Saving Minsterley Meadows, evaluation – invitation to tender
Background information
Saving Minsterley Meadows has received National Lottery Heritage Fund funding for a community-based project which will run from 15 October 2024, to 3 January 2028. The value of the grant is £224,000. The project is called Saving Minsterley Meadows. It is a partnership project between Middle Marches Community Land Trust and Marches Meadow group.
Saving Minsterley Meadows has raised money to purchase two of the best flower rich meadows in Shropshire that support 5000 green winged orchids Amounting to over 95% of all Green winged orchids found in Shropshire.
Evaluation
As part of our project, we have funds to engage with an External Evaluator to evaluate our project against set criteria. It is envisaged that the external evaluator will produce an Evaluation Plan for the project and produce a Final Report.
We envisage that the external evaluator will meet with us at an early stage of this project to advise us on the best methods for capturing appropriate evaluation data throughout the life span of the project. This will result in an Evaluation Plan and project staff; key volunteers and steering group will follow this plan throughout delivery.
The evaluator will also engage with us towards the end of the project to assess the data collected and to capture information themselves aimed at understanding the outcomes of Saving Minsterley Meadows. Following collation of all available data they will write a Final Report. The evaluator should take account of Heritage Fund best practice guidance on evaluation within their methodology: https://www.heritagefund.org.uk/funding/good-practice-guidance/evaluation
Evaluation should enable us to:
- measure progress against outcomes
- counting participants/beneficiaries, understand who they are and why they have engaged with our project
- identify what was successful
- identify what didn’t work and why
- measure changes in habitat condition of the meadows
- understand how successful we were in reaching and engaging the people living within the parish of Minsterley
- assess the effectiveness of the involvement of both Middle Marches Community Land Trust and Marches Meadow group
- provide clear conclusions and recommendations for the future
- Provide material that can be used for future cases for support
Evaluation processes could include using baseline data (some has already been obtained), surveys (online and face-to-face), discussion groups, photographs, formal and informal meetings, biological recording, participant feedback, social media posts and the production of short films. Saving Minsterley Meadows project Management group will provide the evaluator with information and contacts and will assist them in gaining independent information as far as possible.
Our external evaluator will deliver an independently produced Final Report, focusing on what the project achieved, what worked and what did not, beneficiary data, habitats condition maintained and improved, methods used, and communities reached. The reach and impact of the project will be a key aspect of the evaluation. The Report should include images, testimonials and exemplars. This will focus on outcomes rather than outputs.
Budget
We have £12000 for this work which must include VAT if relevant.
Timescale
Start in early April and be available to attend launch event on 25 April 2025.
Invitation to Quote
The closing date for expressions of interest for the above should be emailed to info@middlemarchescommunitylandtrust.org.uk by 5pm on 28 March 2025, and should include a clear methodology on how you would achieve the above priorities, your proposed cost and short examples of previous relevant work. Interviews will be held at Minsterley Village Hall on 15 April 2025.
For more information, please contact info@middlemarchescommunitylandtrust.org.uk in the first instance.
