Lorna Prescott, the Senior Development Officer from Dosti, tells us about the development of a tool called ‘Voice', which is used by community-based networks to monitor and evaluate their impact and influence on decisions made by Local Strategic Partnerships.

1) Project Title

Increasing the capacity of community-based networks to influence

2) Organisation

Dosti

3) Project Description

Over a period of three years, people involved in community-based networks in Dudley Borough contributed to the development and testing of a framework which they can to use to monitor and evaluate their impact and influence on the decisions made by local partnerships. The framework was developed using a community development approach, and is underpinned by community empowerment dimensions. The framework, now called ‘Voice', has proved successful in Dudley, has been used in London, Blackburn & Darwen, and Cumbria and is being introduced in many more localities. Oxfam have used it for international work.

4) What was the need?

Dosti developed as an organisation in response to the government's requirement for local areas to have Community Empowerment Networks (CENs) to engage in Local Strategic Partnerships. Between 2004 and 2006 CENs reported to Government Offices using a tailored Performance Management Framework. It included a question about the impact and influence the CEN had on local partnerships.

Dosti's member networks have different relationships with local partnerships, and there was no shared and consistent way of assessing the impact and influence they were having. So Dosti commissioned work to explore the development of framework which would enable this assessment to take place within any kind of community-based network.
There was also a sense among Dosti's Executive Board and staff team that Dosti's focus should be around influence, and supporting member networks be more influential in partnership arenas. This work enabled that to be developed.

5) What were the stages of the project?

1. In summer 2005 Dosti circulated a tender for an activity which would involve consultants working with networks and Dosti staff to identify the key components of an appropriate framework to monitor and evaluate their influence and impact on the decisions made by partnerships.
2. In September 2006 changes (community development specialists) were commissioned to carry out the work.
3. Over a period of 8 months changes explored experiences of influence with 7 networks and spoke to 9 wider stakeholders including officers from local partnerships. changes also developed some initial thoughts about what a framework to monitor and evaluate influence might look like.
4. In June 2006 changes presented findings of the research to an audience of 17. They also introduced the emerging framework, which at the time was called the ‘Axis of Influence'.
5. In July 2006 changes produced a report using the research findings and feedback from the workshop in June. (Available from www.dosti.org.uk).
6. In August 2006 Dosti commissioned changes to continue developing the framework. This next phase of the process (September 2006 - February 2007) involved four intensive action research sessions with 7 people from Dudley Borough's community networks, and developmental work by changes between sessions.
7. In February and March 2007 changes also worked with members of a youth forum in Dudley to test out ideas in the framework.
8. In February 2007 changes ran two workshops to present the framework and gather feedback on it. The first was attended by 13 officers from the voluntary and community sector and public sector, including people from organisations in Wolverhampton. The second workshop was attended by 13 members of a network of older people's groups in Dudley.
9. In May 2007 a Handbook was produced by Dosti and changes (Available from www.dosti.org.uk). The Handbook describes the ‘Axis of Influence' and then provides a series of worksheets with helpful questions to explore the level of influence within a network. An updated version of the handbook is now available, with the framework renamed ‘Voice'. Find the ‘Handy Guide' at www.changesuk.net. Voice is a discussion-centred evaluation tool for community based networks, which means that ideally people would work use the tool as a group.
10. In late 2007 Dosti then worked with changes to pilot the framework with three networks: Dudley Women's Forum, a disability network and a network of older people's groups. Case studies from each were developed.
11. In 2008 Dosti asked changes to develop and deliver a resource pack and 2 day training course for people with facilitation skills, to introduce them to the framework and provide materials and ideas for it's application with community-based groups and networks. Ideas for the training were piloted with 5 officers, 4 of whom who had been part of the action research sessions and therefore had an understanding of the framework. The training course itself took place in June 2008 and involved officers and volunteers from five different local authority areas in the West Midlands.

6) What worked and why?

• Taking time, and developing the work in clear phases. This worked because it enabled local networks to participate in the process, and for different people to be involved to varying degrees at different stages of the work. It also gave thinking space for changes to collate and reflect on what they were hearing, and to develop something of practical use from it.
• changes welcomed the focus of the very first commission - it being about exploration and ideas, not focused at that point on an output of a framework. This helped them to develop relationships with networks and officers, and have freedom to test out ideas and thinking.
• Having a community development approach, and building the framework on community development principles. This helped three indicators to be added to the framework which hadn't been articulated in the research. They are indicators around inclusion, and are crucial to thinking around collective influence.
•  The action research sessions were successful, requiring four half days from participants, each a month apart. Participants were selected and invited by a Dosti staff member, based on the experience, skills and commitment they would bring. The sessions were nearly always fully attended and involved discussions and reflection that all participants found helpful thinking about their work.
• Piloting the framework with three networks worked very well. It provided a template for other facilitators to follow regarding using the framework. It also inspired complete confidence that the framework does what it should do and is accessible and useful to members of networks.
• Testing out the facilitator training with a small group worked well, and enabled practitioners to contribute to and comment on the resulting facilitators resource pack and training session.
• The fact that it builds on work that has already been done and is about meeting the needs which have already been identified in the local community means that there is a lot of good will and willingness to be involved from local people and other partners.

