#Financial Champions programme evaluation

Background

Groundwork West Midlands received funding from the What Works Fund to deliver a community-led mentoring model, named the #FinancialChampions programme. The programme aimed to help reduce social isolation in the older generation through the use of digital tools and technology, with participants becoming more financially capable.

The programme was delivered in 2017 in targeted areas of Birmingham and was delivered in two main ways: 

• Residents trained up as Financial Champions to provide a peer to peer mentoring model to a wider network of residents.
• A wider network of older residents took part in workshops, which focused on improving digital and financial capability.

Methodology

To support Groundwork West Midlands in measuring how successful the #FinancialChampions programme was, M·E·L Research was commissioned to carry out an evaluation. The evaluation included a process and outcome assessment of the programme. The aim of the programme was to address two research key questions:

• How can digital/social inclusion projects help older people become more financially capable?
• How effective can a peer mentoring or ‘champions’ model help to cascade financial capability information in an appropriate way to the target group?

The evaluation used a mix of approaches, including both qualitative (focus groups, indepth interviews and observation research) and quantitative (surveys).

Outcomes

A theory of change model was developed for the evaluation, using the Financial Capability Outcomes Framework to identify key indicators to measure changes as a result of the programme. This added to the evidence base for similar projects, by identifying what outcomes were achieved and providing a set of recommendations and learning for the future.  The final report can be viewed here.