Using eco-mapping to understand systems of social support for families
Written by
Systemic Change Lead
Part of our work at Dartington Service Design Lab is to use systems tools to explore different contexts and the dynamic relationships that exist within them. This gives us a deeper understanding of the social, cultural and economic forces that impact children and families– and more importantly, how we can respond to them. Over the past five years, we have worked with the Lambeth Early Action Programme (LEAP), part of a 10-year placed-based programme called ‘A Better Start’, funded by the National Lottery Community Fund and supported by the National Children’s Bureau to explore how they have influenced family and children's lives in Lambeth, South London. The aim of LEAP was to support families to give their babies and very young children the best possible start in life (NCB). In LEAP’s 10th and final year, we are excited to share more on how we’ve used these tools with LEAP to further our summative evaluation of their work.
Previously, we conducted a formative evaluation, which helped define LEAP’s contribution to improving outcomes for children and families. With this, we developed a theory of how LEAP works and the core parts that helped make it successfully implemented on the ground. All of our work in this phase contributed to the latter part of our evaluation – the summative phase - where we hoped to test the extent and nature of LEAP’s impact with a focus on who is impacted, how the impact occurred as well as the potential enablers and the constraints to making that impact. To do an evaluation in this way, it required working in equity at the grassroots levels, sharing system-learning and decision-making opportunities with those impacted in the community. One tool we found particularly successful in exploring this is eco-mapping.
Led by the Dartington Service Design Lab’s Lambeth-based community research team, eco-mapping was used to explore how (and if) systems of social support (like LEAP) influenced families within the nuance of their local social, economic, and cultural contexts. We wanted to share the learning to help others looking to transform their services and community offers to better help families and children.
An example of eco mapping from the sessions led by the Community Researchers
What is eco-mapping and how can it truly help us understand a system?
Eco-maps are a visual tool for understanding how families relate to the social environment and systems of support that surround them. They can be used in community research to better understand how, and if, systems of social support (like LEAP) influence families within their local social, economic, and cultural context.
As a research and facilitation tool, eco-mapping harnesses the creativity and unique experience of each family. The maps can be revisited and redrawn at different points in time to demonstrate how the “picture” evolves as the family or external context undergoes changes.
You can read how to conduct an eco-mapping session in your own research, at the bottom of this blog.
How eco-mapping helped LEAP
For the purposes of the LEAP evaluation, the Lab’s community research team interviewed and developed eco-maps with 16 parents living in the LEAP areas (15 mothers and 1 father). The majority (15/16) of these parents actively engaged with at least one LEAP service, however it was not a requirement for participation.
A qualitative analysis of the interviews and maps surfaced learning about
the enablers of connection (including means of communications, like WhatsApp groups, and enablers of engagement such as free activities),
types of supports (such public spaces, education, places of worship),
specific people, organisations and places that were important to families interviewed.
Additionally, the mapping process surfaced learning about wider system elements that influence or create barriers to connect and support for families living in Lambeth. This included having family abroad, language barriers, housing quality and stability, affordability of London, having multiple children, stigma or misconceptions about accessing services, and religion and access to schools.
The strength and frequency of connections identified by parents helped to illuminate the importance of spaces and relationships that families connect with often, such as neighbours and extended families and places of worship or educational spaces. Knowing what spaces and connections where most important to families supports understanding where services like LEAP and children centres fit into local families’ ecosystems and how they can support existing systems of support for families locally. The overall learning from this work fed into a wider formative evaluation of LEAP exploring the theme “connection” and set us up for the summative evaluation of the programme.
How eco-mapping helped families
In our Community Research podcast, ‘Pathways to Connection’ , the researchers described how much families also got from being involved in this kind of research.
One of the great things about the process is that it can be done anywhere and anytime that suits families (see the exercise below on how to facilitate an eco-mapping exercise). This turned out to be a really important factor for families in taking part. For example, the researchers gave parents a choice of meeting at a children’s centre but no one opted for this - they wanted a more informal café environment where they could “relax, have a coffee and unwind”. This allowed more participants to take part and feel valued and rewarded for their time.
Anita Kambo explained: “Often, parents to young children, mums in particular are self-doubting and end up thinking about everything they’re not doing as opposed to everything that is going on for them and their family. So many individuals were nicely surprised after completing their maps. Not only did it give them insight into everything they’re doing, but it was also really validating, helping them to recognise all that they were doing, all the connections they had and all the good they were doing by their child. So it was powerful for them.”
“Lots of participants also found the process therapeutic,” said Ela Skowron. “Sometimes people shared private things in terms of family relationships, and having someone to listen without judgement in a safe environment, was for them really helpful.
How eco-mapping can help you
Altogether, by taking the eco-mapping approach among our mixed-method developmental evaluation, we have enhanced our findings with an enriched understanding of the impact that LEAP, among other connections, has had on the families of Lambeth. This approach offers a way to better test what works, for which children, under what circumstances and why, and helps to shape interventions and investment in the early years to be even more impactful for families. It has important learnings for others who want to do rigorous contribution analysis in the future and look for more authentic ways to centre families in learning. Below, we’ve shared the script developed and used by the community researcher team on how you can host your very own eco-mapping activity. If you are interested in engaging more deeply on how to integrate systems tools in place-based learning work, please do get in touch today.