Insight Social Research Ltd is a specialist consultancy founded in 1999 that conducts both qualitative and quantitative social policy research. It aims to capture local people's needs and perspectives to help clients develop creative strategies through participatory research methods. Insight has experience working on issues of community development, social inclusion, and people's skills and knowledge obtained through lived experience. It has undertaken several projects involving training and working with volunteers to understand social challenges and opportunities.

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Insight Social Research Ltd
INTRODUCTION TO IVISOC ▪▪▪
LIFELONG LEARNING PROGRAMME [ID] 257771

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OUR ‘MISSION’ ▪▪▪
• Founded in 1999, Insight Social Research Ltd is a specialist independent
consultancy, working alongside (and advising) a variety of public, private and
community organisations.
• Conducting both qualitative and quantitative social policy research, Insight aims to
inform and assist clients to develop creative strategies and action plans in
response to people’s needs… leading to imaginative, yet practical solutions.
• As a people-focused organisation, Insight believes that the most sustainable
outcomes are best delivered through capturing and acknowledging the ‘added
value’ that local people offer.
• Experience and knowledge in the context of community development is notable, and
Insight proactively encourages social inclusion and adopts innovative research
methods which harness community strengths brought about through diversity.
• Undertaking sensitive research is fundamental to the work of Insight, and through
working with clients and within communities, Insight endeavours to gain a
deeper understanding of social challenges, needs and opportunities.

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KNOWLEDGE & EXPERIENCE ▪▪▪
• We are an equal opportunities employer – our whole ethos is built around
inclusion and empowerment... our recruitment policies and operational frameworks
for research and consultancy reflect this.
• Our company has worked throughout Britain, Ireland (and increasingly) the EU and
many contracts have been undertaken both across rural and urban regions of
Wales on issues surrounding ‘quality of life’ and local aspirations.
• We have completed much work relating to ‘people development’, most notably
for Communities First, New Sandfields Partnership, Powys Equals Partnership, Next
Steps (and more).
• Having worked with vulnerable ‘groups’, we have interesting experience of
‘informal’ learning processes relating to the skills and know-how of people
with a ‘lived experience’ – not always recognised within ‘formal’ learning processes.
• We have regularly demonstrated our competence in developing and utilising
training materials relevant to community agendas – some of the work of the
company has been published and Malcolm Fisk is widely published.

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Communities First (1) ▪▪▪
For Communities First (Bro Dyfi, Flintshire, Holywell
Neighbourhoods), we undertook a ‘participatory appraisal’
involving training local people (volunteers) to conduct
research and identify needs locally…
Information was fed into the borough’s [10 year] ‘action
plan’ and shared with the community using drama and
creativity as a medium, involving hundreds of school
children living in ‘deprived’ areas.

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Powys Equals Partnership (2) ▪▪▪
The Powys Equals Partnership contests traditional ideas of
knowledge based on theory (and teaching), attributing a
greater value to people’s know-how developed through a
‘lived experience’…
With the input of people with a ‘lived experience’
(volunteers), our work underpinned a framework within
which the project could positively progress and focused
around the value that the ‘lived experience’ afforded the
local economy.

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Next Steps (3) ▪▪▪
In North Wales we consulted with Next Steps participants
(volunteers) to understand the issues of people with mental
health challenges seeking a ‘meaningful occupation’,
phases of which were guided by ‘service users’…
Innovative thoughts and ideas brought together the public,
private and third sectors in order to secure the future of
Next Steps in assisting participants achieve personal
aspirations.

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Abbeyfield Society (4) ▪▪▪
For the Abbeyfield Society we worked with local societies
to review the provision of housing support to ‘vulnerable’
older people…
The outcomes pointed towards a need for a change in
delivery approach and the development of a ‘progressive
plan’ in adopting a forward-thinking attitude in guiding the
Society and supporting the people it serves.

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Merchant Navy Welfare Board (5) ▪▪▪
Befriending, mentoring and buddying [for example] are
increasingly considered to be positive methods of reaching
people with specific support needs…
We are acutely aware of the extent to which partnerships
and holistic working practices between statutory (and other)
bodies is necessary, and our management and evaluation
of the ‘health outreach service’ for older seafarers
(commissioned by the Nautilus Welfare Fund) is ongoing.

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QUESTIONS & THOUGHTS ▪▪▪
• Who are the volunteers in social care?
• What are the boundaries of social care?
• To what extent are family carers volunteers?
• How do we see the role of volunteers working alongside others?
• How are the ‘skills and capacities’ of volunteers recognised?
• How can we make volunteering [more] desirable to the younger generation?
• What value can we place upon the sustainability of volunteering?
• What will the future hold for the volunteering sector?

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SEEKING SOLUTIONS, AND ADDRESSING… ▪▪▪
• [1] the extent to which the project will succeed in
understanding the challenges of the ‘3Rs’ in being able
to address the social, health and economical benefits of
volunteering, and
• [2] the extent to which this understanding will assist
policy development to ensure the sustainability of the
‘3Rs’ and assist in the development of good practice in
volunteering sector.