What is Changemakers?

In recent years, local authorities in England have shown growing interest in using evidence to inform their support for children and families. Yet, on the ground, they face many challenges in implementing evidence-based interventions, or EBIs – ranging from capacity issues and competing demands within staff teams, to difficulties coordinating across services and sustaining programmes in the long-term. The result is that some of the most promising initiatives don’t reach the babies, children, young people and parents who could benefit most.

Changemakers is a new programme that supports the implementation of high-quality EBIs in four local areas in England – Merton, Stockport, Wirral, and York – through the work of Local Evidence Leaders (LELs). These individuals are uniquely placed within local authorities to strengthen the use of evidence in everyday decision-making of local systems and partnerships.

Who is involved?

The Changemakers programme is funded by Foundations - the What Works Centre for Children & Families, in partnership with the Department for Education and the Youth Endowment Fund. It is delivered in four local areas: Merton, Stockport, Wirral, and York.

Cordis Bright are leading the implementation and process evaluation of Changemakers. We will work closely with local area teams and Foundations to understand how each EBI (Resilience Triple P, Family Foundations, and Empowering Parents Empowering Communities) and the wider Changemakers programme, are delivered in ways that fit local contexts and priorities. Our approach will draw on established implementation science frameworks and principles to understand what conditions support local systems to adopt, adapt, and sustain the use of EBIs. We will also consider the value of the LEL role in this process.

Evaluation protocol

The evaluation protocol sets out the design of the study, our approach to capturing learning, research questions, and methods. It can be read alongside an intervention protocol which provides more detail about the Changemakers programme. Both documents are available on the Foundations’ website here. We have also published the study on the Open Science Framework, available here.

Further information

For further information, please contact Louise Ashwell.