stakeholders have so far been engaged including ‘green groups’ who have acted as local hubs to inspire, exchange and develop project ideas. Connecting ‘green’ and ‘non-green’ groups has been instrumental to the projects success by allow shared learning and facilitating the formation of new social norms.
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2.4 Funding & Timeframe London Sustainability Exchange (LSx) has been awarded ÂŁ66,600 from City Bridge Trust over 18months, commencing February 2015 and concluding August 2016.
3. Aim of the Project 3.1 Overall aims Breathe aims to provide support for six communities in London, particularly those who would not otherwise engage with the environmental agenda to engage their community in conserving and improving their local environments. Within this remit there has been scope for a range of project ideas to develop each with its own aim and impact. The overall aims of the project are for; 1) Groups to learn about environmental issues and influence their community 2) Groups design, secure funding for, and deliver their own sustainable green initiative 3) Groups are connected, share knowledge and inspire each other
3.2 Six communities Focusing on communities of interests that are disproportionately affect by environmental issues, the following projects were identified: 1) Green Entrepreneurship in London Borough of Waltham Forest with 16 adults and 46 young people from 2 local colleges. This included the involvement of 11 groups. 2) Tackling Fuel Poverty in London Borough of Brent with the Community Health Action Trust and with 8 food banks. 3) Gardening project in the London Borough of Wandsworth with two youth groups. 4) Building Community Resilience in the London Borough of Hounslow with four groups. Additionally, engaged with 11 groups as part of a fundraising and capacity building workshop. 5) Support to five Big Energy Saving Network Champions in Enfield, Haringey and Tower Hamlets 6) Tackling Air Quality in London Borough of Newham and Hounslow.
3.3 Theory of Change The project works across three phases; 1) Identify and engaging six communities 2) Support communities to engage their members a. Action Planning 6
b. Training c. Mentoring 3) Connect and support groups
Outcomes
Outputs &
Overall Objectives
Diagram 3.1 below outlines the intended theory of the change of the project.
Groups learn about environmental issues and influence their community
Groups design, secure funding for, and deliver their own sustainable local green initiatives
Activities engaging at least 2,000 people
6 community groups effectively measure the impact of their activities and campaigns
Individuals and groups are better connected
Increased understanding of and connection with local environment
Group leaders are confident about measuring the impacts of the environmental education activities
Individuals working with communities will be enabled to work together accesses key information, policies and create collaborative change
Indicators of Outputs
Indicators of Outputs
Increased level of well being
Indicators of Outputs
Methods & Techniques
Indicators
Number of action planning events Champions trained Activity programme
Number of events (1 of 3)
surgery
Groups are connected, share knowledge and inspire each other
No. of surgery events (3) 12 LSx blogs Project webpage 10 bi-monthly bulletins
Indicators of Outputs
Indicators of Outcomes
Indicators of Outcomes
At least 70% of participants report an increased understanding of and connection with their local environment At least 60% of participants reports an increased level of wellbeing
At least 70% of group leaders and team champions say that they are confident about measuring impacts Community groups are actively using the campaign measurement toolkit
At least 70% of participants say that they will put something into practice At least 150 people working communities benefit
Self completed surveys (baseline & follow up)
Exit Surveys Champion self completed surveys Interview with leaders at beginning & end of project
Exit Surveys Focus group with network members (at end of project)
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4. Case Studies Theme
Fuel Poverty & Energy Efficiency
Groups involved
Community Health Action Trust (CHAT)
Area
London Borough of Brent
Need
o
Summary of support
o o o
Results
High instances of fuel poverty – 11.6% of houses in Brent estimated to be in fuel poverty, causing various problems for residents: o Health- Living in cold conditions can make respiratory diseases such as asthma worse. o Excess Winter Deaths (EWD) - According to the World Health Organisations cold indoor temperatures contribute 30%-50% to Excess Winter Deaths. o Financial- High bills means residents having to choose between heating and other essentials, such as food. o Climate change- Inefficient houses contribute significantly to climate change due to their high energy usage. Trained 23 champions through 2 workshops on fuel poverty Champions trained in energy efficiency behaviours and advised to pass this information on to clients and get them to pledge to change their behaviour. Champions visited 204 houses to advise residents and retrofit properties with: o Radiator reflector panel o Secondary glazing film o Draught proofing foam tape. 167 participants (85%) reported improved thermal comfort in their home
project. 141 pledges made in the initial visit, 91 (65%) were kept up Next steps
o o o
in the follow up, with an overall carbon saving of 32.474 tonnes /yr (included in above figure) Revisit homes for long term data and feedback If possible, use of utility bills for accurate estimations of financial and carbon savings. Provide further support for champions in continuing their pledges and encouraging the clients to keep their behavioural pledges – fostering new social norms of energy efficiency.
