Sustainable Communities Evaluation Report 2012 – 2013 Completed by Elizabeth Woodward, Peak District School Farmers’ Market Coordinator For Soil Association Acknowledgements We thank the Peak District Rural Action Zone Leader programme for providing the funding for this project and for the support of their Leader coordinator Amanda Brown and her colleagues. This project would not have been a success without the hard work, commitment and enthusiasm of all of the participating schools, their pupils, staff and volunteers. Thank you to our project partners the Mid Wales Food and Land Trust who shared their intellectual and practical knowledge around the scheme and the effective delivery approach that has been successful in over 100 schools elsewhere in the country. The programme staff at the Soil Association, Sustainable Communities project would like to thank everyone who assisted in this evaluation and gave their time to share their views and help in pulling together all of the information collected over the duration of the project. Further thanks to all those who participated in the project questionnaires and evaluation group meetings. Contents Introduction 1.1 Brief Description of the Evaluation Aims and Objectives 1.2 Background to Sustainable Communities Project 1.3 Project Aims and Objective 1.4 Project Outputs 1.5 Programme Outcomes Methodology 2.1 Overview of Methods 2.2 Evaluation Framework 2.3 Desktop Research – Review of questionnaires and Quarterly Leader Reports 2.4 Limitations and Challenges Findings 3.1 Outputs 3.2 Producers 3.3 Community 3.4 Teachers Feedback 3.5 Schools Summary 3.6 Individual School Reports 3.7 Limitations and Challenges 3.8 Unintended Outcomes and Benefits 3.9 Resources Conclusions and Recommendations 4.1 Has Sustainable Communities met its Aims and Objectives? 4.2 Has Sustainable Communities achieved its Outcomes? 4.3 Conclusion 4.4 Recommendations Appendices Appendix 1 – Map Showing Extent of Peak District Rural Action Zone Leader Programme Appendix 2 – Host School Questionnaire Appendix 3 – Producer Questionnaire Appendix 4 – Customer Questionnaire Appendix 5 – Taste the Seasons Article Introduction 1.1 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE EVALUATION The evaluation was carried out by Soil Association to see how effective the Sustainable Communities project had been during the funding it had received from the Peak District Rural Action Zone Leader Programme. We wanted to celebrate and build on the successes and learn from those elements of the programme that had not worked so well. This evaluation will be shared with other stakeholders and funders. The evaluation set out to explore the benefits of the project, to assess how well it had achieved its aims and objectives and the project outcomes and to examine the experiences of those involved in the project. The specific aims of the evaluation were to:- Measure the success of the project in meeting its aims and objectives Measure the success of the project in meeting its outcomes Examine the impact of the project in relation to specific strategic objectives identified by Leader in the Local Development Strategy Examine the impact of the project on beneficiaries The identification of any unintended or additional outcomes and benefits to all beneficiaries and stakeholders Create a basis for future planning Demonstrate effective resource use Explain and demonstrate to funders and other stakeholders what the project has achieved and how successful it has been The identification of recommendations and key learning from the project 1.2 BACKGROUND TO SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES PROJECT The School Farmers' Market project has been developed in partnership with the Mid Wales Food Land Trust. MWFLT developed the original concept in Powys and have been delivering the school farmers’ markets through the Soil Association Leader funded project in Shropshire. They have developed the intellectual and practical knowledge around the scheme and the effective delivery approach that has been successful in over 100 schools elsewhere in the country. We sought to benefit from this delivery experience through developing the project in the Peak District and Staffordshire Moorlands. During this process, the schools and co-ordinator would get trained in setting up the markets and leave a legacy of knowledge in the region for the future. MWFLT as project partners planned to undertake the following delivery work: • Support and train the local co-ordinator in terms of setting up markets and recruiting schools • Provide support and training in contacting the producers and promoting the school market concept • Support delivery of a bespoke education session in each school to engage the children around setting up a market in the school • Support the school and co-ordinator in setting up each initial market day The project was developed throughout the Peak District Rural Action Zone Leader Area. We aimed to develop clusters of activity throughout the area in order to demonstrate the project in as many location-types as possible lacking in local services. From these hubs of activity, we hoped to involve local producers and micro-enterprises in selling at the markets we established and attract the wider community to get involved. There were four key reasons why there was a need for the project: • Many rural services including shops and post offices have disappeared and people have to travel much further to buy their food. This project would alert the community to local producers on their doorstep and reduce the food miles for people on their shopping trips • Small producers and micro food enterprises are finding it increasingly difficult to find markets and get a good price for their produce. This project would enable them to diversify and develop new opportunities for adding value and selling produce in their community • Schools are often the only community focus in villages where all other services have disappeared. This project would use the school to build links between businesses, schools and all members of the community, resulting in improved services and greater community cohesion. • Children, even in rural areas, are often disconnected from where their food comes from and how it is produced. This project would enable them to learn more about farming and food, and engage them in enterprise projects that will develop key skills, attitudes and knowledge, potentially inspiring them to find careers in this sector. Additionally, schools are being required to deliver more real-world learning and opportunities to learn outside the classroom and this project would help address this need. The Local Development Strategy highlights the following issues which the Sustainable Food Communities project addresses: • The focus on micro enterprises, the core of rural business activity in the Peak District and essential to maintaining sustainable communities; • The focus on agricultural diversification support where agriculture is both an important part of the Peak District economy but also has vital importance in its environmental stewardship of the National Park and surrounding area; • The opportunity to integrate community enterprise activity into the LEADER approach, again supporting a wider sustainable communities agenda; • Targeting harder to reach groups where possible such as young people and the self- employed to maintain diverse and sustainable rural communities; • Supporting improved environmental management in business activity contributing to climate change issues as well as business resource efficiency; • The development of the LAG as a means of facilitating business networking and building social cohesion within the RAZ area through a self- help and collaborative approach. A key part of the project would be to work with school communities to identify schools and producers to take part. An initial approach to a few schools and farms showed interest and building on this we were confident that we would recruit enough schools and producers. It is important to note that the project would work with non-organic producers and well as organic farmers. Usually around 10% of the stall holders are organic, the remainder being conventional farmers and producers. There are already a number of successful farmers’ markets in the Peak District: Bakewell, Buxton, Belper, Matlock, Wirksworth, Castleton and Hathersage. Bakewell have a waiting list of producers despite having 70 stalls, Buxton are full on most categories except vegetables and Castleton have no extra capacity as they only allow one stall of each food type. This shows that there is a good demand for farmers’ markets in the area, but little potential for new small scale producers to get involved. The school farmers’ markets would help fulfil this need. We felt that by carefully targeting the schools with sustained support, we would be able to create 9 beacons of best practice which can then be replicated elsewhere. We would demonstrate the benefits to schools and producers and create more demand, therefore having a greater overall impact in the area. Once producers have taken part in a couple of local markets, they can see the benefits and it then becomes much easier to fill places at future markets. Likewise, teachers often find out about the project through their networks and are keen to run one in their schools. By working in clusters throughout the area, we hope to start a catalyst which would then spread the project elsewhere. Small producers and growers would be our main target, but we also include local shops, cottage industries and artisan producers to make up numbers. This often provides an excellent first time marketing opportunity for these micro-enterprises. We have small-scale home chutney and preserve makers, beekeepers, village shop keepers, bakers, allotment holders and soap makers who have taken part elsewhere. We work with the school from day one to involve the children and teacher completely in developing the market. By enabling them to take ownership, we would ensure that we reach out into the community through their links, and give them the necessary skills and confidence to continue the markets after we leave.