Know your North East data: launching a new tool

To tackle a problem effectively, you have to understand it and the effects of your work.

Our Research and Insight team is dedicated to just that. They help identify the desired impacts and develop research, monitoring and evaluation approaches and frameworks to capture the outcomes of investments and interventions on communities, organisations and partnerships.

What we learn is fed into future projects, creating a virtuous cycle.

Local insight means projects are specific and evidence-based

As part of our commitment to learning and sharing, we’re launching a new tool to help our partners understand the characteristics of our communities and challenges relating to tackling physical inactivity.

The tool is free, easy to use, and lets you look at national, local and neighbourhood level data for a wide range of topics, including demographic, education, income, health, housing, employment, crime, environmental and community insight.

The help centre has lots of advice and guidance on how to use the tool, and our team are on hand to answer any questions.

The goal is to really understand what is going on in different places, groups and communities, and what measures will help them best.

Here are some recent examples of how our research and insight work is making a difference and how our team could help you.

Berwick-upon-Tweed

We’ve developed an evaluation plan for Berwick which we are now implementing to meet our reporting requirements, demonstrate our impact and gather data to support future grant applications.

We’ve introduced a stakeholder engagement log, asset map, and monthly reflective practice to keep track of our relationships and influencing in the area.

We’re going digital, with a new subscription with Outcome Star to track the progress of young men receiving 1-2-1 support and we’re putting in place a new digital approach to evaluating employability courses.

We’re developing a Theory of Change to underpin and inform our work.

Place-based expansion work in Gateshead and South Tyneside

We have received Sport England funding to tackle inactivity in specific localities in Gateshead and South Tyneside. Working with Sport England, its National Evaluation and Learning Partnership (NELP), and collaborating with other active partnerships via regional and national peer learning events, we are establishing our overall evaluation and learning approach. Read our April evaluation and learning report.

Physical activity during and after pregnancy

We’re gathering insight about physical activity during and after pregnancy and have undertaken an audit of the Active Partnership Network’s websites to see how other organisations are supporting parents to be/new parents. We’ve also undertaken analysis of data to get a more detailed understanding of how becoming a parent can affect physical activity levels. Next, we plan to facilitate focus groups with new mothers to understand their lived experiences and the physical activity opportunities that are meaningful to them. This insight will be used to inform and influence future provision.

Children and young people

We’ve worked with our Children and Young People team to update our approach to evaluating the impact of our Step Outdoors initiative designed to support parents and early years settings to increase pre-school children’s activity levels.