UPDATE: March 2022. Our initial research project is now completed, Thank you to everyone who took part. We had a fantastic response to our survey and appreciated the participation in our focus groups and one to one interviews. The responses and transcripts are now being analysed and we hope to launch the finding and evaluation report in April.
We are delighted to announce our newest collaborative project.
Five Buckinghamshire based charities have launched an exciting new collaborative project called “Listen Learn Adapt”.
The ultimate aim of the charities involved (Buckinghamshire Mind, The Oasis Partnership, Age UK Buckinghamshire, Citizens Advice Bucks, Wycombe Wanderers Sports & Education Trust) is to learn about the needs and wants of local people from minority ethnicity backgrounds in order to better serve them.
The Listen Learn Adapt project has been jointly commissioned by The Rothschild Foundation, Heart of Bucks and The Clare Foundation via their “Buckinghamshire Wellbeing Capacity Fund”.
The fund was created to respond to the challenges Covid-19 has had on the wellbeing of Buckinghamshire residents, especially those who have been, and will continue to be, disproportionately impacted by the pandemic and the related effects. The one-off grant was offered to enable the delivery of a holistic project that works to create new capacity to support wellbeing across the county and make Buckinghamshire’s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic sustainable, with reach into all communities.
The Listen Learn Adapt project partners came together in recognition of the fact that many people from minority ethnicity backgrounds have been disproportionality affected by the catastrophic consequences of the Covid virus from health, community and economical perspectives, but may be hesitant or reluctant to approach local services when they find themselves in need of support.
The organisations recognised that their engagement levels with people from minority ethnicity backgrounds don’t correlate with the make-up of the local community when looking specifically at ethnicities and they wanted to make strides to remedy this. As such the organisations have been funded to undertake a project that will allow them to:
- Listen
The project will seek to capture the community’s thoughts and experiences with regards to engagements with local charities. The research will be undertaken by M·E·L Research, one of the UK’s leading social research and behavioural insights consultancies.
- Learn
Information captured from the community research process will be used to appraise and challenge current service offerings and ascertain how appealing they are to people from minority backgrounds
An evaluation report that details findings with regards to better engaging minority individuals and communities will be produced. This will then be shared with other local charities and relevant groups.
- Adapt
Using the insight achieved via the Listen and Learn aspects of the project, the charities will seek to make relevant adaptations to their respective service provisions in order to ensure that barriers to engagement are minimised, and that all offerings are culturally relevant, inclusive, accessible and fit for today’s modern and diverse world.
Whilst the scope of the project is time limited, the project partners (as well as the funders), believe that this is merely the beginning of a county-wide collaborative journey of discovery – working in broader partnership with individuals, groups and communities – that will ultimately make Buckinghamshire an even better place for all people to live, work and flourish.
Colin McGregor-Paterson, CEO of Oasis, had this to say about the launch of the Listen Learn Adapt project on behalf of all five charities:
“All of the charities involved are excited about the launch of the Listen Learn Adapt project. We all want to ensure that the services we deliver are as appealing and inclusive as possible and this piece of work will be very valuable in terms of allowing us to achieve those aims.”
Please note that effective engagement with minority ethnicity individuals and groups is critical to the success of the Listen Learn Adapt project. As such, the project partners would love to hear from anybody who would be willing to take part in the community research process that will begin in July 2021.
In order to express an interest in getting involved (or to ask questions/make comments) please feel free to contact Clare Samways, the Listen Learn Adapt Project Coordinator, on lla@oasispartnership.org. You can also find out more information about the Listen Learn Adapt project by visiting the dedicated webpage hosted by lead project organisation The Oasis Partnership: LLA WEBSITE PAGE
Finally, please note that as part of the Listen Learn Adapt project the partners are seeking to recruit a number of people to fill the following roles:
- Community Researcher (up to x4 posts available)
- Community Research Team Lead (x1 post available)
The full job adverts and person specifications for both the roles can be found by clicking: LLA EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITES
Finally, for more information on all of the delivery and funding organisations involved in the Listen Learn Adapt project please see the links below:
