Programme Evaluation 2014-15

• F4C has successfully maintained and extended its partnership culture.
This applies in terms of both the quantity and quality of its engagement with funders, sponsors, facilitators and beneficiaries.
Numerically, whereas a total of 71 funders and co-sponsors facilitated the 16 F4C projects analysed in 2013-14, two projects in
2014-15 secured the engagement of just over 80 partners. More important, however, is the increasingly – and appropriately -
organic nature of F4C’s partnership style. This evaluation has demonstrated the extent to which shared human values and a
focused, systematic concern for the long-term wellbeing of all individuals and communities has enabled F4C and its partners to
develop an almost family-like dialogue. This helps them explore their mutual strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in
ways that are not often possible among larger, more institutionalised, bureaucratic organisations. Hence they can more effectively
plan, fund, jointly deliver and review projects and programmes to address the needs of the North West’s neediest people. This in
turn means that the knowledge, skills and understanding accumulated through that form of partnership can be more easily reemployed
in future joint planning and working – hence creating a virtuous circle.
Given the increasingly challenging social, economic and environmental scenarios that the North West faces, and the special
needs of the communities that F4C serves, the maintenance and extension of a partnership culture is vital. This can help
minimise the negative effects of a widening North-South economic divide and ongoing public funding cuts to vulnerable
target communities.
• F4C’s direct beneficiaries increased numerically by 55% over the previous year’s total
This resulted in an impressive 9,900 in 2014-15 as opposed to 6,400 in 2013-14. Of these, 5,700 (58%) directly benefitted - in a wide
range of practical ways - through the EA’s Flood Awareness Diverse Communities project. That alone is an outstanding result for a
small voluntary organisation. What is even more important for F4C, however, is the variety and sustainability of those benefits and
how they are transferred in turn to an even wider number of people. Here, the catalyst of faith in building bridges, not barriers, has
been transformative.
The vast majority of beneficiaries in the Flood Awareness project belong to the region’s Muslim communities. Their efforts in
mitigating against the widespread damage caused by flooding in their areas during and subsequent to 2014-15 coincided with a rise
of Islamophobia across the UK 25 , prompted in part by reports of atrocities in the Middle East and terrorist incidents in Western
cities. The project, its outcomes and the associated publicity, including the videos, have significantly promoted cross-community
cohesion and respect in disadvantaged and environmentally vulnerable urban areas. A parallel, no less relevant, set of outcomes can
be seen in the Heath’s Marian Trail, in a semi-rural part of St Helens. Here the revival of a traditional Catholic veneration has been
extended, providing the basis for a cross-community, cross-generational celebration of all women in a manner that enhances and redefines
the area’s identity.
Similarly, attention needs to be drawn to the wide range of life situations that F4C’s beneficiaries experience, and how the projects
have been carefully designed around these, and not in a formulaic manner. Work to support, in particular, asylum seekers, women
in the justice system and persons recovering from addiction in acquiring a range of life skills through learning and volunteering has
given vulnerable individuals a new sense of trust, self-confidence and respect from the rest of the community. It has also been
successful in cementing productive relationships with F4C’s partners, in and beyond the voluntary sector. Evidently, such a rich
array of tangible outcomes has been enhanced by F4C’s underlying ethos, and arguably, has only been possible because of that
ethos.
While the issues of organisational size and capacity cannot be ignored, F4C‘s need to maintain its core ethical, inclusive, faith
based focus should not be understated in its choice and implementation of future projects.
25 The extent of rising Islamophobia, and possible solutions, are set out in Saied Reza Ameli and Arzu Merali (2015): Environment of
Hate: the New Normal for Muslims in the UK Islamic Human Rights Commission. Summary available at:
http://www.ihrc.org.uk/attachments/article/11559/Executive%20Summary-UK-ll-02.pdf
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