Sport Unites Insight Fortnight
In response to GLA research showing that community sport sector organisations are interested in having a space/platform to share best practice and learn from each other; the Insight fortnight is five conversations aligned to the five Sport Unites social outcome areas. Each meeting is designed to:
Provide an engaging platform for physical activity and community sport practitioners to share good practices and experiences that have helped to achieve the Sport Unites outcomes for Londoners; Ensure the voice of the London community sport sector is included in the future direction of the Sports Unites investment fund; and Contribute to the planning of Phase 2 of the Sport Unites investment fund – moving toward a shared understanding and common vision.
Damian is the Managing Director of inFocus and a dynamic social entrepreneur and Leadership Coach. He combines a broad range of skills and experiences from the last 25 years. Having initially trained as a medic, he worked as a doctor in the UK and Australia, prior to founding and running one of the most exciting, impactful and fastest-growing charities in the UK (Street League). He has since worked across all five continents, supporting many different types of social impact actor to develop and grow their skills and capabilities to run high performing charities, foundations and social enterprises.
Graham is a Senior Consultant at inFocus. Originally trained as a Physical Education teacher, Graham has over ten years of experience research and evaluation and 16 years working in teacher training, sport management and the sport for development and peace at the University of Brighton. For inFocus, he has project managed and lead the evaluation team for several projects in the globally, including inFocus' work with the GLA on the Sport Unites and MEEF programmes, where he has designed and delivered complex multi-year evaluations in a range of topics
Facilitated by Keri Anderson from the GLA, this first meeting focused on how we can enhance social mixing and reduce social isolation through sport and physical activity. During the meeting, the panellists answered the question: ‘how do we encourage social integration in communities in a way that feels equal and respectful?’. The main points of discussion focused on early intervention; communities creating their own definitions of social integration; social integration happening at a staff level; and working in partnerships with other organisations.
Facilitated by Leila Wong from the GLA, this meeting focused on sport, physical activity and mental health/well-being. During the meeting, panellists answered the question: ‘how can we measure and talk to our participants about mental health and wellbeing without explicitly talking about the subject which many people find very difficult or personal?’ The main points discussed were focused around building trust; the importance of long-term relationships; creative impact measurement; and providing support for delivery team members.
Facilitated by Paulina Turcan from the GLA, the third meeting in the series focused on sport and increasing physical activity. The panellist answered the question: ‘how can we best use and leverage technology to connect people to physical activity opportunities that are available to them?’. The discussions from the meeting focused on finding alternative ways for individuals to engage in sport and physical activity; social prescribing; the use of non-traditional sport to remove potential barriers; promoting the use of digital tools; and co-creating projects with beneficiaries.
Facilitated by Solomon Curtis from the GLA, the fourth meeting in the series focused on how we can use sport and physical activity when tackling serious youth violence. The panellists answered the question: ‘how can the sector tackle the root issues of serious youth violence rather than simply focusing on their manifestations?’. The main areas of discussions focused on connections, partnerships and opportunities. Individuals within the meeting also highlighted three key actors which are important in addressing this topic; staff, young people and partners, with them all playing a role in different ways to achieve positive change.
Facilitated by Hilary Lissenden from the GLA, the final meeting of the Insight Fortnight focused on how we can build capacity within London to improve the delivery of community sport. The panellists answered the question: ‘what can the community sport sector do to build its workforce capacity to better meet the aims of Sport Unites?’. The main points made during this meeting was that organisations should take a needs-led and collaborative approach when focusing on their workforce. There was also a focus on transparency across the sector and organisations coming together to create more opportunities for beneficiaries.
Share and exchange good practices and experiences of how the community sport workforce has evolved to contribute to meeting social outcomes.
Reflect upon and discuss what the community sport sector needs to better deliver social outcomes and how the Sport Unites Investment Fund can contribute.
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inFocus is a social impact consultancy firm that support partners to improve lives and transform communities worldwide.
We have designed and implemented social impact measurement and grant management solutions for funders, policy makers and frontline agencies in over 40 countries across the globe.
inFocus Consulting Ltd, Omega House,
6 Buckingham Place, Bellfield Road West
High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire
HP13 5HW
Over the last 15 years, inFocus has also designed a wide range of different customised training courses for clients around the world. The courses are specifically tailored to the needs of your organisation and attendees in the training, building on the extensive inFocus resources.
