New Project: How to achieve more for less?

Carers Support Centre Project 2

Achieving more for less!

Project:

Review current operations, identifying opportunities to achieve ‘more for less’, in a climate of reducing resources and increasing demands on services.  

Project description:

CSC delivers a wide range of activities and services, see link here and would benefit from an external review to explore opportunities as to how they could work differently (making savings where possible), in order to prepare for anticipated reductions in Local Authority spending in the next financial year.

It is anticipated that the volunteer will:

1. Liaise with Keith Sinclair and discuss feedback from a recent Senior Management away-day which focus on the need for current operations to be reviewed.
2. Spend a day at CSC, meet with the senior management team and staff individually to explore options for streamlining operations/systems, which could improve efficiency and increase capacity
3. Prepare a paper summarising possible options for managing anticipated reductions in resources and discuss this with Keith Sinclair before producing a final report.

Requirements: 

The volunteer(s) should have experience of examining efficiency using tools such as process mapping, and knowledge of some options scoring system such as Decision Matrix Analysis would be useful. Experience of working with the third sector would be helpful. 

Time commitment:  5 days over 3-4 months

Location: The volunteer would need to spend a day at CSC meeting with staff and investigating their current use of impact measures at their offices in Bristol (Postcode: BS16 2QQ). The rest of the project could be carried out remotely

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 October.

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: 

The Carers Support Centre work to promote the rights and improve the quality of life of children and adult family carers in Bristol and South Gloucestershire. Their vision is to make sure carers are identified, recognised, valued, respected and supported in their caring role. CSC have more than 12,000 local carers registered with them and deliver services with 40 (full time equivalent) members of staff and over 170 volunteers..

For further information about Carers Support Centre please visit https://www.carerssupportcentre.org.uk/ or email Keith Sinclair at KeithSinclair@carerssupportcentre.org.uk

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

New Project: Improving organisational impact measures to help us “blow our trumpet louder”!

Carers Support Centre Project 1

Improving organisational impact measures

Project:

Carers Support Centre (CSC) needs to develop and implement smarter reporting tools in order to effectively measure and demonstrate the impact of their activities. 

Project description:

CSC has identified the outcomes they need to measure for each of their activities and researched various tools for doing this effectively and efficiently. They need to do this in order to demonstrate the value of their work to funders which is becoming increasingly more important given the current financial climate they are operating in. 

They want to be able to visualise their impact by way of infographics that can be based on simple electronic measures routinely collected by staff, when they are in contact with the carers they support. They need to ensure that the impact measures are routinely collected and agree how they should be used.

It is anticipated that the volunteer will:

1. Liaise with Keith Sinclair, investigate the work that has already been done at CSC on impact measurement, and meet with staff to see how the current measures are being used.
2. Investigate available mobile survey and reporting tools 
3. Write a report summarizing findings of current use of impact measure reporting at CSC and recommendations for future developments

Requirements: 

The volunteer(s) should have experience of impact measurement and reporting and be comfortable with investigating different available systems. Experience of working with the third sector would be helpful.

Time commitment:  5 days over 3-4 months

Location: The volunteer would need to spend a day at CSC meeting with staff and investigating their current use of impact measures at their offices in Bristol (Postcode: BS16 2QQ) . The rest of the project could be carried out remotely.

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 October.

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: 

The Carers Support Centre work to promote the rights and improve the quality of life of children and adult family carers in Bristol and South Gloucestershire. Their vision is to make sure carers are identified, recognised, valued, respected and supported in their caring role. CSC have more than 12,000 local carers registered with them and deliver services with 40 (full time equivalent) members of staff and over 170 volunteers..

For further information about Carers Support Centre please visit https://www.carerssupportcentre.org.uk/ or email Keith Sinclair at KeithSinclair@carerssupportcentre.org.uk

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

New Project: Developing an operations assessment toolkit

AfriKids Project (Project 2)

Develop an operations assessment toolkit that AfriKids can use to inform their new Operations Strategy.

Project:

AfriKids, an international charity supporting children’s rights in Ghana, is seeking to develop an assessment toolkit to support their Operations Strategy. 

Project description:

AfriKids is a partnership between a charity registered in England and Wales and an NGO registered in Ghana. Since 2002, they have worked together to alleviate suffering and improve life for vulnerable and disadvantaged children in northern Ghana.

AfriKids is looking to develop an Operations Strategy that will enable the smooth delivery of an ambitious strategic plan. As part of this, they require the development of an assessment toolkit that can be used to audit their current operations and compare it to best practice benchmarks in the sector. 

The project will include:

• Reviewing an existing assessment tool and understanding AfriKids’ specific operations and scenarios.
• Cross-referencing these insights with some benchmarking/market research to produce the new, bespoke AfriKids tool.

The volunteer will only be expected to develop the toolkit, and not run the assessment. All work will take place in the UK. 

Time commitment:  3 - 5 days

Location: The organisation is willing to work flexibly (e.g. via teleconference or video conference).  All work can be done remotely.

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 12^th September.

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: 

Afrikids are a charity who work to ensure that every child in Ghana is afforded his/her rights as outlined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. They do this by building the capacity and resources of local people, organisations and initiatives in such a way that they will be able to continue their efforts independently and sustainably in the future.

For further information about AfriKids please visit https://www.afrikids.org/ or email Charlotte Hayat charlottehay@afrikids.org

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

New Project: Benchmarking costs to support children’s rights in Ghana

AfriKids Project

Undertake benchmarking of costs for projects implemented in Ghana to support children’s rights.

Project:

AfriKids, an international charity supporting children’s rights in Ghana, is seeking to undertake a benchmarking exercise for project-level costs. 

Project description:

AfriKids is a partnership between a charity registered in England and Wales and an NGO registered in Ghana. Since 2002, they have worked together to alleviate suffering and improve life for vulnerable and disadvantaged children in northern Ghana.

AfriKids is seeking to undertake a benchmarking exercise of project-level costs. 

The project will include:

• Reviewing current project budgets and spending for AfriKids projects.
• Undertaking desk-based research to understand benchmarks of cost, budgeting and Value for Money (VfM) approaches used in the sector.
• Potentially develop a “basket of goods” to guide budget and VfM decisions when AfriKids are running projects in Ghana.

All work will take place in the UK.

Time commitment:  3 days

Location: The organisation is willing to work flexibly (e.g. via teleconference or video conference).  All work can be done remotely.

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 12^th September.

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: 

Afrikids are a charity who work to ensure that every child in Ghana is afforded his/her rights as outlined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. They do this by building the capacity and resources of local people, organisations and initiatives in such a way that they will be able to continue their efforts independently and sustainably in the future.

For further information about AfriKids please visit https://www.afrikids.org/ or email Charlotte Hay at charlottehay@afrikids.org

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: 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