System change in action

Sport England have recently published our interim evaluation report of their investment into System Partners, in which we talk about our evaluation and learning programme, and reach a high-level synthesis of learning from all funded organisations.

In simple terms, the System Partner investment is a new approach to funding by Sport England.

It provides stability to organisations with up to five years of funding to enable them to focus on the wide-reaching changes needed to support people to be more physically active.

Following this new proposal we wanted to consider what this means in practice, by taking an in-depth look at the work of a sample of system partners.

Our case study with Active Essex – a snapshot of one of over 120 system partners being supported by Sport England’s System Partner investment – highlights their learning from working with local organisations and how this is enabling improvements to the way they deliver programmes and influence wider system change.

Active Essex is hosted by Essex County Council and is one of the 43 Active Partnerships working across England.

They receive funding from Sport England as a System Partner, as well as other funding from Sport England’s Place Partnership programme and The National Lottery.

The System Partner funding has enabled Active Essex to provide support and deliver programmes with locally trusted organisations.

These include voluntary groups, charities, housing and residents’ associations, sports clubs, youth clubs, local authority teams, parish councils and food banks.

The way in which Active Essex are supporting these organisations illustrates how system partners are working locally to create a cohesive and integrated approach to system change.

Active Essex have provided long-term funding for some of their locally trusted organisations, convened workshops to bring them together as a network and have also provided targeted training and support.

The learning that particularly stands out for us relates to the importance of working flexibly and responsively to support organisations working on a local footprint.

This is enabling change locally because:

• it is helping to change relationships between these organisations, as while in the past many of them had been in competition with each other for backing, the new long-term funding approach has allowed them to work more collaboratively
• they are gaining a deeper understanding of the interconnectedness across the local systems, which is helping them to gain a better understanding of how to enable change at a grassroots level
• Active Essex provide a link between these local organisations and local decision-makers, like public health, the integrated care boards and primary care networks. We know that local system dynamics are often highly complex to navigate but Active Essex are well placed to be able to communicate their local insight to policymakers in order to advocate for change at a higher level.

This approach within Active Essex requires significant time and resources to dedicate to developing local partnerships, connecting local organisations and building capability.

Their experience highlights the benefits of doing so by harnessing the expertise and connections of local organisations to improve the sport and physical activity provision in different local communities across Essex.

We encourage you to read the report and please get in touch if you have any question, comments or suggestions.