We have been developing new ways to bring together research and learning from across Barnwood to help make change happen – putting disabled people’s experiences at the centre of what we do.

Researching disabled people’s experiences is a core part of Barnwood’s work to create change in Gloucestershire. Over the last decade, researchers at Barnwood have been listening to and learning about the experiences of disabled people and people with mental health conditions across Gloucestershire.

This has included learning about barriers to accessing opportunities such as employment, leisure activities, volunteering, and training. We’ve also heard about the experiences of disabled children, young people and their families, in trying to get short breaks. Our research on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic also highlighted the long-standing barriers experienced by disabled people and the organisations that support them.

Evidence underpins what we do

We’ve been using Barnwood-led research to inform what the Trust funds, what we raise awareness about, and how we work in partnership with others to do this. Our evidence base has informed the creation of the Gloucestershire Funders coalition in 2020, the awarding of Themed Funding for projects supporting digital inclusion and short breaks (to date, £876,000 in funding over 3 years), and the development of our Empowered Employers campaign.

During this time, other teams at the Trust have developed new ways to listen and learn across Gloucestershire. Through Barnwood Circle, the Trust’s membership scheme which launched in 2022, we listen to disabled people, involve them in identifying future project topics, and co-design projects together for the Trust. See our blog ‘Amplifying voices, shaping change’. Through the Funded Partner programme which launched in 2023, we learn about how the Voluntary Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) sector organisations we fund are making change happen through projects and activities that align with Barnwood’s mission. See our blog ‘Funding in a changing world’.

Listening and learning has become central to everything the Trust does in its work as an agent of social change.

Getting inside the issues

When reviewing a particular topic or issue we try to answer a series of questions:

• What are the key barriers that we are hearing about?
• What do we know about what works to make change on this issue?
• How might Barnwood best use its resources (financial or otherwise) to influence a change?

An example of this in practice is the Empowered Employers campaign. Barriers to accessing meaningful employment is an issue we heard about through a range of different sources of listening and learning coming into the Trust, including our State of Gloucestershire survey and through meetups with Barnwood Circle members. Statistics relating to these barriers can be seen on the Empowered Employers website. Reviewing the evidence on this issue identified the potential to influence employer attitudes, policies, and practices in order to make change on this issue.

But, in some cases, it may be that Barnwood is not best placed to make the change that is needed (for example, if there is a statutory responsibility that Barnwood could undermine by getting involved) but we can share this evidence and learning with others.

An opportunity and a challenge

Gathering such a rich, growing evidence base about the experiences of disabled people, and the VCSE organisations supporting them, presents a brilliant opportunity and also a challenge. Key questions that have surfaced are: How can we best harness all this evidence to generate actionable insights? How can these insights meaningfully inform our work and help us create change?

An important project for us over the last year has been developing new ways of collaborating across Barnwood to make sense of all the listening and learning work that is happening. Evidence about a change that is needed in Gloucestershire can be pinpointed by any team in Barnwood. This is part of our annual cycle of noticing common issues and barriers, exploring possible change topics and solutions, and then following this through into new change programmes.

Our researchers play a key role in compiling and synthesising this evidence, alongside external sources including research carried out by other organisations locally and nationally. This supports the team and the Board to be able to make informed decisions about how to take what we are learning forward into action.

Barnwood is a learning organisation

Another piece of the evidence jigsaw that feeds into our thinking is evaluation. We carry out evaluation activities about all of our change work, such as our funding and learning programmes. As a learning organisation, we take opportunities where we can to reflect on what has worked (or not), to better understand how change happens, and to gather insights from our evaluation to demonstrate impact to others.

What we are thinking about next

Our focus over the last year has been bringing all our listening and learning together to inform the Trust’s work. The role of research and evaluation for the Trust will continue to evolve.  Some of the questions we are thinking about at the moment are:

• How can we translate our principles of co-design (see our blog ‘Involving people: putting principles into practice’) into meaningful participatory research practices for Barnwood?
• What scope is there for us to work increasingly closely with individuals and organisations who have an interest and role in building the evidence base about the experiences of disabled people in Gloucestershire?
• How can we collaborate and learn from our research colleagues across the county (e.g., Gloucestershire Data Day) and the UK?