Alliance for Northern Nature
The Alliance for Northern Nature (ANN) is a groundbreaking partnership, led by the University of Leeds and aiming to restore biodiversity to the UK. The ANN spans sites from the peri-urban landscape around Leeds (Gair Wood), to remote upland sites in the Yorkshire Dales and Lake District National Park (the Upper Duddon Landscape Recovery project), and some of the most deprived areas of the country (Nature Rich Miterdale).
As part of the work the ANN is creating new volunteer and public engagement opportunities. Whilst the environmental impacts of volunteering are easily monitored (e.g., number of trees planted) the social impacts (e.g., improved wellbeing, community building, friendships) are harder to capture. This means that these wider social benefits are often under-reported and not always recognised by funders and policy makers.
Nifty Sustainability has been supporting the ANN team to capture the impacts of these volunteering opportunities at the different sites. We’ve used a lovely range of methods including participating in volunteer days, interviews and focus groups with volunteers and project staff and transect walks. We then worked in close consultation with the ANN team and volunteers across the various sites to develop the findings into a toolkit for ongoing monitoring and evaluation and learning. This will help the ANN team to better articulate the social impacts from their sites alongside the environmental impacts.
As part of the work the ANN is creating new volunteer and public engagement opportunities. Whilst the environmental impacts of volunteering are easily monitored (e.g., number of trees planted) the social impacts (e.g., improved wellbeing, community building, friendships) are harder to capture. This means that these wider social benefits are often under-reported and not always recognised by funders and policy makers.
Nifty Sustainability has been supporting the ANN team to capture the impacts of these volunteering opportunities at the different sites. We’ve used a lovely range of methods including participating in volunteer days, interviews and focus groups with volunteers and project staff and transect walks. We then worked in close consultation with the ANN team and volunteers across the various sites to develop the findings into a toolkit for ongoing monitoring and evaluation and learning. This will help the ANN team to better articulate the social impacts from their sites alongside the environmental impacts.
