Making a Difference - Community Food and Health
Making a Difference - Community Food and Health
Making a Difference - Community Food and Health
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Secured funding achieved by some participants through mainstreaming to secure<br />
longer-term future.<br />
Why not confident<br />
Evaluation. Some participants highlighted that it can be difficult to evaluate <strong>and</strong><br />
evidence outcomes both in the short term (in some areas) <strong>and</strong> long term. Many<br />
reasons were given, e.g. it is difficult to follow up groups depending on their context<br />
<strong>and</strong> situation.<br />
Short-term funding. Participants highlighted the difficulty of planning <strong>and</strong><br />
developing work due to insecurity of funding. Some commented on their frustration:<br />
“high dem<strong>and</strong> [for activities], little resources therefore difficult to increase<br />
participation.”<br />
Lack of mainstreaming <strong>and</strong> endorsement of activities where there is confidence in<br />
impact.<br />
Policy changes<br />
Attitudes <strong>and</strong> behaviour. Many commented that it is still difficult to challenge<br />
ingrained habits <strong>and</strong> attitudes. ‘Hard to reach’ are still hard to reach.<br />
How confident are you that your work activities will make a difference in<br />
the future<br />
Participants were asked to indicate on a scale from 1-10 how confident they felt that their<br />
work would ‘make a difference’ in the future. Participants who responded mostly marked<br />
the high end of the scale indicating that they were feeling confident that their work would<br />
make a difference in the future. The following comments elaborate more on why<br />
participants are feeling confident or not.<br />
Why confident<br />
<strong>Community</strong> support. Participants responded that high local dem<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong><br />
participation in activities encourages confidence in future impact. Continuing<br />
commitment from partners can lever increased access to funding. If local<br />
communities experience services that are well-utilised, this will encourage more<br />
people to be involved <strong>and</strong> sustain the activities.<br />
Policy. Some participants highlighted that agendas are becoming more aligned<br />
demonstrating increased government backing, e.g. Equally Well <strong>and</strong> more<br />
community <strong>and</strong> voluntary sector involvement in Anticipatory Care programmes.<br />
“More confidence that government is listening”. There is an expectation that work<br />
will inform policy more <strong>and</strong> could lead to programmes <strong>and</strong> remits exp<strong>and</strong>ing <strong>and</strong><br />
being rolled out.<br />
Partnership working <strong>and</strong> policies. Confident only if partnerships are sustained.