2024 Learning and Evaluation Reports
Since 2019, there has been a series of learning partner reports, literature reviews and learning updates, many of which are available on the WM2U website.
We are delighted to share a new portfolio of learning and evaluation reports based on the experience of working in East Ayrshire and Dundee.
Each of the set are designed to be read as standalone reports, signposting readers to existing reports and accounts which reflect the history and evolution of the thinking and practice of this initiative. Each report has an executive summary and links to earlier WM2U and other relevant reports.
REPORT 1 - PURPOSE: Our ambition and key elements of our approach: this paper contains an overview of the key and common elements of WM2U that relate to both areas, East Ayrshire and Dundee. We anticipate that most readers will find it helpful to start with this report, particularly those not already familiar with the work. It will help readers to understand the evolution of the ambition and practices of WM2U, the approach to learning and the overall evidence base.
REPORT 2 - EAST AYRSHIRE: This report focuses on the development of WM2U in East Ayrshire and offers an account of the expansion of community-led support and the subsequent formation of the Nest Wellbeing Group (NWBG), now at the forefront of developing a range of health, wellbeing and social activities in Cumnock. This report contains important lessons about the gap between positive aspirations and implementation on the ground, how to enable the agency of community members and local practitioners, and the challenges of creating the strategic conditions for change. Whilst WM2U funding concluded in East Ayrshire in October 2024, the far from unique challenges and insights are likely to be important for others to understand.
REPORT 3 – DUNDEE: This report focuses on the development of WM2U in Dundee over the past five years. It details the ambitions and challenges of developing system change in a highly complex environment. After a gradual start in which foundations were laid, but progress was limited, more recently the pace of change has accelerated. The new approach has the backing of strategic leads and is becoming more strongly embedded in the work of local practitioners. Real opportunities are beginning to emerge for long-term system change and funding for this work will continue to 2026.
REPORT 4 - MEASURES THAT MATTER: This report is dedicated to the fuller exploration of learning in relation to the conceptual and empirical elements of the measurement of change. It demonstrates our evolution in thinking about how to evaluate impact and brings further benefits of introducing local authorities to new ways of looking at data, working with stories and understanding change.
Becoming Allies in Change: This Learning Digest highlights the key lessons from WM2U based on four learning and evaluation reports (2024) which tell the story in more detail and draw from a series of learning reports and literature reviews going back to 2019.5 Building on that earlier evidence, the funders issued a report developing their thinking about the components of system change and this Digest contributes further to that evolving understanding.