Are we creating healthy places?
Today we have launched a new research project in partnership with Design Council to explore the barriers that stop built environment professionals from creating healthier places through their work.
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The mission.
Finding out what works
Delivered in the London Borough of Ealing, Let’s go Southall is one of 12 Sport England funded pilots set up across the country to better understand and help people become more active. The Let's go Southall team are developing innovative solutions that break down barriers to taking part in regular physical activity and their key goal is to make it easier for people in Southall to get active as part of their everyday lives.
At the pilot’s inception, Social Change was appointed to evaluate its impact over three years. Our mission was to work with Ealing Council, key partners (including Sport England) and communities across Southall to deliver a detailed and quality evaluation of the Let’s Go Southall pilot, highlighting what worked well and what could be done differently, and contribute to the national evaluation of Sport England’s Local Delivery Pilot Programme.
The research.
Establishing a baseline
In 2019 we completed the first phase of this 3-year evaluation programme - the ‘baseline’. This work involved a large-scale representative survey of Southall residents to establish the current level of inactivity in the town. The survey also explored the barriers, enablers, capabilities and capacity to be active and the motivations, attitudes, values and behaviours of local residents. The analysis and insights from the baseline phase were used by the team and wider partners to inform the strategy and next steps.
The impact.
Across the next three years, we conducted a number of ‘mini-studies’ to ‘test’ solutions and interventions designed to increase levels of physical activity in Southall. We engaged with residents to understand their experiences of taking part in activities through the pilot, the impact these had on their health and wellbeing, what they valued most and what they wanted to see next.
We also provided regular ‘snapshots’ of activity, highlighting what the pilot had implemented to date, why those involved thought this to be important and what they thought was needed next. Through this engagement and regular reporting to the project team, we were able to support the Let’s go Southall team to understand how they could continue to adapt and evolve the pilot to empower residents to be more active.
663
Southall residents completed our survey
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impact videos with Activators and Programme Leads
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'personas’ identified
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case study videos