7) Tell us what didn't work and why?

The 2 day facilitator training wasn't as successful as it might have been. This was due to some participants not having the required level of generic facilitation skills and experience, and therefore finishing the training not feeling wholly confident about their ability to facilitate use of the tool. We also had concerns about ideas that trainees had about applications of the framework which demonstrated a lack of understanding of the community development principles around which the framework is based. However other trainees have gone on to facilitate use of the framework with great success.

8) Any problems encountered and how they were dealt with?

In the very first phase of the work Dosti struggled to engage networks in the idea of the work, so instead of inviting people to convene at a session hosted centrally, we asked changes to go out to network meetings, and arranged logistics around that.

During the development of the Axis of Influence itself we tried to think of ways to measure external factors which assist or impede influence, such as personalities, resources, organisational culture, structures, legislation etc. After a couple of headache inducing action research sessions on this we concluded that a subjective view of level of influence was the only practicable way to assess this, and would by default include these considerations.  The remainder of the work was enabled problem-free thanks to good relationships, trust and a growing interest in what we were developing.

9) What has changed as a result of this work?

Dosti now has a very clear and consistent method for very different member networks to assess and plan to improve their capacity to influence local partnerships. (We are no longer required to report this to Government Office, but we are using the framework to support reporting in our Local Area Agreement.)

Dosti's work and support to member networks has shifted and is now wholly focused on increasing capacity to influence, based on a networks' self-assessment using Voice.

Many people involved in the development of Voice now think about influence, and also have ways of thinking about and reflecting on collective influence.

Members of networks using Voice have benefited because they have explored their individual and collective contributions to their network, and developed an understanding of external barriers which impede their level of influence. Voice also helped them to constructively identify areas for improvement, and ways to achieve the improvements. I feel that using this tool is genuinely and empowering experience.

The work of the disability network who piloted the framework has been significantly affected, and they used Voice a year later to assess progress and develop new actions to increase their capacity to influence. During the pilot members participated in a session which looked at steps to influence and gave an introduction to the tool. Then they attended a full day to really work through the tool. Members realised that they needed to do some work on Step 4: ‘Organised to Influence'. They also decided to focus on a vision as they had new and old members within the group. They also identified that they hadn't done a lot to recognise and celebrate their achievements.

Members of another network in Dudley who used Voice, when asked to reflect on what they have learnt about influence, told us:
"People need to be more informed, that there are a number of ways to influence."
"You can influence people slowly but effectively, we shouldn't feel negative about things if we get knocked back the first time."
"I do have power to influence as an individual (not at a higher level) but can still help with general stuff."
"While we have the structure in place to influence others being without the power can lead to frustration and disillusionment."
"It is very difficult to influence someone unless you keep them informed about what you are doing."

Over an above this, a crucial change which has occurred due to the work on Voice is the development of Echo, a tool to assess and improve the public sector's openness to community influence. This work began in Dudley in January 2008, funded by the National Empowerment Partnership, and is continuing in the West Midlands through the Regional Improvement and Efficiency partnership.

Voice and Echo are being used in key strands of work in the Black Country Take Part Pathfinder, and are seen as key tools in achieving the aspiration of authentic community engagement. Communities and public agencies stand to benefit if this is achieved.

10) What lessons have been learnt?

I have learnt a lot about community development, community empowerment, influence and power, and as a result I am a lot more confident about talking about these and encouraging others to think and talk about them.

I have learnt what a difference it makes when you work with consultants who invest themselves, their experience and their ideas in a piece of work, rather than simply facilitating a process and feeding back what people said.

I have learnt a lot about what community-based groups and networks need in order to be influential, and about what blocks them from exercising influence.

I have learnt what people in our member networks think about their capacity to influence, about their level of influence and how that makes them feel as individuals.

I have learnt that something which we needed locally is potentially of benefit to others across the country (and the world), and we were very fortunate to undertake this work with well-connected consultants who are keen to share their ideas. For example an overview of Voice has been published in the Community Development Journal (an international publication) and we are aware that Oxfam used Voice at recent international conference.

11) What advice would you give someone who wants to do something similar?

•  Allow lots and lots of time.
• Involve people as much as possible, in different ways. Start big by involving a broad base in initial thinking, then ask a few people to commit to more focused activity and thinking.
• Feed back to interested parties at every stage, including to wider interested parties from other geographical areas or disciplines.
• Try to have a mixture of face-to-face presentations and workshops and printed products which present the work.
• Think about how you will roll your work out and sustain it, and identify links to your core work so that it becomes embedded.
• Consider ongoing development of the work itself, and allocate resources for that too.

12) Contact details:
Lorna Prescott
01384 573381
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