VRU MyEnds: Community Needs Assessment & Evaluation Provider

My Ends is the second iteration of our ambitious, flagship programme which will run from April 2024 until March 2026. It promotes highly local, place based approaches to reducing violence.

The programme will be targeted in six to eight neighbourhoods across London which have experienced high and sustained levels of violence. It is non-prescriptive and empowers voluntary and community sector (VCS) providers to come together to build a Network tasked with developing locally-tailored approaches that meet the needs of the community.

The VRU is currently in the process of identifying these areas and commissioning the VCS led Networks to commence delivery in April 2024. To support the programme, the VRU is seeking to commission external Provider(s) to provide a series of support & evaluation packages. These packages are divided into three lots which reflect the variety of skillsets and experience the VRU wishes to see:

• Lot 1 - Community Needs Assessment,
• Lot 2 - Process & Learning Evaluation,
• Lot 3 - Impact Evaluation Analysis,

Lot 1 - Community Needs Assessment The Community Needs Assessment Provider will provide an in-depth baseline report for all sites mapping local assets/needs and will support Networks to develop their strategies in response to this. This will be an intensive piece of work to be delivered in advance and during the early stages of delivery for MyEnds 2.0 programme.

Lot 2 - Dynamic Process Evaluation As MyEnds is a complex and iterative model, the VRU are keen to continue to learn from delivery and will be commissioning an evaluation of the programme. Given the community-led focus of MyEnds, the VRU wishes to commission an evaluation that will take an innovative, community-led participatory approach to evaluation.

Lot 3 - Impact Evaluation As the MyEnds programme will (by 2026) have been running for five years across multiple different sites, the VRU is interested in looking at the long-term impact of the programme to further build the evidence base on place-based approaches to violence reduction. In particular, we are interested in exploring whether there has been a significant impact on violence, crime or other relevant public health metrics in those areas. The Impact evaluator will be encouraged to use innovative approaches to develop appropriate control groups, for example, using a synthetic control method. If you have any clarification questions please email these to [email protected]. When sending your clarifications to the VRU commissioning inbox please use the subject 'MyEnds CNA & Evaluation', and the clarification deadline has been set as 28 November 2023.

If you would like a bidders pack please email: [email protected] You must email your completed tender response to: [email protected]. The tender submission deadline is 12:00 noon on 12 December 2023.