Local Access Social Economy Evaluation

Access is seeking a long term evaluation partner to help us understand whether local social economies have been strengthened through our Local Access programme. The evaluation will contribute towards our understanding of the following research questions and supplement data being collected through routine monitoring; a separate partnership/ process evaluation; and Places' own evaluation work: 1. How does providing support to individual charities & social enterprises through investment impact the growth & development of local social economies? 2. Is there an enhanced public service procurement role for the VCSE sector due to Local Access and is there increased enterprise activity in the social economy more generally? 3. How much capital has been leveraged into Places due to the work, including from co-investment and further funding attracted? 4. How does blended investment affect the financial resilience of recipient charities & social enterprises? 5. What is the added value and benefit of undertaking enterprise support and investment at a Place level The full set of research questions will be agreed between Access and the appointed evaluator/s and are expected to fluctuate over time as programme delivery progresses