About the work
Carmarthenshire County Council commissioned us to conduct an interim evaluation of the European Convergence funded Collaborative Communities project, which is focused on supporting the development of social enterprise in South West Wales. The commission required a formative piece of evaluation work to inform the remainder of the programme. Carmarthenshire are the lead partner in a partnership made up of Carmarthenshire, Neath Port Talbot, Pembrokeshire and Swansea local authorities and their respective councils for voluntary services.
What we did
We interviewed members of each of the 8 partner bodies, as well as staff members in the European funding office in Carmarthenshire. We also carried out interviews with a selection of the supported social enterprise projects, from large ‘flagship’ schemes to small community projects, selecting a spread from across the geographical area, and ensuring a mix of rural and urban projects. We produced a report with practical recommendations for amendments to the programme in its remaining years of delivery. The work was conducted to a very tight timescale and was delivered on time.
Impact of our work
Our work and the resulting report were well-received, with several of the recommendations immediately adopted.
