Monitoring and Evaluation of the Paths to Wellbeing project - Ramblers Cymru

Tender description

Brief Description of Services Required: Monitoring and evaluating services Estimated Duration: The evaluation will run for the length of the project From August 2021- June 2023 Key Contact Details: Hannah Wilcox Brooke, Project Manager, Paths to Wellbeing Hannah.brooke@ramblers.org.uk Paths to Wellbeing is a collaborative project to improve people’s access to a more biodiverse Wales. Ramblers Cymru wishes to appoint an independent, professional external evaluator to assess how the Paths to Wellbeing Project is performing against its forecast objectives and outputs; and to learn any lessons for future application. Overall, the successful evaluating organisation will be required to support the project in gathering evidence so that they can produce an evaluation report at the end of the project. This evaluation must be in line with the Welsh Governments Rural Communities, Rural Development funding criteria. 1. Background and Overview The Welsh Government’s Enabling Natural Resources and Wellbeing (ENRAW) has awarded funds for Ramblers Cymru to deliver a pan-Wales access and nature focused project. Working regionally, the project will facilitate community volunteering to enhance local green spaces, nature and access. In partnership with local authorities and environmental NGOs, Regional Officers will help identify alignments between nature and access objectives, acting as catalysts and facilitators to deliver action against the strategic plans and business objectives of partners and Ramblers Cymru. The project aims to work in a minimum of 18 communities across Wales. Through community and partner consultation, and engagement with new and existing volunteers, each region will benefit from investment in infrastructure and equipment that drives forward the ambitions, and meets the local need, for better quality, more biodiverse, more accessible green spaces. In addition to staff in each of the 6 regions (aligned with NRW Area Statements), each regional officer will have access to capital and revenue funding for infrastructure and equipment, volunteer recruitment and training, promotional material (including site-specific materials), and development support (to identify ongoing funding and additional resources). The project will run from June 2021 – June 2023. 2. Evaluation Requirements The purpose of this evaluation is to: - Enhance understanding of the social, health and economic value of the Paths to Wellbeing project - Contribute to learning that will inform future delivery and developments • The Evaluator will seek innovative and engaging qualitative and quantitative methods for analysing impact, to include partner and participant interviews and surveys. • The tender will specify the use GIS tools to support data capture and evaluation of project activities against other geographic data sets, such as areas of deprivation, health inequalities, environmental and habitat conditions. • The evaluator will work closely with external digital developers who will be building the new Ramblers GIS tool and the Ramblers digital team to understand how best to display results. • Project staff will be supported by the evaluation team to capture data robustly and consistently. • The evaluation will run for the length of the project, seeking to capture lessons from initial engagement with communities, volunteer and partner experience, outcome delivery and impact measurement. • The evaluators will feedback quarterly and in ways which allow for continuous improvement in project delivery approaches. • Evaluation outcomes will also include a value for money analysis, community and individual case studies and wellbeing impact evidence. • A final bilingual project report will be produced to inform future activities and make recommendations for securing the sustainability of the approach. We welcome innovative approaches to capture social and economic impacts and demonstrate programme value. 3. Structure of Proposal The proposa