Evaluation of the Big Green Challenge Plus

Client:
NESTA
Start date:
July 2009
Completed:
December 2010

Big Green Challenge Plus is a fund run by the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA). BGC+ follows NESTA’s original Big Green Challenge prize, which supported community-based carbon reduction schemes through an innovative, competition-based approach (Brook Lyndhurst also carried out the evaluation for the Big Green Challenge).

Through BGC+, the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) is making small grants of up to £20,000 available to 17 of the original applicants to the Big Green Challenge. The aim, as with the original fund, is to support innovative community-based initiatives in reducing the carbon emissions within their target communities.

Objectives
The goal of the evaluation is to explore the approaches to community engagement employed by the projects to identify what works and what might be improved in future projects, focusing in particular on models which can be replicated elsewhere or which can be scaled up to reach larger audiences.

Methodology
The methodology employed to evaluate BGC+ reflects the size of the grants awarded through the fund and the need to limit the burden placed upon projects, while identifying key lessons for future funds. It comprises:

  • An initial review of applications and other project documents;
  • A round of site visits, allowing us to familiarise ourselves with the work of projects on the ground;
  • Review of evaluation materials submitted by projects over the course of the fund;
  • An online questionnaire to be completed by projects;
  • Interviews with NESTA's partners in administering the fund - UnLtd and CRed; and
  • A second round of site visits at the end of the fund.

A final report is due at the end of the fund in late 2010.

BGC+

Other Project Staff

Brook Lyndhurst Blog

  • Waste and the built environment

    Our economy is built on the transformation of raw materials into products and services. Until recently the waste produced as part of this process or at the end of this product’s life was seen as an unavoidable part of this process. However, global economic growth is putting rising pressure on depleting resources, leading to a [...] 

  • Lies, damned lies and food behaviours

    Ruth and David spoke last week at the SRA seminar “Lies, damned lies and food behaviours”. Chaired by Oxford academic Ceridwen Roberts, the event involved a presentation from Ruth and David (you can see the slides here) and a Q&A session with a small but perfectly formed audience. As frequently happens when presenting or discussing food [...] 

  • Open data open season

    As the Royal Statistical Society (RSS) reports on the latest pressure brought to bear on the Government’s Open Data initiative, signs of a thriving and well-resourced statistics and data-based movement abound. The UK Statistics Authority, with Andrew Dilmot now in the chair, have instructed the Office of National Statistics to ensure that all responses to [...]