CEP undertaking a review of evidence on Trends in Recreational Water Use for the Environment Agency

CEP has been awarded a project by the Environment Agency to undertake a review of the evidence on how people use the water environment for recreational activities.

CEP has been commissioned by the Environment Agency to undertake a review of the evidence on how people use the water environment for recreational activities involving being in the water (and potentially full immersion). In addition to desk-based research individual online interviews were conducted with people from key organisations supporting recreational water use  

The way people use water environments is changing. Not only is a broader range of activities (e.g. wild swimming, triathlon, surfing, paddle boarding, canoeing or kayaking) taking place but reasons for visiting water environments is changing. Recreational activities are more frequently taking place outside designated bathing waters as well as outside the traditional bathing season (May - September). This project is investigating these trends with a view to informing future policy decisions on bathing waters. The research is looking at trends in recreational water use in England including: 

• how members of the public use the water environment, 

• how has that changed over the last two decades,  

• what data sources are available that could help the EA to track these trends in numbers and patterns, and  

• what types of organisations support recreational water use. 

The project started in December 2020 and will run until March 2021. 

For more information, please contact Clare Twigger- Ross (Technical Director, CEP) or Spela Kolaric (Senior Consultant, CEP). 

Header image for this news article is from this source : https://www.whitewatermag.com/

CEP has contributed to new EEA report on Sustainability Transitions

NEW REPORT ON SUSTAINABILITY TRANSITIONS: POLICY AND PRACTICE PUBLISHED BY THE EUROPEAN ENVIRONMENT AGENCY

The European Environment Agency has published a report developed under the CEP-led framework service contract which provides assistance on forward looking analysis, sustainability assessments and systemic transitions.  The report on Sustainability transitions: policy and practice, has been developed through three projects delivered under the framework service contract, which have brought together research on the implications of sustainability transitions and transformations for European policy and governance. 

The report development was led by the Sustainable Consumption Institute at the University of Manchester, with input from the Institute for Ecological Economy Research, Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU) at the University of Sussex, Dutch Research Institute for Transitions (DRIFT) at Erasmus University Rotterdam, Fraunhofer ISI and the German Environment Agency.  CEP has contributed to the report by coordinating the characterisation of three key ‘socio-technical’ systems (food, energy and mobility).  CEP also reviewed the report for quality purposes, overall coherence, and to ensure accessibility for the target audience.

For more information please contact CEP’s Owen White, the overall Framework Contract Manager.

CEP-led consortium to deliver new EEA project on transitions governance

CEP-led consortium has been awarded a new EEA project to develop a report on governance and policy for sustainability transitions

A new project has been awarded under the CEP-led framework service contract for the European Environment Agency (EEA) which provides assistance on forward looking analysis, sustainability assessments and systemic transitions.

This project, led by the Sustainable Consumption Institute at the University of Manchester, will further develop and finalise a report on the implications of research into sustainability transitions and transformations for European policy and governance. This project continues work previously completed under an earlier project. CEP has a role in this project to review the report for quality purposes, overall coherence, and to ensure accessibility for the target audience.

For more information please contact CEP’s Owen White, the overall Framework Contract Manager, or Dr Bill Sheate, the Framework Contract Director.

Evaluating policy interventions: What role for Theory of Change?

Evaluating policy interventions: What role for Theory of Change?

Blog post by Sian Morse-Jones

What is a Theory of Change (ToC)?  Different terminologies/approaches exist. From an evaluation perspective a ToC commonly articulates how an intervention (e.g. policy, programme, project) is expected to lead to an ultimate goal(s) by showing what needs to happen, in what order and in what way. It establishes the ‘how’ and ‘why’ activities lead to outputs, outcomes and ultimately goals/impacts, explaining the assumptions underpinning this. Usually presented in a diagram or map, a ToC allows big picture thinking, and can help to contextualise where an intervention sits alongside other influences, depicting how external factors may also influence the goal. 

Example Theory of Change diagram for Countryside Stewardship Facilitation Fund (CEP, 2015, Report to Defra)

In evaluation, having a clear understanding of an intervention’s ToC is incredibly useful for a variety of reasons. It can clarify the causal relationships between different activities, outputs, outcomes and goals and highlight the chief assumptions which underpin why these contribute to specific goals. This can provide pertinent information to inform the evaluation framework, questions, criteria, evidence and needs.

A frequent challenge in the evaluation of policy interventions is that impacts/goals are often long term, for example, the biodiversity benefits from habitat improvement or creation may take years to materialise, or as in the case of emergencies such as flooding, may not manifest within the timeframe of the evaluation. The ToC is a powerful tool in such contexts because it provides a theoretical basis for evaluating these in terms of activities, outputs or outcomes which are measurable.

Evaluation of an intervention also provides the opportunity to further test and explore the validity of the ToC, enabling further refinements. Because the ToC tells us that achieving goals rely on specific assumptions, it can be very helpful to explore and consider whether assumptions are correct, why, and in what circumstances? Similarly, if assumptions are not correct, why are they not? What’s not working? In this way, a ToC-based evaluation can help to surface valuable lessons to benefit the design of an intervention, as well as informing policy and practice.

CEP has  much experience in using ToC to evaluate policy interventions – applications include:

• Our work on Our Bright Futures  to evaluate how, and to what extent, a programme and portfolio of projects aimed at young people, has led to progressive change in outcomes for the young people, the environment, their communities and the economy, as well as the long-term influence and legacy.

• In the monitoring and evaluation of Nature Improvement Areas for Defra, and

• In evaluating a project on community engagement on flood risks for Natural Resources Wales.

In CEP’s experience, understanding the theory behind ‘how’ and ‘why’ an intervention will have an impact in the real world is a vital part not just of designing effective interventions, but also in evaluation. Yet it is surprisingly rare for policy interventions to be well articulated in a ToC, often because an explicit policy cycle / clear role for how evaluation can be used in future policy is lacking[1].  Getting the ToC right at the outset may not only result in a stronger intervention, but also a more robust and efficient evaluation process, drawing out key lessons for the future direction of policy and implementation.

Dr Sian Morse-Jones, Senior Consultant, CEP, 22 October 2018

[1] For more details see CEP’s meta-evaluation of 10 years’ of our projects: Learning the Lessons for Evaluating Complexity across the Nexus.

CEP contribute to international Biodiversity Offsetting Book

CEP authors of United Kingdom chapter on biodiversity offsetting

A new international book on Biodiversity Offsetting “Biodiversity Offsets: European Perspectives on No Net Loss of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services” edited by Wolfgang Wende,  Graham  M. Tucker, Fabien Quétier, Matt Rayment and Marianne Darbi has recently been published (March 2018) by Springer, which brings together the work of more than 30 international authors. 

The Chapter “United Kingdom” by Jonathan Baker, Liza Papadopoulou and William Sheate pulls together the current state of the art of biodiversity offsetting in the UK, including across the devolved administrations.  It builds on research undertaken by CEP evaluating the biodiversity offsetting pilot scheme in England in 2012-2014.

For further information please contact Dr Bill Sheate, Technical Director.

CEP to contribute to ‘Our Bright Future’ evaluation learning events

CEP attends evaluation learning events for the Big Lottery funded Our Bright Future (OBF) programme, leading a session on how to evaluate policy campaigns

Dr Clare Twigger-Ross and Owen White are attending evaluation learning events in London (6th February 2018) and Bristol (13th March 2018).  These events are part of a series that are intended to help OBF projects design, deliver and evaluate policy and advocacy campaigns as part of their overall delivery.  As part of these events Clare and Owen will be leading a practical working session on the monitoring and evaluation of policy campaigns, with the aim of improving participants’ knowledge and capacity.

These events are being delivered as part of the wider project to evaluate the Our Bright Future programme.  The Programme Evaluation seeks to identify, analyse and assess:

• The collective impact of the portfolio of 31 projects;
• The added value of the Programme i.e. what value has been derived from a programme with the Share Learn Improve, Policy and Youth Function and from the development of an Our Bright Future network/movement;
• Whether the Programme has achieved its long-term ambitions; and
• Best practice and lessons learnt, and provide evidence and guidance to support Programme learning and development.

For more information on this project please contact Clare Twigger-Ross or Owen White.

CEP presenting at the European Environmental Evaluators Network Forum

Dr Clare Twigger-Ross is presenting at the European Environmental Evaluators Network Forum in Edinburgh, 23 -24th November 

The 2017 Forum will ask whether evaluation is evolving in line with the societal and environmental challenges policy is trying to address. Europe, in order to achieve its goal of “living well, within the limits of our planet”, will need to rely inter alia on innovation to make the transition to sustainability. Many forms of innovation will be required to turn Europe into a resource-efficient, green and low-carbon economy.  

Clare is presenting  work carried out by a team at CEP (Dr Bill Sheate, Dr Clare Twigger-Ross, Owen White, Rolands Sadauskis, Paula Orr, Liza Papadopoulou and Ric Eales):  "Learning Lessons from evaluations across the nexus: a meta-evaluation", which examined CEP evaluations in the context of complexity and impact, developing insights and key questions for future evaluations.   This is being presented as part of a session from CECAN on Innovations in instrument evaluation - integrating complexity into Environmental policy evaluation: Insights from CECAN on Thursday afternoon.   The project report and summary can be found here.

