We love doing work that celebrates community-led approaches and working in partnership to build change. We were delighted to work with Pimlico Million Big Local on measuring the changes that their work has brought about for people and communities in Pimlico. This was part of the Local Trust funded support to areas they fund. Our collaboration focused on celebrating community leadership and collective action, and helping to measure success.
Pimlico Million Big Local has brought about great change through a community development approach and the passion of the staff and the resident partnership members shines through.
The work started with a data review to pull together an initial overview of the areas of focus for the Big Local area. This helped us get a clear picture of all the activity happening in the area, and the different ways that they were gathering evidence.
We then facilitated a workshop with the partnership team, as a way of co-developing a Theory of Change (ToC) – this is a kind of roadmap that helps to clarify outcomes and how to measure progress and success. We also created a illustrated version of the ToC, intended to be both visually engaging and accessible, including an illustrated ‘evidence salad’. This reflects the different evidence collection methods that were being used – as a tribute to the salad that’s served at all the partnership meetings and a representation of the collaborative spirit of Pimlico Million’s work.
The culmination of our work with Pimlico Million Big Local was a brilliant event that celebrated the progress made and the incredible achievements of the community and its leaders. The event was about the work done in partnership and especially about celebrating the people who made it happen. We used live graphic recording to capture the different community stories and to create a lasting record of both the work and the event itself.
Community leaders were at the heart, with their hard work and achievements highlighted and celebrated. We worked with the team at Pimlico Million Big Local, whose leadership has been instrumental in creating positive change in the area, and in organising the celebration event, as well as MAFIA (Make a Film in a) Weekend who created a film about the Pimlico Million journey, and Quaker Social Action who have been supporting Pimlico Million as the Locally Trusted Organisation and whose photography at the event captured the essence of the day.
We used a blend of creative facilitation methods, including the graphic recording and MAFIA’s film-making, and there was also community storytelling facilitated by the Pimlico Million workers who invited many involved in leading community projects to share their experience. We used an interactive ‘Tops, Pants, Socks and Hats’ exercise to get people moving, talking and reflecting on achievements. We also talked about – and captured – the community’s most memorable moments, most significant changes, and the lasting difference that Pimlico Million Big Local has made.
From community gardens to community radio, to a walking football club and everything in between, projects have been bringing people together in Pimlico and making transformative lasting differences. Local people have developed confidence and leadership skills, and many people have benefitted from funding and the opportunity ‘to give back’. In the words of one resident, ‘right now, I’m having the most exciting and empowering journey I have ever been on…I’ve found such a diverse community with whom I live side by side’.
Other residents talked about the change that Pimlico Million had made to them and their projects including:
‘I was able to take what I learnt and run my own workshop…so it was nice to give back’ (Partnership member)
‘I was a one man band, relying on volunteers (until) I got core funding for a member of staff’ (Local youth provider)
It was an honour to be a part of such an impactful piece of work and we are especially grateful for the kind words from Nawal from Pimlico Million Big Local:
“It’s a rich and thoughtful piece of work, and it really captures the spirit of the evening. We found it so helpful to read through the reflections and see the key themes emerging. It offers a really useful narrative arc [and the] illustration is such a vibrant and creative way of capturing the day.”
We have very much come to this work as facilitators around measuring change which was work commissioned directly by Local Trust who fund and support all 150 Big Local areas. The approach at Pimlico was one of partnership and a really big shout out for the great Partnership and workers as well as the team from MAFIA and Quaker Social Action and the Westminster Community Development Team who gave a space for the event. Pimlico Millon Big Local will be closing out soon but has done so much to impact the lives, connections and experiences of so many residents in the area truly building community and leaving a very strong legacy on which to move forward from.
And finally thanks to all the WSA Community team working on this: Wendy Sugarman, Shehnaaz Latiff, Yvonne Prendergast, Eddy Phillips and Rozia Hussain. And Eddy for writing this blog!