Our custom training has covered a range of areas, including inFocus core areas of expertise in impact measurement and management
(IMM), theory of change and strategic planning. We have also developed training on more specific topics, such as the launch of new grant schemes for funders.
Our options for custom training include:
inFocus conducts independent, external evaluations to facilitate learning and support accountability.
We have conducted evaluations of high complexity projects, programmes and organisations for delivery agencies, funders, policymakers and networks, both in the Sport for Development and Peace and wider international development sector. We utilise a range of approaches including: Summative; Theory Based; Process; Developmental; Impact; and Participatory.
inFocus executes specific applied research projects on various topics such as Sport for Development, social impact measurement, and strategies for scaling impact. Our findings are designed to be implementable and timely.
Our team is comprised of experienced practitioners who are trained to bridge the gap between traditional research and practical evaluation. We provide a range of different evaluation approaches and methodologies suited to either individual projects or complex funding programmes. We systematically explore and document what is working and highlight areas to for further improvement to help funders explore overall impact strategies.
inFocus helps delivery agencies, funders and networks use their data effectively to report back to stakeholders and utilise data as a tool for development and growth. We work with organisations to do this by giving support in key areas, based upon their identified and priority needs:
inFocus works with philanthropic organisations that provide grants and support to third party organisations delivering programmes or initiatives. Funders include charities, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), community groups, governmental or inter-governmental agencies and private sector companies. Our consultancy services are specifically designed to address some of the key challenges that funders face, whether that is:
Theory of Change is a technique that helps you to map out and explore how your activities lead to social change, and your underlying beliefs or assumptions. It is a powerful tool for helping to:
‘A vision without a plan is just a dream. A plan without a vision is just drudgery. But a vision with a plan can change the world.’
Strategy is about asking yourself vital questions concerning What are you trying to achieve? What is the external situation and how can we address it? Are we effective? How can we convince others of this?
inFocus helps organisations to focus on their most critical issues and identify high leverage directions that allow the organisation to renew and reinvent itself, preserving its vitality and its competitive edge.
We’ve worked with non-profits and charities all around the world to scale up, scale out and scale together for more sustainable impact:
The Tools and Resources for Impact Measurement and Management section of our website is dedicated to providing a comprehensive suite of resources that can be downloaded and put to practical use by our Impact Community.
The resources are all aligned to our IMM courses, particularly the IMM Builder course, which provides step by step guidance on how they can be developed and adapted to your own context, and put firmly into practice.
The Tools and Resources are categorised and cover the following IMM areas:
PLEASE NOTE: This section to our website is coming soon.
InFocus is committed to sharing learning and best-practice within the development and humanitarian sectors.
We regularly run (free to join) public webinars (online workshops) on different topics to share best-practice and generate critical debates between experts and practitioners.
The 90-minute webinars cover a range of topics, including most recently:
Click on the ‘Impact Community’ section above to find out how to become a member and receive regular updates on our public training.
Register for Webinars
When running a programme, project or activity within a community, it is critical for organisations to understand what IS working and what ISN’T and how to more effectively generate social and environmental impact. inFocus set up and run online learning communities around the world that bring organisations together to discuss and draw out best practice around a particular topic.
Typically, for inFocus a learning community includes the following elements:
Read about our approach to Peer-to-Peer Learning Communities here.
When running a programme, project or activity within a community, it is critical for organisations to understand what IS working and what ISN’T and how to more effectively generate social and environmental impact. inFocus set up and run online learning communities around the world that bring organisations together to discuss and draw out best practice around a particular topic.
Typically, for inFocus a learning community includes the following elements:
Read about our approach to Peer-to-Peer Learning Communities here.
Completing all three of the eLearning courses: IMM: Introduction, IMM: Foundation and IMM Builder will also open up ongoing professional development opportunities in IMM with free access to bi-monthly IMM webinars run by inFocus experts.
The 2-hour webinars will provide an opportunity to:
Theory of Change is a technique that helps you to map out and explore how your activities lead to social change, and your underlying beliefs or assumptions. It is a powerful tool for helping to:
Completing all three of the eLearning courses: IMM: Introduction, IMM: Foundation and IMM Builder will also open up ongoing professional development opportunities in IMM with free access to bi-monthly IMM webinars run by inFocus experts.