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Theme
Fuel Poverty
Groups involved
Various Food Banks; Colindale, Wimbledon, Hackney, Haringey, Ruxley, Epsom, Centre, Tadworth, Banstead, North Enfield, Haringey
Area
Pan-London
Need
Summary of support
Results
Almost 10% of London households are in fuel poverty, causing various problems for residents: o Health- Living in cold conditions can make respiratory diseases such as asthma worse. o Excess Winter Deaths (EWD) - According to the World Health Organisations cold indoor temperatures contribute 30%-50% to Excess Winter Deaths. o Financial- High bills mean residents having to choose between heating and other essentials, such as food. Climate change- Inefficient houses contribute significantly to climate change due to their high energy usage o Trained 23 champions from 8 foodbanks on fuel poverty o 55 households referred to additional energy efficiency information and help to maximise incomes by taking up all the support they are entitled to. o
o
154 people engaged by champions through events and peer to peer social action Total carbon savings of approximately 84.6 tonnes/yr
project Next steps
Contact other identified foodbanks interested in this project, but didn’t take part (due to time restrains and logistical reasons) o Wandsworth o Hammersmith & Fulham o Kingston o Sufra
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Theme
Fuel Poverty
Groups involved
Age UK Hounslow, EACH, Flourish
Area
London Borough of Hounslow
Need
Summary of support
Almost 10% of Hounslow households are in fuel poverty, causing various problems for residents. o Health- Living in cold conditions can make respiratory diseases such as asthma worse. o Excess Winter Deaths (EWD) - According to the World Health Organisations cold indoor temperatures contribute 30%-50% to Excess Winter Deaths. o Financial- High bills means residents having to choose between heating and other essentials, such as food. Climate change- Inefficient houses contribute significantly to climate change due to their high energy usage o 1 training workshop held for community champions o Materials provided such as draught excluders, leaflets etc
Results
o 19 champions trained through workshop.
Next steps
o Complete remaining training sessions o Champions to start visiting houses and completing surveys
o
o Champions to install draught excluders and radiator panels
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Theme
Green Entrepreneurs
Groups involved
Hornbeam Café, My Street, Institute of Education, Food Assembly, Headway Self Build, Leave the Trees Alone, Forest and Found, Len's cakes, Reclaimed London, Hedge Herbs, Healthy Living Lab and 2 colleges
Area
London Borough of Waltham Forest
Need
Tackling local waste issues On the measure of self-employment, Waltham Forest is less entrepreneurial than the London average. The rate of start-ups in Waltham Forest was 63 per 10,000 adult residents, less than the rate in London (96.1 per 10,000 adult residents).1 In 2012, Waltham Forest had 11,600 workless households with no individuals aged 16 and over in employment. The biggest concentrations of workless issues are found in Walthamstow, Leyton and Leytonstone. Economic Inactivity is concentrated in the Asian/Asian British population of 2 the borough, and predominantly amongst women. Lack of training and experience -88% of trainees were either unemployed or in part-time employment (less than 16 hours per week) -All self-employed trainees worked on a part-time basis
Summary of support
Results
Next steps
16 champions and 46 young adults trained Five training sessions completed: social enterprise, social marketing, marketing, health & safety, finance & project management, and environmental issues Two mentoring sessions completed New enterprises green established At least 5.5tonnes of waste diverted through enterpise activities 78% of people expressed good to excellent skills and confidence in managing money and setting up a social enterprise as a result of the training o 90% of trainees reported increased confidence to develop a green social enterprise. One-on-one mentoring sessions to be set up to discuss next steps for enterprises and establish an exit strategy as our support winds down.
