Research, Evaluation and Learning is the applied research and evaluation strand of BVSC Research.

Our team delivers independent research and evaluation that supports voluntary organisations, funders, commissioners and system partners to understand what works, what needs to change, and how services can improve.

Our work combines robust research methods with deep knowledge of Birmingham’s voluntary and community sector, ensuring that findings are grounded in real delivery contexts and useful in practice. We bring broad methodological expertise, combining and adapting approaches to suit different research needs.

What We Do

We provide research and evaluation across a wide range of programmes, services and policy areas.

Our work includes:

Evaluation of services and programmes
Supporting organisations and partnerships to understand the impact of their work and demonstrate outcomes to funders and stakeholders.

Impact measurement and learning
Designing proportionate approaches to monitoring and evaluation that strengthen learning as well as accountability.

Research and needs assessments
Providing evidence to inform strategy, commissioning and service design.

Mixed-methods research
Combining quantitative data with qualitative insight to build a fuller understanding of complex social issues.

Strategic reviews and system learning
Supporting partnerships and systems to reflect on progress, identify challenges and develop evidence-informed responses.

Our Approach

Our approach is shaped by our position within Birmingham’s voluntary sector and our experience working across community and public systems.

We emphasise:

Proportionate evaluation
Designing evaluation approaches that are realistic and appropriate for organisations’ resources and funding environments.

Learning-focused practice
Ensuring evaluation supports reflection, improvement and shared learning, not just reporting requirements.

Mixed-methods insight
Combining data, lived experience and practitioner knowledge to produce richer and more meaningful evidence.

Collaborative working
Working closely with organisations and partnerships to ensure research processes are inclusive, practical and relevant.

Experience and Expertise

Since its establishment in 2019, BVSC Research has delivered research and evaluation across a wide range of thematic areas affecting Birmingham’s communities.

These include:

• Health inequalities and public health
• Youth services and youth violence prevention
• Volunteering and community participation
• Multiple disadvantage and social inclusion
• Community development and neighbourhood support
• Climate resilience and environmental initiatives

Our team brings together experienced researchers and evaluators with backgrounds across the voluntary sector, academia and public services.

Working with the Voluntary Sector

A key strength of BVSC Research is our understanding of the realities facing voluntary and community organisations.

We recognise that organisations often operate within tight funding environments and complex partnership arrangements. Our evaluation approaches are designed to be practical, supportive and proportionate, ensuring that organisations can demonstrate impact without unnecessary burden.

We regularly support voluntary organisations to:

• evaluate funded projects and services
• produce evidence for grant reporting
• develop monitoring and evaluation frameworks
• reflect on learning and service improvement

Partnerships and Collaboration

We work closely with a wide range of partners across Birmingham and the wider region.

These include:

• Voluntary and community organisations
• Grant-making bodies and charitable funders
• Local authorities and public sector partnerships
• NHS and health system partners
• Universities and research institutions

Through these collaborations we help ensure that research and evaluation reflects both community experience and system priorities.

Examples of Our Work

We support a wide range of research and evaluation projects each year.

Recent work has included:

Evaluating voluntary sector programmes
Supporting voluntary organisations and partnerships to assess the impact of services addressing issues such as youth support, community wellbeing and social inclusion.

Research into health inequalities
Working with partners across the health and voluntary sectors to understand barriers to support and identify opportunities for improvement.

Sector insight and analysis
Producing research and analysis that highlights the challenges and strengths of Birmingham’s voluntary and community sector.

Why Work with BVSC Research? Deep understanding of the voluntary and community sector Experience working across Birmingham’s partnership landscape Strong participatory and community-informed approaches Research and evaluation that prioritise learning and practical change Where possible, we share learning and insights from our work through publications, blogs and events.

Work With Us

If you would like to discuss research or evaluation support, we would be happy to hear from you.

BVSC Research can support organisations and partnerships at different stages of programme development, from early design through to full evaluation and learning.

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