Smart Research and Consultation
Get a smart start when delivering to your community
Our Smart Communities team has experience in carrying out effective and inclusive consultations to understand community needs for a diverse range of clients.
This can be at an individual community level, to understand what local residents, clients or customers want an existing or proposed social enterprise or community facility to do or provide. This can then help inform plans for development and provide evidence for funding bids. This was the starting place for the support we have given to Otterhampton so they could shape their development to fit local needs.
The Smart Communities team can project manage, survey, deliver and report on your communities needs. From Housing needs surveys, community referendums to community needs reviews. We can work with communities at any point in your project, provide evidence to deliver your local plans. From the first idea to complete project management, through community consultation we can help find bespoke solutions to local needs.
Our Smart team can evidence need and advise on how to consult including:
- pre-survey expert advice
- custom questionnaire design
- paper or online surveys
- interviews – online, phone or face to face, and focus groups
- if paper-based, we can input responses or train your volunteers
- analysis, report writing and presentation of findings
- assistance with bid writing
- business planning
- budget and cash flow advice
Robust evidence supports funding applications, informs policy and ensures local ’buy in’ to projects and activities.
We also deliver consultations to engage with a wider geographical area, perhaps on a district or county level or to particular section of our community.
We have excellent reach and connections with organisations and groups which allows us to reach those who it can be harder to engage with. This has enables us to do projects such as the Glastonbury Roadside Living Report as well as projects focused on young people and people from diverse ethnic backgrounds.
The Smart Communities team has been working with communities to identify local housing needs since 2002.
Our Smart surveys achieve up to a 71% response rate
Smart Monitoring and evaluation
The Smart Communities team can help with stakeholder surveys to ensure you are delivering and meeting stakeholder expectations and needs.
Do you know what the value of your work is?
Talk to us about monitoring and evaluating impact including social value.
The interviewers gave participants time, did not curtail what they wanted to say and allowed them to share their story. The team’s attitude was very positive and whenever a difficulty arose their attitude was to find a way round it not to give up. We wanted to use a local organisation who cared about the work and knew Somerset well, and that is what we got.
Andy Lloyd Public Health Commissioner, Somerset County Council
