A programme of research to support the Families First Pioneers

Descriptions

This contract is for a programme of research and evaluation to support the development of the ‘Families First’ Pioneers. The aim of the Pioneers is to lead the way in improving the delivery of services to families across Wales, especially those living in poverty, as set out in the Welsh Assembly Government’s draft Child Poverty Strategy. The Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) wants to rapidly identify best ways of working and share this on an all-Wales basis.The first Pioneer areas will be led by Wrexham working with Flintshire and Denbighshire, and Rhondda Cynon Taf working with Merthyr Tydfil and Blaenau Gwent. These areas have been recently selected to lead the way in demonstrating innovative ways of working and best practice models in their efforts to support families. The new Pioneer areas will identify models for effective joined-up working with a wide range of partners and agencies including health, education, policy, housing and employment support. The Pioneers will develop their integrated services models to deliver preventative and early intervention approaches to support families on a journey out of poverty. These models will be developed in line with the following core aims: •placing the family at the centre and tailoring services to their needs;•providing a continuum of support, including a focus on integration of universal and targeted services; and•targeting those families most in need.In order to identify what interventions work, to sustain improved delivery and to ensure that the learning from the Pioneers is shared effectively with other areas, WAG wishes to commission a programme of research to support these processes. The programme will be designed in partnership with the Pioneer areas, to reflect their work plans, but the overall research programme will include the following activities as a minimum:•Action Research – engaging all stakeholders in cycles of learning and action to facilitate learning across large organisational systems. The successful contractor will be expected to work intensively with the Pioneer areas, WAG and other stakeholders using a range of methods including qualitative interviews, inquiry groups, large events, and focused reflective dialogue with individual stakeholders. •Support with self evaluation – to help sustain continual improvement, the pioneer areas will require professional support with self-evaluation. By assessing the delivery and identifying the outcomes from local programmes, this will help pioneer areas learn from the implementation of their programme and to incorporate this understanding into their future work. •Development of an evaluation framework – a consistent framework for capturing the processes, outputs and outcomes from all areas to enable an assessment of the combined impact of the pioneer areas.Organisations wishing to express an interest in undertaking this requirement should complete the attached pre qualification questionnaire and return it to the address given at section 1 of this notice. The deadline for receipt of completed questionnaire is 14:00 on Friday 27th August 2010.