CEP at CECAN meeting

CEP's Dr Clare TwiGger-Ross at CECAN team meeting

Dr Clare Twigger-Ross is attending the internal CECAN (Centre for the Evaluation of Complexity across the Nexus) team meeting at Barnett Hill, near Guildford on Friday 13th October .  This meeting will cover CECAN case studies,  updates from CECAN fellows, and discuss the impact of CECAN in terms of outputs, capacity building in both practitioners and policy makers, and policy relevance.

For further information about CEP's involvement in CECAN see our news items here.

Further information about CECAN can be found at  www.cecan.ac.uk

CEP leading workshop on the implications of global megatrends in the Western Balkans

Photo credit: 'Belgrade bridges' by mcveja on Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

CEP leading workshop in exploring the implications of global megatrends in the Western Balkans

CEP is leading a workshop on the “Implications of global megatrends in the Western Balkans region: Assessment of risks and opportunities, policy links and gaps” which will be held on 7-8 September 2017 in Belgrade, Serbia. This workshop is the second of two regional workshops held as part of the project Water Use in the Western Balkans: regional outlooks and global megatrends which is being delivered by CEP in collaboration with the European Topic Centre on Inland, Coastal and Marine Waters for the European Environment Agency.

The workshop will bring together regional experts to discuss risks and opportunities for the region and Western Balkans countries arising from global megatrend implications identified through the project scoping workshop held in April 2017.

This workshop will generate the following outcomes:

• A list of potential risks and opportunities each global megatrend implication presents for the region.
• An initial assessment of the likelihood of potential risks and opportunities, their extent and time-frames.
• Identifying existing policies or strategies that relate to the risks or opportunities, and any new policies or changes needed for managing risks and maximising opportunities.

For further information contact CEP's Project Manager Owen White.

CEP delivering ex-post evaluation seminar at Defra

CEP delivering ex-post evaluation seminar at Defra

CEP's Dr Clare Twigger-Ross and CEP associate Teresa Bennett are delivering a 'Simply Evidence' seminar on the ex-post evaluation of flood strategy plans and schemes for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). 

The seminar, to take place in Defra on Wednesday 20 August, aims to increase awareness on what 'ex-post evaluation' is and how evaluation practice can be improved within existing institutional arrangements. Clare and Teresa will also be sharing insights on how ex-post evaluation can benefit the Government's Smarter Guidance agenda, and how lessons arising from current and past evaluations can be taken forward.

This seminar emerges from the suggestions of a project previously undertaken by CEP for Defra on Enhancing Ex-Post Evaluation of Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Strategies and Schemes (FCERM). Findings from the project suggested that there is space within the current FCERM processes for ex-post evaluation to be developed but for it to be implemented there needs to be institutional support and clear ownership of the process. The project report is available here.

CEP'S SEMINAR ON PRACTICAL POLICY EVALUATION AVAILABLE ONLINE

CEP'S SEMINAR ON LEARNING LESSONS FROM PRACTICAL POLICY EVALUATION AVAILABLE ONLINE

CEP's Dr Clare Twigger-Ross, Owen White and Dr Bill Sheate delivered a seminar for the Centre for the Evaluation of Complexity Across the Nexus (CECAN) on Learning lessons from practical policy evaluation. The seminar reflected on the findings of a meta-evaluation study of 23 of CEP's evaluation projects, exploring lessons around the evaluation of complexity, the role of methods and the nature of evaluation impact (full report available here). 

To listen to the discussion on the key factors that affect evaluation progress and gain insights on managing complexity and navigating an evaluation through dynamic policy landscapes, click here.

Learning lessons for evaluating complexity across the nexus

CECAN (the Centre for Evaluation of Complexity across the Nexus, based at the University of Surrey, has published the final report of CEP's meta-evaluation study of 23 selected evaluation projects we have undertaken relating to Nexus issues – water, environment, food, energy - over the last 10 years.  

The full report  - Learning lessons for evaluating complexity across the nexus: a meta-evaluation of CEP projects - is available here.

We evaluated the evaluation approaches and findings from a range of case studies – national and EU policy level down to programme level policy interventions and other initiatives – and sought to address three aims:
1.    To learn the lessons from past policy evaluations; 
2.    To understand the factors that support or inhibit (barriers or enablers to) successful evaluations: and
3.    To explore the value of different types of approaches and methods used for evaluating complexity

An important finding was the extent to which the contexts for evaluations at the EU level and UK levels differ: a very strong policy cycle exists for EU evaluations, which creates a more rigid framework for monitoring and evaluation, compared to the much greater degree of policy flux in the UK, and the resulting need for greater flexibility in the way in which evaluations are undertaken, and hence the greater utility of qualitative data collection and analysis methods.

Consequently the use or influence of evaluations in policy making differs considerably – there is much more instrumental (direct) use of EU evaluations compared to more conceptual or process (indirect) use of UK evaluations.

For further information contact Dr Bill Sheate or Dr Clare Twigger-Ross 

The key findings from the study are summarised in the infographic below: