Tag Archive for: green recovery fund

New Client: National Trust

Blue border and text saying new client national trust

The Evaluator is delighted to be working with a new client: National Trust.

The National Trust is Europe’s largest conservation charity, who look after nature, beauty and history for everyone to enjoy. They do it with the help of millions of members, volunteers, staff and donors. Without that, they couldn’t care for the miles of coastline, woodlands, countryside and the hundreds of historic buildings, gardens and precious collections they protect.

The Evaluator is delighted to be working with them to focus in on a people engagement evaluation, for their Green Recovery Challenge Funded Project ‘Uplands’. We will be getting to know the teams, carrying out analysis including an economic assessment of the supply chain for the project and sharing our learning through interactive workshops, which we are calling ‘Action Learning Sessions’.

 

Thanks to all our 2022 clients!

Images of all our client logos - there are a lot including national trust, wildlife trusts, in-situ, county councils and more

Huge thanks to all our 2022 clients, many of whom we will still be working with in 2023 and beyond.
The office is closing for Christmas on Thursday 22nd December and will reopen refreshed and renewed on Tuesday 3rd January.

Happy holidays to all.

Kirsty and all at The Evaluator

New Client; Durham Wildlife Trust

The Evaluator is delighted to work with a new partner, Durham Wildlife Trust, for their Green Recovery funded programme, Healing Nature.

Durham Wildlife Trust (their website is here) explains…

“Government funding from the Green Recovery Challenge Fund has enabled the Trust to form a Healing Nature project team, tasked with protecting and ecologically restoring important habitats, including grasslands, wetlands, and woodlands. The team includes three new full-time posts, three part-time posts and four trainees, recruited through the Kickstart programme. They will work alongside volunteers to restore the sites and create more resilient conditions for a rich variety of wildlife.

The work will include woodland management, pond restoration, grassland management, scrub clearance, and planting hedges. Healing Nature will also have a significant impact on communities, making sure residents are better connected to their local wildlife sites. This will include new paths, gates, and signage to make the sites more welcoming and easier to use.

Furthermore, the Trust will also arrange activities and events – both face to face and online – to encourage community groups, families, young people and local residents to get involved, as well as delivering educational sessions at schools.”

This is a slightly unusual evaluation, as we are working with another evaluator, Simon Lees, from Countryside Training Partnership (their website is here) who are doing the overall evaluation, and we are providing a series of quick turnabout practical feedback loops regarding the work they are doing with people. We are happy to work flexibly like this if it is what suits the client best. 

We’ll be figuring out what people are experiencing in the project activities, how its helping them connect to nature, what it is doing for wellbeing, and how they are hearing about it. Learning more about their audiences, means the trust can plan better programmes in future, and know what works, and what still needs a tweak. It’s all about making data-driven-decisions. It’s also all about people, and that’s the work that gets us excited!