New Pro Bono OR Project: Music and Memory

Music and Memory Project

Support to develop a set of impact measurements

Project:

Music & Memory has two projects that require support for the development and implementation of a set of impact measurements. 

Project description:

There are two specific projects that would benefit from Pro Bono OR input:

• Project 1 (currently underway) Music & Memory in a care homes setting: Establishing appropriate impact and evaluation measures for the Music & Memory Programme in care homes. 

• Project 2 (starting e.g. September) Music & Memory at Home pilot:  A pilot to assess the effectiveness of the Music & Memory approach when used with individuals living with dementia in their own homes.

Music & Memory in a care homes setting: Music & Memory trains care home staff to create, use and manage playlists for people living with dementia. There is a need to establish impact and evaluation measures that can be used by care home staff in a highly time pressured environment. 

Current success focuses on both the carer and the person living with dementia.  In addition to the currently identified measures, anecdotal feedback will be collected verbally from those involved in the trial.

Music & Memory at Home pilot:  Working in partnership with Carers Trust East Midlands, Music & Memory plans to execute a trial rollout of a personalised music programme to approximately 100 people living at home with dementia in the UK. The principal aim of the exercise is to refine a scalable approach to programme delivery in order to allow for the most effective large scale deployment from 2020.

This will be achieved through three sequential pilot phases in order to allow iterative review and refinement of the rollout approach. In each phase:

• Online training materials will be used to train carers in the Music & Memory approach. 
• The personalised music programme will be made available to the person living with dementia.  
• Qualitative and quantitative feedback will be obtained in order to iteratively refine the approach and evaluate overall success. 

Learnings from the pilot will inform the wider rollout planned from 2020. There will be a specific focus on effectiveness of the programme in a home setting, the extent to which the Music & Memory techniques are used after an extended period and, crucially, the scalability of the rollout approach.

Pro Bono OR could add significant value around the proper assessment of the pilot’s effectiveness.   Specifically:

• Selection of the most appropriate success measures given the pilot aims (and taking into account practicality of collection)
• Refinement of these measures as the pilot progresses
• Analysis of the results of the pilot in order to draw conclusions that will guide the wider rollout.

Knowledge/Skills required: Evaluation of performance measurement systems, Design of data collection systems. 

Time commitment:  

Project 1 estimate 4-5 days over the next 6 months

Project 2 – similar, starting September (tbc) – could be a different volunteer

Location: Mostly remote working, but a face to face meeting at the start of the project and a workshop to agree viable measurements would be required in London EC1A 9PT.

If you feel you are able to offer your assistance please complete the application form and return along with your CV to amy.hughes@theorsociety.com by 16^th August.

The OR Society fully supports equal opportunities. As such, we welcome applications from the partially sighted or blind, or those with disabilities.

Information about the organisation: 

Music and Memory is a non-profit organisation, who's work is rooted in extensive neuroscience research. They bring personalised music into the lives of older people living with cognitive impairment through digital music technology, vastly improving quality of life. Music and Memory train nursing home staff and other health and care professionals, as well as family caregivers, in how to create and provide personalised playlists using MP3 players that enable those struggling with Alzheimer’s, dementia and other cognitive and physical challenges to reconnect with the world through music-triggered memories.

For further information about Music and Memory please visit https://musicandmemory.org.uk/ or email Simon Warner-Bore at simon@musicandmemory.org.uk

For further information about the Pro Bono OR scheme, please visit: www.theorsociety.com/Probono  or email ProBonoOR@theorsociety.com

New Pro Bono OR Project: Supply Change

Supply Change Project

Value measurement survey tool

Project:

Supply Change would like support to evaluate available social value frameworks, then design a social value questionnaire which they can use as a tool for suppliers on their database.

Project description:

In 2012, the UK Government introduced the “Social Value Act” which requires public sector buyers to consider the “social value” when evaluating bids in their tender exercises. There are different frameworks of how to define or measure Social Value, e.g. the National TOMS framework is the most popular one but, recently, the Cabinet Office has also suggested a simpler version of this. 

Supply Change would like to include a social value component in their product that summarises the “social value” achieved by the social enterprise in the previous year, to give the public sector buyer an understanding of what can be achieved by working with a social supplier. 