1 London Borough of Waltham Forest, Local Economic Assessment, November 2010 2 London Borough of Waltham Forest, Local Economic Assessment, November 2010
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Theme
Capacity Building & Community Resilience
Groups involved
Speakout in Hounslow, Cathja, Community Foodbox, Disability Network Hounslow
Area
London Borough of Hounslow
Need
Summary of support
Results
A significant presence of childhood obesity, currently at 17% in Brentford and Syon. The ward has a lower life expectancy than LB Hounslow’s other target awards. 77% of the LSOA’s in this catchment area are in the top 50% most deprived nationally, with at least two being in the top 20% o Identified 14 local training providers, including Brentford Bikes o Engaged 23 champions from 3 community groups through action planning sessions
Next steps
o
Gathered 185 responses to create 2 Asset Maps, for physicals assets and social assets Identified 45 people who wish to share skills such as cookery, gardening, plumbing and sport with their community. Initial training sessions held with 2 groups Groups to receive specialist training in chosen subject areas and to share skills with the community to enable healthy lifestyles.
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Theme
Fuel Poverty and Energy Efficiency
Name
Big Energy Saving Network (BESN)
Groups involved
Community Health Action plan (CHAT), The Selby Centre, Enfield Somali Community Association (ESCA), Finsbury Park Trust, Madani Girls School.
Area
Pan-London
Need
Summary of support Results
Next steps
Almost 10% of London households are in fuel poverty, causing various problems for residents. o Health- Living in cold conditions can make respiratory diseases such as asthma worse. o Excess Winter Deaths (EWD) - According to the World Health Organisations cold indoor temperatures contribute 30%-50% to Excess Winter Deaths. o Financial- High bills means residents having to choose between heating and other essentials, such as food. Climate change- Inefficient houses contribute significantly to climate change due to their high energy usage o 5 Champions Trained o Peer Mentoring Network established with Champions o
o o
121 Fuel Poor Families engaged Total savings of over £1,200 through ‘switching’ Continue to engage Fuel Poor Families and train Frontline Workers. Utilising the LSx network we plan to bolster
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Theme
Green Spaces
Groups involved
Providence House Youth Centre, Battersea Flower Station, Platform 1
Area
London Borough of Wandsworth
Need
o Young people in Wandsworth lack access to and ownership of green spaces; o Transform under-utilised green spaces o Encourage biodiversity o Improve understanding, confidence and skills in improving and maintaining green spaces o There is a disused space next to Providence House which could be an asset to the community. o Local partners have been identified and secured o 15 local residents have been engaged in 2 initial workshops o Land owner permission has been gained
Summary of support
Results Next steps
o
A full programme of activities and support has been planned for 2016
Young champions will be identified during two further workshops, including a visit to a city farm. o A green space next to Providence House will be developed, maintained in collaboration with local expert provider Battersea Flower Station (with at least 6 training sessions held). o This will compliment Providence House’s ‘4 seasons’ programme, engaging young people from local estates in nature. o Platform 1 will provide worm compost from their kitchen (initiated through a ‘food waste’ workshop day.) They will in turn use the herbs from the garden. o
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Theme
Air Quality
Groups involved
The City Bridge Trust
Area
London Borough(s) of Newham and Hounslow
Need
Groups have undertaken air quality mapping exercises for different reasons o Isleworth community
Summary of support
LSx provided air quality and citizen science training session to groups to help them understand and measure air pollutants. Provided equipment and data mapping
Results Next steps
Increased understanding of air quality issues Initial data mapped. Present groups with findings / results to facilitate discussion and action plan Support groups to implement action plan indicates very high, dangerous levels of pollution
indicates high levels of pollution
Indicates above average levels of pollution
Indicates low pollution levels
Indicates very low pollution levels
Pollution map from Woodcraft Folk, Newham study
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4.1 Activities & Outcomes Overview for all projects Six communities took part in training and activities relating to Green Enterprise, Fuel Poverty, Air Quality and Green Space. This section provides a summary of key outcomes, activities and events. Full details are available in the appendix. 36 groups from 6 communities from 15 London Boroughs signed up for the following projects: 1) Green Entrepreneurship in London Borough of Waltham Forest with 16 adults and 46 young people from 2 local colleges. This included the involvement of 11 groups. 2) Tackling Fuel Poverty in London Borough of Brent with the Community Health Action Trust and with 8 food banks. 3) Green Space initiative in the London Borough of Wandsworth with 2 youth groups. 4) Capacity Building and Resilience in the London Borough of Hounslow with four groups. Additionally, engaged with 11 groups as part of a fundraising and capacity building workshop. 5) Support to five Big Energy Saving Network Champions in Barking, Brent, Enfield, Haringey and Tower Hamlets 6) Measuring Air Quality in London Borough of Newham with 1 educational group As such; o 38 Action plans have been developed o 173 champions trained. o 914 people engaged in project activities. o 1 workshop measuring project impacts with 14 participants. o 1 workshop exploring capacity building and fundraising in Hounslow Leading to the following outcomes; o 72% of participants reported an increased understanding with or connection to local environmental issues. o 82% of participants reported increased confidence or motivation to deliver their action plan. o 56% of participants reported increased confidence measuring project activities. o 86% of participants reported increased connections with others as a result of their involvement in our activities.
