Description of the contract
Introduction:
North Wales Wildlife Trust are currently seeking an evaluation and monitoring expert for a contracted role to independently conduct process and impact evaluations of our two-year development project, Corsydd Môn/ Anglesey Fens For All, Forever (AFFF). We invite tenders from evaluation experts to offer formative evaluation and monitoring services throughout the project's 2-year development phase. This will include the development of a tailored framework to assess this development phase of the project, as well as helping shape plans for a delivery phase for the project that we will be seeking further funding for.
Background to the project:
The Anglesey Fens’ long-term future is severely threatened by issues of water quantity/quality, habitat fragmentation/degradation and the impacts of climate change. There is an urgent need for landscape-scale collaborative behaviour-changing engagement and action. To ensure long-term sustainability, the Anglesey Fens need to be surrounded by complementary, connected natural habitats and local communities who care for them.
This National Lottery Heritage Fund Corsydd Môn/Anglesey Fens for all, Forever project will work with farmers, foresters and local communities to create an exemplar region for catchment-sensitive farming; landscape-scale conservation practice; improving catchment-scale water quality; and helping communities sustainably improve their local economy and wellbeing.
The project’s key themes are:
Using internationally recognised designated sites as a base from which to improve the wider area’s grassland, wetland and heathland vegetation.
Facilitating major changes to farming practices to address both the climate and nature emergencies and enhance ecological resilience: establishing wildlife corridors and buffer zones; changing cropping and grazing practices at a large scale; and improving the critical water supply and chemistry regimes which feed the Fens.
Developing a participatory activity plan with the community and tailoring the project to support underrepresented groups/new audiences: ensuring that the Fens benefit the community and become a specific destination for a diverse spectrum of visitors. This will include an extensive engagement programme; multi-user access improvements; and educational resources for everyone from primary schoolchildren to postgraduate researchers.
Establishing a wide local partnership to co-produce, steer, deliver and evaluate the project: ensuring that new ways of working and learning encourage much wider participation (e.g. via social prescribing, digital storytelling, art and traditional skills).
Why are we evaluating?
The AFFF Partnership and the External Evaluator will follow National Lottery Heritage Fund guidance to provide objectivity, independence, and expert skills for mid-term and summative evaluation. The evaluator will ensure data collection, analyse outcomes, and produce reports with practical recommendations for decision-making and advocacy. This data will inform this development phase and help establish the need for, and potential focus of, a delivery phase that we would seek funding for.
As an example, some key elements of this development phase include:
Volunteer upskilling and training activities
Site visits, events, workshops and presentation days
A pilot outdoor wellbeing social prescribing project
Stakeholder mapping
Pilot programme to support people to overcome barriers to participation
The co-production of project elements with a community representative steering group
School engagement and citizen science projects
Structural survey assessments for potential capital works linked to site access
Marketing and communications and audience development plans for the sites
To apply please upload a current CV, CVs, or organisation summary along with an outline of your proposed approach (no more than 4 pages) via the Sell 2 Wales postbox.
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