The 2-hour webinars will provide an opportunity to:
The Tools and Resources for Impact Measurement and Management section of our website is dedicated to providing a comprehensive suite of resources that can be downloaded and put to practical use by our Impact Community.
The resources are all aligned to our IMM courses, particularly the IMM Builder course, which provides step by step guidance on how they can be developed and adapted to your own context, and put firmly into practice.
The Tools and Resources are categorised and cover the following IMM areas:
PLEASE NOTE: This section to our website is coming soon!
inFocus conducts independent, external evaluations to facilitate learning and support accountability.
We have conducted evaluations of high complexity projects, programmes and organisations for delivery agencies, funders, policymakers and networks, both in the Sport for Development and Peace and wider international development sector. We utilise a range of approaches including: Summative; Theory Based; Process; Developmental; Impact; and Participatory.
inFocus executes specific applied research projects on various topics such as Sport for Development, social impact measurement, and strategies for scaling impact. Our findings are designed to be implementable and timely.
Our team is comprised of experienced practitioners who are trained to bridge the gap between traditional research and practical evaluation. We provide a range of different evaluation approaches and methodologies suited to either individual projects or complex funding programmes. We systematically explore and document what is working and highlight areas to for further improvement to help funders explore overall impact strategies.
inFocus helps delivery agencies, funders and networks use their data effectively to report back to stakeholders and utilise data as a tool for development and growth. We work with organisations to do this by giving support in key areas, based upon their identified and priority needs:
InFocus is committed to sharing learning and best-practice within the development and humanitarian sectors.
We regularly run (free to join) public webinars (online workshops) on different topics to share best-practice and generate critical debates between experts and practitioners.
Click on the ‘Impact Community’ section above to find out how to become a member and receive regular updates on our public training.
An inFocus Learning Community brings together ‘like-minded’ organisations to exchange knowledge, share methods and results and map out both commonalities and differences in approaches.
Our learning webinars and live workshops bring together actors and organisations that work directly with beneficiaries, with evaluation and research experts specialising in the focal area. These are dedicated to particular thematic areas (e.g. gender equality, or disability) and can have a global, regional or local geographic focus, sometimes linked to a specific funder or network. In our Learning Community webinars and workshops, common challenges and solutions are shared, common indicators, outcomes and tools discussed and defined, with best practices to achieve these outcomes identified and documented.
We pride ourselves upon being able to then translate insights and learning into highly accessible and engaging materials, taking advantage of multi-media capabilities and tools, such as eLearning modules, online forums, meetings and webinars to disseminate knowledge across the field.
inFocus works with philanthropic organisations that provide grants and support to third party organisations delivering programmes or initiatives. Funders include charities, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), community groups, governmental or inter-governmental agencies and private sector companies. Our consultancy services are specifically designed to address some of the key challenges that funders face, whether that is:
‘A vision without a plan is just a dream. A plan without a vision is just drudgery. But a vision with a plan can change the world.’
Strategy is about asking yourself vital questions concerning What are you trying to achieve? What is the external situation and how can we address it? Are we effective? How can we convince others of this?
inFocus helps organisations to focus on their most critical issues and identify high leverage directions that allow the organisation to renew and reinvent itself, preserving its vitality and its competitive edge.
We’ve worked with non-profits and charities all around the world to scale up, scale out and scale together for more sustainable impact:
InFocus is committed to sharing learning and best-practice within the development and humanitarian sectors.
We regularly run (free to join) public webinars (online workshops) on different topics to share best-practice and generate critical debates between experts and practitioners.
Click on the ‘Impact Community’ section above to find out how to become a member and receive regular updates on our public training.
Over the last 15 years, inFocus has also designed a wide range of different customised training courses for clients around the world. The courses are specifically tailored to the needs of your organisation and attendees in the training, building on the extensive inFocus resources.
Our custom training has covered a range of areas, including inFocus
core areas of expertise in impact measurement and management
(IMM), theory of change and strategic planning. We have also
developed training on more specific topics, such as the launch of new
grant schemes for funders.
Our options for custom training include:
Please feel free to get in touch to discuss your specific requirements for custom trainings.