The scope of the project would include evaluating the existing social value frameworks, designing a social value questionnaire based on one of the frameworks so that the data summary could be included by a social enterprise in their profile on Supply Change. 

In addition to some desk research, the project may include interviews or focus groups with current social enterprise members of Supply Change and some procurement organisations.

Supply Change wishes to design a robust Social Value data collection exercise and be able to demonstrate its value to their current (and potential) social enterprise clients.

Knowledge/Skills required: Survey design, analysis and reporting.

Time commitment:  5-6 days

Location: Mostly remote working, but a face to face meeting at the start of the project and at the end is likely to be required at their office in London N5 1JP.

If you feel you are able to offer your assistance please complete the application form and return along with your CV to amy.hughes@theorsociety.com by 23^rd August.

The OR Society fully supports equal opportunities. As such, we welcome applications from the partially sighted or blind, or those with disabilities.

Information about the organisation: 

Supply Change's vision is a world where public services are commissioned and delivered with social and environmental impact at their centre. They work to achieve this by increasing the number of social enterprises in public sector supply chains. Their work focuses on the three key areas of Accessibility and visibility, Creating Trust and Impact Measurement

For further information about Supply Change please visit https://www.supplychange.co.uk or email verena@supplychange.co.uk

For further information about the Pro Bono OR scheme, please visit: www.theorsociety.com/Probono  or email ProBonoOR@theorsociety.com

New Pro Bono OR Project: Diabetes UK

Diabetes UK Project

“A world where diabetes can do no harm” – Are we getting there?

Project

Enabling Diabetes UK to establish an outcomes measurement framework, so that it can measure progress towards the aspirations articulated in its new strategy. 

Project description:

Diabetes UK is in the process of developing  outcome based Theory of Change logic models to support the delivery of its strategic ambitions; and as part of that process, is identifying the possible performance measures that will help it to evidence progress towards these ambitions.

The volunteer is asked to review all the data that is available to Diabetes UK, from its own or external sources, in the context of the measures that Diabetes UK has identified, and advise on:

• the robustness of performance measures identified, and any additional suggestions;
• what data can be used for each of the measures, and how; and the risks or caveats about using the data in this way;
• are there other measures the data could be used for which would help track progress to the outcomes identified by Diabetes UK;
• where the gaps are in the data, and what can be done (whether this is a matter of collecting different data, or adapting the performance measures). 

The volunteer should: (i) have experience in finding and handling data from a variety of sources; (ii) have experience of outcome measurement.   

Time commitment:  5 days

Ideally the volunteer would spend: 

• 2 days understanding Diabetes UK data against measures identified by Diabetes UK and to include data accuracy, robustness and validity, shortcomings in data etc. 
• 1 day identifying and reviewing external sources of data against proposed measures identified by Diabetes UK
• 2 days assessing how the data can be used to meet the requirements of the desired outcome measurement, additional measures the data might support, data gaps etc 

It is possible that more time could be usefully spent on each of these stages, but the volunteer will be expected to work with Diabetes UK to match the degree of detail with the time available.

Location: Diabetes UK’s internal data is most easily accessed on site, so ideally at least two days would be spent on-site (Diabetes UK would welcome more time being spent on site, so that queries on detail can more easily be asked and answered). Offices are located in Whitechapel, London  E1 1FH


If you feel you are able to offer your assistance please complete the application form and return along with your CV to amy.hughes@theorsociety.com by 9^th August.

The OR Society fully supports equal opportunities. As such, we welcome applications from the partially sighted or blind, or those with disabilities.

Information about the organisation: 

Diabetes UK are the UK’s leading diabetes charity, who believe it is their job to tackle the diabetes crisis. They aim to prevent Type 2 diabetes, campaign for and support everyone affected by diabetes, and fund research that will one day lead to a cure. Diabetes UK provides funding for United Kingdom-based research into the causes and treatment of diabetes and its complications. 

For further information about Diabetes UK please visit https://www.diabetes.org.uk/or email Emma Hendricks at Emma.Hendricks@diabetes.org.uk

For further information about the Pro Bono OR scheme, please visit: www.theorsociety.com/Probono  or email ProBonoOR@theorsociety.com