Our Impact Report 2019/20 evaluates our intergenerational programmes over the past 12 months. Read the full report here.
Over the past year, we have been working with Dr Ali Somers of ILES (Intergen Learning and Evaluation Services) to better understand and measure the impact of our programmes.
At InCommon, it has always been important to us to understand the social impact of our work, so we can know whether it is achieving the outcomes we are working towards, and recognise how to improve it. As our programme is relatively unusual, we also wanted our evaluation to be able to contribute to a wider body of research into the benefits of intergenerational activity. Thanks to the generous funding of Four Daughters foundation, we were able to commission Dr Somers to share her expertise and independently evaluate our work this year.
The process of working with Dr Somers has led to more than the creation of this report. We have refined our theory of change and understanding of impact measurement through conversations with Dr Somers through the year, while the tools she has created can continue to be used in our future impact measurement. Our greatest learning has been about the need for evaluation of this kind to adapt to the real world; from ongoing design changes in our activities, to Covid-19 and its impact on our programme and data collection, the past year has been an interesting one to feature in our evaluation, and taught us the value of flexibility in evaluating ongoing projects.
We are delighted to be launching the report today, summarising the impact of InCommon’s intergenerational programmes over the past 11 months. The benefits described in the report range from building more connected communities, to enabling primary school children to grow in confidence, and creating opportunities for older volunteers to feel valued. After a rewarding but challenging year, it is encouraging to recognise the impact we’ve been able to have so far, as well as the potential to improve our work further and build on this foundation going forward. We would like to thank Dr Somers for challenging us, adapting to new circumstances, and sharing her experience in this field with us so generously.