“LSx helped me generate ideas in defining the project, handouts and resources were really helpful” - Participant, Selby Trust – Project Champion
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4.2 Green Enterprise, London Borough of Waltham Forest o
o o
The City Bridge Trust Investing in Londoner’s Grant enabled LSx to expand our activities and bid for extra funding, allowing LSx to access £25,000 from the Stratford Development Partnership for the delivery and development of Green Enterprises in Waltham Forest. LSx were also successful in securing £3,000 from Carnegie UK Trust’s “TestTown 2015”, the UK’s biggest enterprise accelerator for youth. 16 champions trained from 11 community groups LSx were able to support 16 budding entrepreneurs through 6 training sessions and 5 mentoring sessions LSx provided training to 46 young people from 2 colleges as part of TestTown2015 An estimated 5.5 tonnes of carbon savings are related to enterprise activities
Our Green Enterprise project has assisted those who did not have the skills to bring ideas to life and therefore engage in environmental activities. A forum to share ideas and knowledge has been provided. In doing so this is tackling environmental issues in the area providing examples and engagement with the wider community.
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4.3 Tackling Fuel Poverty with Community Health Action Trust(CHAT) in London
Borough of Brent and 8 Food Banks The City Bridge Trust Investing in Londoner’s Grant allowed LSx to bolster project activities and match-fund project from UK Power Network’s The Power of Giving, and the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) Energy Saving Competition For both Warmer homes and Foodbanks projects 367 individuals engaged LSx were able to train 46 champions An estimated 152.5 tonnes of carbon savings are related project activities An estimated £80,660 saved through project activities o
Fuel poverty projects focus on providing practical advice to residents on how to reduce energy use in their houses and it involved installing low cost measure such as draught excluding tape. This was done through working with our partners (CHAT and food banks) to train front line workers.
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4.4 Green Space initiative in the London Borough of Wandsworth o
The City Bridge Trust Investing in Londoner’s Grant enabled us to secure additional funding, allowing LSx to access £10,000 (capital costs) from Western Riverside Environment Fund (administered by Groundwork) Providence House Youth Group and Platform 1 (a café working with young adults with learning disabilities) have been engaged 15 local residents engaged through 2 initial workshops, at least 8 more training sessions/workshops planned throughout the development of the garden.
LSx are working to excite, enthuse and actively engage young people in Wandsworth in transforming under-utilised green spaces and helping local wildlife flourish. We are working closely with two highly successful Battersea youth groups to ensure that we are successful in engaging the young people who stand to benefit the most. Securing the involvement of young people in enjoying and conserving their local green environment is key to the future preservation of these spaces. If young people aren’t given the opportunity to learn key skills there is a risk that they won’t value or be able to conserve them in the future.
“This session has made me realise we need these sessions regularly” - participant
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4.5 Capacity Building & Resilience in the London Borough of Hounslow o
The City Bridge Trust Investing in Londoner’s Grant enabled LSx to secure additional funds for our Connected Communities project in Brentford & Syon (Hounslow)
o
Trained 23 champions from 3 community groups through action planning sessions Identified 14 local training providers, including Brentford Bikes Arranged 10 healthy eating cookery sessions 4 further action planning sessions arranged which will lead to further training sessions
Our ‘Well Brentford & Syon’ project has healthy activities such as food growing at its heart. It builds on local skills and enthusiasms and will offer residents in Brentford & Syon the opportunity to develop new skills within a framework that encourages community connectedness in order to support their development to being a healthy and sustainable community.
