Further information about the approach

The results based approach described here is based on work done by the United Nations and the Canadian Government over a number of years for use in their long term and high investment projects. The version we are using is an adaptation developed by MWB Consultancy in the UK for use in situations which demand a quicker and more responsive results based focus.

As we identified above the central theme of this results based approach is the way in which it encourages us to look beyond the output driven process to think about the outcomes we want to achieve, the smaller results that support those outcomes and then to think about the best ways of delivering the results in the context of resources and other key inputs.

We can use this methodology to develop a logic chain which takes us back from the impact to a series of short term results; it is these results that form the basis for the action plans in this report.

The whole approach is based on predicting, achieving and tracking changes for people or organisations, changes in the way they act, think, feel, their knowledge or their material conditions.

The logic chain looks something like this:

Impacts are long term changes usually for big groups of people or communities and may take up to 10 years to be fully achieved.

Outcomes are the medium term changes for people that contribute to the Impact, Outcomes usually take up to 3 years to achieve. More than one Outcome will contribute to an Impact.

Results are the smaller short term changes that contribute to the Outcomes. Results are usually achieved in a 12 to 24 month period. More than one Result will contribute to any Outcome

In the full report you will see the outcomes and results displayed in a similar way to the diagram above.

The action plans support each of the results and in each action plan there are a series of smaller indicators which will help us to track our success and learning. Most of the indicators are of a ‘soft nature’ for example ‘local authorities report using shared data to change policy or procedure’. This can be problematic but given the nature of the strategy and the role of the sub-regional groups we feel that we can generate sufficiently robust evidence of change and then work through the regional implementation (RHSIG) group to track wider outcomes over time.

The benefits of this approach are that: it keeps a focus on the crucial results to be delivered not just on processes or actions; it allows us to track progress quickly and make course corrections before too much time is wasted; it helps us to develop a small range of key actions that will generate the change we need to deliver. Lastly it encourages those using the methodology to think creatively about how they can deliver change and capture the learning from that change process.

The Action Plans

Workshops were held in each sub-region during March 2006 to discuss the implementation of the regional strategy. The material collated at these workshops as well as recent discussions in each sub-region have helped to shape the results and action plans attached to this document. The RHSIG and the sub-regional groups all contributed to identifying and agreeing the outcomes that need to be delivered.

Each sub-region has a results plan which has a small number of actions and results for them to achieve over the next 3 years.

As we note above the results and action plans were arrived at through analysis of the workshop material, reference to the Regional Strategy and through local consultation via the sub-regional leads.

For example the workshops in each sub-region all identified sharing of data and good practice as one of the key things that needs to be developed to help reduce homelessness; therefore both data sharing and best practice sharing feature as results for some of the sub-regions.

We have deliberately kept the numbers of results and actions for each sub-region small at this point so that progress can be made and an atmosphere of success generated around regional and sub-regional working.

Once actions and results are being delivered they will be reviewed and other emerging results and actions can be added.

The results plans and supporting action plans reflect the fact that some sub-regions are further ahead in terms of joint working and structures than others; for example the South HMA has developed a county wide Homelessness Strategy whilst other sub-regions have only been able to hold informal meetings to discuss what they might do locally.

The action plans and logic chains can be accessed by the following the links to the full action plan report or by linking to each areas action plans.