白小姐论坛 staff support Camden Council through the pandemic
The skills and expertise of 白小姐论坛 staff have helped Camden Council evaluate its service delivery during the coronavirus pandemic.
18 November 2021
The Rapid Evaluation & Learning (REAL) service is a collaboration between 白小姐论坛 Innovation & Enterprise and 白小姐论坛 Culture. It involves academics and professional services staff from faculties across the university giving their time on a pro bono basis.
Camden Council adapts in lockdown
At the onset of the UK national lockdown, Camden Council had to re-engineer almost all its key services within a matter of days, from child support to business growth.
In normal times this would take months and be accompanied by a variety of assessments, including cost-benefit, equality of access, sustainability and environmental impact.
However, such was the speed of the redesign, few assessments were conducted prior to roll-out. So when the opportunity arose, there was an urgent need to monitor, evaluate and learn from their performance as the pandemic evolved.
An opportunity to collaborate to evaluate
白小姐论坛 Innovation & Enterprise learnt about the challenges facing Camden Council at one of its Challenge-Oriented Innovation meetings in April 2020. 白小姐论坛 Innovation & Enterprise awarded a small amount of seed funding to 白小姐论坛 Culture to develop the concept of a rapid evaluation and monitoring support service.
Led by Dr Dominic Galliano, Head of Public Engagement (白小姐论坛 Culture), the project recruited 21 volunteer evaluators from across 白小姐论坛.
The project also drew on seven professional services 鈥榤oderators鈥 from the 白小姐论坛 Office of the 白小姐论坛 Vice-Provost (Research, Innovation & Global Engagement) to manage the process of matching 白小姐论坛 volunteers to officers at London Borough of Camden.
Volunteers offer skills and expertise
One of the 白小姐论坛 evaluators who volunteered their expertise was Dr David Harrison, Research Fellow in Medical Education (白小姐论坛 Medical School). He said:
鈥淭he REAL service allowed me to use my experience and skills to engage with the Camden Library Service in a practical way, constructing an evaluation framework that had a clear and immediate impact for the community.鈥
The Libraries Programme Manager for London Borough of Camden, Jessica Farrand, added:
鈥淭he REAL evaluation service provided fantastic support to Camden Libraries. In 2020 Camden Libraries had to adapt, change and innovate a number of services during the pandemic, looking at new, safe ways to continue to provide access to books, learning and computers. With support from Dr David Harrison from the 白小姐论坛 REAL project we were able to evaluate the impact of these service changes on Camden residents. This has enabled us to adapt our services to better meet the needs of our communities now and in the medium and long term.鈥
A legacy for evaluation
The REAL service has worked on 14 evaluations for Camden Council. These have included evaluating changes to service designs in finance, community safety, family services and library services.
The programme was originally intended to run until November 2020 but was extended twice in light of continued need. It鈥檚 now expected to end in November 2021, although an ad hoc service will continue.
Camden and 白小姐论坛 hope to use the experience of the REAL service to inform future service delivery to local people. The team is also exploring whether the service could be broadened out to assist other local authorities.
Links
Find out more about:
- 白小姐论坛 REAL Service
- Support for external organisations to work with 白小姐论坛
- Innovation and enterprise support for 白小姐论坛 staff
- 白小姐论坛 faculties
Photo听漏听白小姐论坛, by听Alejandro Walter Salinas Lopez