Evaluation of the Building Connections Fund During the Covid-19 Pandemic: Part Two

Introduction

This research evaluates the Building Connections Fund. The fund aimed to reduce loneliness and social isolation across England. It supported voluntary and community organisations to run local projects. The evaluation aims to understand how the Building Connections Fund helped tackle loneliness in the Covid 19 pandemic.

Findings

The programme and evaluation were interrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic. This meant that rather than evaluating the impact of the Building Connections Fund, the evaluation changed to focus on understanding how community organisations adapted to the changing context.

The research found that:

• social distancing made loneliness worse for many of the people that the Building Connections Fund was aiming to support
  

• most grant holders adapted their delivery in the context of the pandemic, others had to stop their activity altogether
  

• the people that the Building Connections Fund supported had different feelings about returning to face-to-face activities as we emerged from the pandemic

The evaluation concluded that in the changing context of the Covid-19 pandemic, being able to respond and adapt quickly was essential. The was done by flexible funding, effective user involvement and monitoring and evaluation focused on real-time feedback. Some grant holders were better placed to respond to the changing context than others. This was seen through existing digitals skills and being prepared for changes ahead of the start of lockdown.