Local Strategic Partnerships
Local Strategic Partnerships (LSPs) bring together organisations from a range of different perspectives and policy backgrounds, to drive up the quality and effectiveness of public services in an area. They often discover that members require a variety of approaches to their work in order to stay engaged and enthused. Rocket Science has, therefore, deployed a number of tools and techniques that bring both a rigor and discipline to partners' work, at the same time as making it informative and fun.
We work with several LSPs in London, applying a rigorous, evidence-based approach to project appraisal and evaluations within a SMART framework. Increasingly, we are asked to assess whether pilot initiatives (eg. those supported by the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund) have the capacity to achieve sustainability, or have potential for mainstreaming.
Lewisham LSP’s Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy
Rocket Science undertook a detailed analysis of gaps in the delivery of Lewisham LSP's Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy. We worked with the LSP to identify why key strategic objectives were not being addressed. We examined the relevance of NRF-funded activities within the context of national and local policy and their potential for mainstreaming. We assessed why specific activities were not being translated from aspiration to action, and explored the opportunity to lever increased partner agencies' support to deliver the LSP's objectives. We were subsequently re-engaged to look at the longer-term sustainability of six-NRF funded employment projects.
Tower Hamlets Partnership
Rocket Science was employed by the Tower Hamlets Employment Consortium, a sub-group of the Tower Hamlets Partnership, comprising the Council, Jobcentre Plus, the Education Business Partnership, Tower Hamlets College and the LSC, on the design of a new employment/access to jobs strategy. The project will be overseen by the Local Strategic Partnership within the context of delivering the Community Plan.
Clapton Neighbourhood Renewal Programme
In Hackney, we were engaged by a resident-led Steering Group to provide facilitation and consultancy support, to enable the Group to deliver a vision for Clapton. This included the challenge of relating work in Clapton to the wider objectives and activities of the Hackney Strategic Partnership, as well as the multitude of agencies delivering mainstream services across the area. Outputs included three-team days leading to the production of the Clapton NRF Strategy for 2003-2005.
Westminster Community Empowerment Network
In the London Borough of Westminster, Rocket Science was asked by Voluntary Action Westminster to work with the Community Empowerment Network to build its capacity in order to take a leading and distinctive role in shaping and delivering the objectives of the Westminster Local Strategic Partnership and Community Plan. The Leader of the Council said of Rocket Science's report, Vision for Westminster, 'this is the most readable document that I have ever had across my desk.'