This evaluation story shows the kind of evidence organisations can collect to prove their contribution to tackling health inequalities.
Tasting Change aims to tackle food insecurity, increase community awareness levels on the importance of good food and promote positive food opportunities.
Using the recognising our rich tapestry resource, Tasting Change were able to explain and prove how their cooking groups programme contributes to tackling health inequalities.
By running cooking groups, Tasting Change help to address some of the health inequalities and barriers that the community of Wester Hailes face.
How do Tasting Change know they’re reaching the right people?
“We work closely with GPs, health workers, partner agencies and Community Link workers, who refer participants who can benefit from our service.”
Activities include:
- Providing a community meal.
- Delivering regular workshops and interactive education sessions.
- Online course during the COVID-19 pandemic: this involved Zoom meetings, a Facebook group and short face to face interactions when collecting ingredients.
To explain who the programme reaches, roles of the programme, activities, and outcomes the programme achieves in the short term, and how these outcomes contribute to strategic priorities on healthy eating and food security, a logic model was created.
They also identified that the way in which they work is central to achieving these outcomes.
Tasting Change identified their short-to-mid term outcomes as…
- People have increased self-esteem
- People have more opportunities to connect with others
- People feel more positive about making healthy choices
- People are more connected to the community
“We know that the social aspect of the activity has always been a fundamental part of the success of the group.”
So, how did Tasting Change prove that they tackle health inequalities?
To measure their short-to-mid term outcomes, outlined above, Tasting Change gathered different forms of feedback:
Verbal feedback
“If it wasn’t for this group I would be sitting home alone.”
“You feel a sense of accomplishment when you’ve spent this time working hard and it comes out being really tasty.”
“It makes me feel less isolated. It makes me feel good coming here. It’s like a big family and I feel like I have lots of friends.”
Observations (both in person and online)
- Participants speaking positively about food and demonstrating an awareness of why eating healthily is important to them.
- Noticing changes over time in the way people engaged on the Facebook group and their willingness to share about their meals.
Feedback from referrers
“L said that being on the course brought her closer to her family and to her community – particularly going to collect the ingredients at the community meal and seeing other people there.”
“He enjoyed learning about new ingredients and trying out the tasty nutritious recipes.”
Questionnaires
“I am now cooking from scratch which is a nice skill and its healthier.”
“My main benefit was getting to talk to other members of the community, and I have been exchanging recipes online…I would not have done this if it wasn’t for coming to the group and learning new things and meeting new people.”
The Tasting Change programme was able to show that, over time, their work contributed to their long-term outcomes of:
- A Scotland where we eat well, have a healthy weight and are physically active.
- A Scotland where we have improved social circumstances, stability and food security.
“We have evidence that we make a positive difference to these outcomes in the longer term”
If you want to explain your contribution to tackling health inequalities please read ‘Recognising our rich tapestry’ and follow the steps set out in the resource!
See below also for the case-study that this story is based on, as well as an introduction to logic modelling.
Resources
Recognising our rich tapestry: measuring the contribution of third sector organisations to tackling health inequalities
This resource is for third sector organisations and those who fund or commission third sector organisations seeking to understand how the sector contributes to tackling health inequalities. This resource seeks
Recognising our rich tapestry: Tasting Change case study
Tasting Change have used “Recognising our rich tapestry: measuring the contribution of third sector organisations to tackling health inequalities” to explain and prove how their cooking groups programme contributes to tackling health inequalities.
Support Guide 1c – Developing a Logic Model
This is a practical guide that focuses on how you put together a basic logic model to help you think about your aims, outcomes and activities.
Our principles for good evaluation can help you to judge if you are happy with your evaluation. They are used within this story to highlight the principles that are being demonstrated.