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4.6 Support to five Big Energy Saving Network Champions o
o o o
The City Bridge Trust Investing in Londoner’s Grant has allowed LSx to train and support five champions as part of the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) Big Energy Saving Network (BESN) 23 Champions trained Peer mentoring network established Total outreach 109
This project is aimed at providing energy advice to vulnerable people including switching utility providers, and warm homes discount through a series of outreach and one and one advice sessions. Thanks to City Bridge Trust, LSx have been able to draw together Champions to provide additional training and mentoring to Champions, create extra resources and support delivery.
"CHAT worked with LSX to introduce and support our clients in efficient water and energy consumption to support green environment. A project which is helping us all to save energy, keep the environment green and above all save us money. Our volunteers and the community love this project and we look forward to sharing it with as many people as we can from now on as this is a project which needs to be embraced by all". - William Gemegah, Executive Director, Community Health Action Trust
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4.7 Warmer Homes project in London Borough of Hounslow  o
The Big Lottery Fund’s Award for All Grant has allowed LSx to train and support 20 fuel poverty champions from three organisations. 19 Champions trained
This work aims to reduce instances of fuel poverty among vulnerable households in Hounslow. Working with three organisations, one-to-one advice will be provided on how to save money on utility bills and install simple retrofits (e.g. draught excluders) helping residents stay warm, save money, reduce their carbon footprint, and be more sustainable. Work commenced in January 2016.
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4.8 Measuring Air Quality in London Borough of Newham & Hounslow
The City Bridge Trust Investing in Londoner’s Grant enables LSx to two support local volunteer-led air quality initiatives, one in the London Borough of Newham and one in Hounslow Two training sessions delivered An additional 566 people reached through online media
This work builds on our Cleaner Air 4 Communities work, enabling community groups and individuals to understand measure and most importantly, take local action on local air pollution. We provide the tools, training and know-how to identify pollution hot-spots,. Thanks to City Bridge Trust we have been able to support two groups that approached us subsequent to the end of the programme. The two groups have undertaken air quality mapping exercises for different reasons. Woodcraft Folk
“Isleworth Community to re-open Church Street”
Woodcraft Folk is an educational movement for children and young people to learn about and value the world. A concerned citizen of the London Borough of Newham approached LSx to find out what he could do about air quality in his area. It was decided that this would be an excellent opportunity and fun activity for Woodcraft Folk to participate. A citizen science investigation of air quality was launched. Pending results, an action planning session will take place in February.
A group of residents in the London Borough of Hounslow are petition a road closure in Isleworth that has resulted in traffic being diverted along quiet conservation roads causing travel problems for locals. Of greater concern is the expected increase in air pollution. The Isleworth Community approached LSx in to learn more about air pollution and to set-up an on-going citizen science investigation monitoring pollution levels.
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4.9 Measuring impacts 1 shared learning workshop on measuring project impacts brought together participants from the six communities 11 groups represented 75% of participants reported new learning 80% of participants made a connection and met someone new LSx hosted a workshop on projects focusing on fuel poverty, air quality and green enterprise. The aim of the workshop was to provide information on fuel poverty and air pollution challenges in London. Demonstrate advice and training on how to tackle these challenges. Provide information on the importance of monitoring and evaluating projects. Offer tailored feedback and advice on specific monitoring and evaluating projects. Aid communities to develop an action plan for their own projects. Give communities top tips on presenting, reporting, evaluating data and insights into current best project practices across London. Provide communities with the essential tools needed to carry out their own projects. The workshop provided information and advice to groups or individuals on how to monitor their own projects, but with a particular focus on fuel poverty, air quality and green enterprise.
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4.10
Additional activities - #Pledge4Ldn COP21 Campaign
In addition, LSx were able to;
Engaged 43, 312 via Twitter including councillors, activists, NGO’s and London residents. Engaged 5London Assembly Members and all parties, putting questions to the London Mayor.
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5
Conclusions & Recommendations
From the work so far, a number of conclusions can be drawn.
