Spotlight on Community Building

The Monitoring, Evaluation and Impact (MEI) Partnership was formed in June 2014 as a response to a capacity building need identified by voluntary and community organisations in Brighton and Hove. Its goals are to identify and address the concerns within these organisations with regard to the need for simple data collection that reduces the burden of collection and considers the effect of that collection on those providing the feedback.

One of the most interesting and impressive things about the Partnership’s work is its concentration on not only the difficulties posed by data collection in the current climate, with the demands of multiple funders, for instance, posing significant capacity issues for organisations in the sector, but on dignity in data collection for organisations and service users alike.

In January 2016, the Partnership produced a position statement which sets out to support dialogue on the issues faced by community organisations and proposes a conversation with funders and commissioners to reduce the data burden and align the data collection required with data that is both truly useful to organisations in improving the services they provide and allows them to take the needs of those with whom they work into account.

Organisations working in the Youth Sector, particularly those examining and developing their impact and their own relationship with data collection and feedback, will recognise many of the concerns and challenges raised.

As the Centre for Youth Impact continue to work with our own networks and explore the benefits of collective impact, we have found much food for thought in the work of the Partnership and the thought processes that have informed it.

You can find out more and read the full position statement here.

And with the above in mind, we would like to hear your thoughts about data collection, feedback and the challenges you or your organisation face.
​
You can find us on Twitter or email us at hello@youthimpact.uk