We worked with Access and SIB to evaluate their multi-year Enterprise Development Programme, supporting 325+ charities and social enterprises - across six sectors - to strengthen governance, leadership, enterprise resilience, and social impact.

Through our evaluation of Singing Mamas at Home, we’ve seen how singing on prescription can boost mothers’ confidence, wellbeing, and sense of connection, while providing an accessible tool for healthcare staff and women in the early weeks and months of motherhood.

We worked with the British Red Cross and a group of refugee women across the UK to explore barriers to accessing information, rights and services. Trained as peer researchers, they engaged 48 participants from 23 countries, revealing the challenges of navigating complex systems — and co-designing solutions to build more inclusive, accessible support for refugee women nationwide.

In summer 2019, Holistic Harmonies ran a six-week pilot in a Liverpool nursing home, bringing together residents, pre-school children, and their parents in inclusive music and movement sessions. Our evaluation highlighted benefits for all ages, from increased movement and confidence to joy, togetherness, and community connection.

We worked with the NHS in North Central London to put women and families at the heart of maternity service improvement. Training 15 local mothers as community researchers, we used participatory action research to gather the experiences of 179 parents across five boroughs. The findings informed key recommendations on access, continuity, and choice - and led to the co-creation of a people-centred training module for staff and new research addressing poor outcomes for Black women.

Our evaluation of Sheffield’s disability sport programme, funded by Sport England and delivered by Within Reach and Sheffield City Council, explored the benefits for participants, families, and volunteers, identified barriers to inclusion, and offered recommendations to sustain and grow opportunities across the city.

Discover how participatory research in Tower Hamlets captured older residents’ experiences of loneliness, highlighting key challenges, community assets, and solutions to improve wellbeing.

Discover how local residents in Aberfeldy, Tower Hamlets, helped identify barriers to preventing Type 2 Diabetes and proposed solutions through participatory action research.

The Public Health team at Tower Hamlets Council commissioned this PAR project to gain a deeper understanding of the barriers that prevent eligible residents from accessing bowel, cervical, and breast cancer screening services, and to identify solutions that local communities themselves believe could effectively address these challenges.

Shortwork worked with Poplar HARCA to explore staff health and wellbeing through participatory research, identifying practical solutions to enhance frontline workforce wellbeing.

A RIBA guide detailing principles, methods, and case studies for effective community engagement in architectural projects, helping architects involve local communities meaningfully in design and planning.