Supporting Service Development
A small local children’s charity was looking to develop its site to provide new buildings and services in a very deprived area in South East England. A development study was commissioned to evaluate the demand for services and the feasibility of taking them forward.
A major element of this study was a survey of a very wide range of stakeholders in the local area, including potential service users, other providers in the area, local community leaders and the statutory sector, all undertaken through one-to-one confidential interviews.
The survey helped to identify clear, but defined sets of needs, with specific client groups, for the charity to focus on. It also clearly identified areas of existing and potentially overlapping provision and areas where demand was likely to be weak, as well as potential new project partners, and supporters within the community. An important outcome of the work was to raise the profile of the charity significantly, both within its immediate community and more widely within the local area.