5.1 Conclusions 1) There is a strong desire for communities to collaborate on sustainability projects Whether this is motivated by environmental or social factors, to increase capacity or to create further funding opportunities, individuals and groups not currently involved in environmental and sustainability issues are keen to learn about and engage in sustainability. Our holistic approach to sustainability allows individuals and groups to approach ‘environmental issues’ from the perspective of education, resilience, health & wellbeing, food growing and or enterprise. By having informed conversations, we have helped 36 groups identify key challenges or areas of interest with which they wish to engage in with their community. Resultant projects are community owned, focused and locally relevant. 1)
“Funding, that’s my main concern”
For all of the groups that have signed up to our activities, equally as many have been unable to, often citing “capacity reasons”. One of the main challenges facing groups of all sizes (including our own) is funding. Instead of competing, there is desire to collaborate. In part, this has not only ensured the projects success but also allowed us to secure additional funding and grants. In the current climate it seems that collaborative or consortia working is necessary to access and share resources, skills and knowledge. A big focus of ours has become to encourage this by trying to connect the dots between groups with similar interests/geographical locations. From our measuring impact workshop, almost half of the participants requested additional fundraising support. Following this workshop a successful bid to Big Lottery was made by three of the groups in collaboration with LSx to tackle fuel poverty in Hounslow. Case Study: Measuring impact workshop: Fuel Poverty, Air Quality & Green Enterprise In the spirit of collaborative working, this workshop was attended by 14 champions with representation from 11 different organisations from almost as many London Boroughs. The workshop provided an overview of the key concepts for measuring impact and introduced participants to the Theory of Change model. As we knew from our previous work, when it comes to measuring impacts there is a wealth of material out there and lots to consider. Therefore it is not possible to create a ready-made ‘package’; instead, each must be tailored to a greater or lesser extent. Our workshop was successful at breaking groups in three subsets to provide more tailored advice and feedback; Fuel Poverty, Air Quality and Enterprise. We were also able to provide participants with the LSx Monitoring and Evaluation Toolkit (create by LSx in 2014 under a previous City bridge Trust grant). This will allow them to practice 26
and refine impact measurement for their respective projects in their own time. We continue support these groups and projects.
“[LSx provided] Support with specific aspects of projects we are piloting or planning” – Participant at Measuring Impact workshop
“How our community champions project can be further developed with support of LSx. Good info on supporting, measuring behaviour changes in the community” – Participant at Measuring Impact workshop
5.2.2 What worked well?
1) Working with aspirations One of the main reasons that this project has been so successful is that it works with individuals’ and groups’ aspirations, and instead of increasing work; we help them work alongside what they already do. For example, we worked with the Community Health Action Trust (CHAT), a health group providing support to Black and African people living with HIV and Aids in Brent, to bolster their home-visits programme to provide information about fuel poverty as well as making their environment more comfortable through simple retrofits. 2) . Keeping it local LSx’s approach of focus on the messenger –locally known and trusted- is absolutely crucial when engaging the wider population in messages of a sensitive nature (i.e. fuel poverty) or of local concern (i.e. air quality).
5.3 Recommendations 1) Supporting Collaboration It is clear that the frameworks to support collaboration and the sharing of resources and learning between groups are key. This means both financially and in the form of touch point organisations and events, intelligently managed to ensure beneficial connections are made and sustained. 2) Best practice implemented by experts of ‘local’ As has come out in our work repeatedly best practice initiatives are useful and allow learning to evolve from project to project. However when it comes to implementation it is the experts on ‘local’ (i.e. those who know best the local community) who are aware of where the challenges and opportunities lie. These ‘experts’ must be empowered throughout the process of projects and space given for their feedback and input to feed in to delivery.
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5
Project Spending Year 1 Actual
Projected
Goody bags
640
1,000
Land registry
3
Leaflet (communication consultancy)
360
1,000
Total Capital Costs
1003
2,000
Salaries
21,656
16,911
Sessional workers / wages / expenses
679
600
Contribution to core costs
11,027
8,456
Direct project costs (3 events)
1,500
3,000
Capital Expenditure Description:
Revenue Expenditure
Other (please specify) Bulletin
132
iema
56
67
Total Revenue Costs
35,050
31,034
Total Grant spent
Total Grant awarded
Total Grant awarded
Unspent Grant
36,053
66,600
66,600
0
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