United by 2022 was created to continue the spirit of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, and helps businesses to connect with local communities to spark more Social Value.
We got a chance to interview Shah Begum, their Outreach and Impact Manager, about Social Value in action, how to get started making a difference, and much more.
What does Social Value in Action look like at United by 2022?
It is where we bring in all sectors across the region - public sector, private sector, impact sector, people who've done it before, people who've never done it before - to make sure that we are all making a difference for our communities - that is led by our communities.
That means understanding what their needs are, and then leveraging our networks, our resources and our thinking, to be able to help them.
Why did you choose Social Value Portal as your partner?
You have the very comprehensive TOM System™ - it's the language that everybody that I've come across in the sector understands and speaks. It's the common denominator in public sector procurement.
Like I'm always saying to my private sector clients: if you want to get on board with really understanding Social Value, a really good entry point is the TOM System and Social Value Portal.
I'd like to see evolve into the go-to tool for measuring Social Value, for impact. I'd like, in a couple of years' time, for everybody to understand what we mean by the TOM System, what we're measuring, the guidance, and what data you need to collect. I'd like that to be second nature to everyone that works in Social Value.
How do you involve local voices and feedback in shaping your Social Value projects?
We get them involved early on in our needs analysis, mapping what they are telling us.
I think there needs to be a recognition that IMD data, publicly available data, census data is a really great starting point - but a lot of information about the changes that you need to make is held in communities.
So we make a conscious effort, and we're seen across the region as being the experts in reaching those communities that can't always or don't always engage with central government, with events organisers, with major infrastructure projects, with big corporates.
So we involve them at an early stage. We work with them to develop our programs. We go back out to test it again to say 'We heard what you said, these are the ideas that we've come up with. Is this what what you wanted? Does it meet your need?'
We also then work with them where possible to deliver those programs. So rather than saying, thank you very much for all of your ideas, we'll take it from here', or bringing in somebody that's from outside the community to deliver, we'll work with them. We'll say, 'We want you to actually deliver this. You've had a hand in creating it. We want you to deliver it'.
And where necessary, we will upskill and build the capacity to deliver that program. So if there is something that they are missing in their organisation right now, which means that they can't deliver that program for us, we will work with them to ensure that in the future they can work with us.
In the monitoring and evaluation at the end, we use the TOM System to measure the pound, shillings and pence. But we also measure the impact stories: the real impact and how far communities have travelled and what it's meant for the people that have come into contact with us and our programmes.
The there's the process evaluation as well - going back out to communities and saying: 'When we spoke to you, and we asked you for your input, you told us all of this. This is how we listened. This is what's been delivered. Did we do this well? Should we do it again differently? What's worked well? What would you like us to tell a future stakeholder that might want to land in the region? What can we start, stop, continue in order to have that impact and that cycle of learning?'
What's your advice for organisations just starting out in Social Value?
Start where you are. Every organisation delivers Social Value, whether they recognise it at the moment or not.
Every organisation buys stuff, every organisation employs local people, most people have some kind of charitable giving strategy, and most people want to do something in their community. You don't have to have a beautifully thought out, curated, end-to-end strategy that's taken you 18 months to develop before you start. So start where you are.
Number two, lean into communities. Look where you want to make that change and go and ask people, what is it that you want to co-create with me that will have the most impact in your community?
To give you an example, I live in Aston, and we appear on every single Indice of Multiple Deprivation. We have a fabulous football team, but it's not affluent; we have poor health outcomes, poor infrastructure.
But one of the things that we seem to perform well in is the secondary schools, which turn out good results. And if you look into that, it's because there's a selective grammar school there - the kids of whom don't always come from the area.
So it's really important that you don't just look at the surface level data, but go into communities and say, 'What is it that you want, does it meet your needs?'
But also: 'Does it meet your needs in a way that is culturally sensitive to you?' The way that you deliver a swimming program in an area of affluence is not the same as if you were to deliver it in an area where English is a second language, or where there are people from global majority communities with cultural and religious barriers.
So work with the communities to co-create that respect and build capacity in the impact sector in that community. Pay them for their knowledge, expertise, and time.
And when you're doing the measurement, use the TOM System, collecting the pound, shillings and pence - but also collecting the people as well. What did it mean for people? What are their onward destinations? What's the off ramp for them? What's it meant for the individual touchpoints in your programme, rather than just the community as a whole? Bring all of that together to tell your story.
Every organisation delivers Social Value, whether they recognise it at the moment or not. Every organisation buys stuff, every organisation employs local people, most people have some kind of charitable giving strategy, and most people want to do something in their community.
Shah Begum, Outreach and Impact Manager, United by 2022
What's next for United by 2022 and Social Value?
We have developed a five step model to help anybody and everybody understand Social Value, to start their journey, or to continue it with more impact. It's really easy to follow, so we would like to roll that out to anybody in the region that is interested in Social Value and would like to make use of our expertise.
After all, we delivered a program at the games that delivered £300 million pounds of verified Social Value.
But we're also kind of not just talking the talk, we're walking the walk as well. As a small, impact sector organisation, we are measuring our own Social Value return on investment. We're using the same methodology that we're teaching other people to use. We're still continuing to invest in our tools and the development of the resources that help us to do that.
We're on track to deliver over a million pounds worth of Social Value by next spring in the course of just 18 months. And we'd love to teach other people how to do that as well.
Learn how to deliver Social Value
There's lots to think about if you're getting started on your own Social Value journey. Explore our Resources for the latest case studies and insights, or to learn how we can help, arrange an introductory conversation with one of our experts.
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