Empowering local service leaders to harness real-world evidence in family support
By ‘real-world evidence’ we mean the experiences of children, young people and families, professional insight and expertise, local contextual data and relevant scientific research. We believe that all forms of evidence have a valuable role to play in the design and delivery of family support that enables babies, children and young people to thrive.
What we do
We enhance the skills, knowledge and confidence of local service leaders to use diverse forms of evidence in their day to day work.
Who we are
Making Evidence Work is a new community interest company with a mission to empower local service leaders to harness real-world evidence and deliver support that works for families.
Making Evidence Work is led by Steph Waddell and Ben Lewing and builds on their combined experience of research, policy and practice at the Early Intervention Foundation, central government, and local public services.
Our experience of working within the What Works Network has made us highly motivated to bring a stronger focus on putting evidence into practice, drawing on the different kinds of evidence necessary for improving support for children and families.
Our approach
We support local service leaders to use diverse forms of evidence to strengthen support for families, in a challenging context of increased need and tight budgets.
Practically, we:
Generate new insights into delivery challenges and the ways in which evidence can support improvement through local system analysis.
Design tools and resources to support evidence use within services or systems.
Provide bespoke support for local leaders, helping them to develop evidence-informed systems to support children and families.
Facilitate professional networks and create other opportunities to nurture a supportive community of local leaders focused on using evidence to drive improvement.
Produce accessible and practical evidence summaries which draw out the implications of scientific research evidence for public service leaders.
Real-world evidence
We believe that diverse forms of evidence have an important role to play in improving family support systems. We are interested in how scientific research evidence can sit alongside other forms of evidence including local data, practitioner insight and family experience to strengthen family support and enable babies, children and young people to thrive.
Ben Lewing
ben@makingevidencework.org.uk
Steph Waddell
steph@makingevidencework.org.uk
Making Evidence Work is born out of a passion for prevention and early intervention, and built around four key values:
Curiosity
We want to take the time to understand the challenges that children and families face, and the issues that public service leaders are grappling with.
Humility
Our most powerful tools are questions rather than answers. We believe that evidence can make a difference when put into the hands of communities and public services and our role is to ask ‘how can we help?’.
Equity
Systemic racism and discrimination drive inequity for children and families across the UK. We will prioritise projects which aim to better meet the needs of families that have been underserved historically; listen to and amplify diverse voices; and collaborate with organisations that support minoritised groups.
Collaboration
We believe that working with others is fundamental to creating sustainable change and using resources well. We have strong networks and will actively seek opportunities for sharing learning, collaboration and alignment.
Register your interest to keep in touch.