Posts tagged Tim
Catalysing systemic change to tackle inequalities in children and young people's health and wellbeing

This year we’re doubling down to catalyse systemic change and tackle inequalities in three main areas. One key strategic priority that we are committed to focusing on is to promote children’s and young people’s health and wellbeing, using our collective knowledge, skills, and resources to navigate and better understand the role of local partnerships in making the prevention of poor health outcomes a reality.

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Looking ahead to our priorities for 2024

In 2024, you’ll hear less about the ‘how’ and a lot more about the ‘why’. As a team, we’ll be steadfast and focused on tackling inequalities in the outcomes and experiences of children and young people and doing so via equitable approaches to advancing systemic change. 

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Systems Thinking: training, coaching and learning journeys

We are now delighted to bring these tools and ways of thinking to a wider audience via a new suite of training and learning opportunities. This includes an engaging, online introductory system thinking  course; a bespoke, in-person training for teams or partnerships; and an applied, cohort-based learning journey programme where folks can bring a systemic challenge to be worked through in practice (in cohorts or teams, with training inputs, peer-to-peer learning, coaching, and learning resources).

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Dartington named as core partner in ambitious £5.3m initiative called Kailo: a systemic approach to improving adolescent mental health

Dartington has formed an exciting partnership to develop, test and refine an ambitious approach to help young people and local areas develop locally produced and evidence-informed approaches to improve adolescent mental health. The team is led by Research Director, Professor Peter Fonagy OBE (UCL Psychology and Language Sciences) and Professor Tim Hobbs (Dartington Service Design Lab). Their partnership has been awarded a UK Prevention Research Partnership (UKPRP) Consortium award of £5.3 million over five years.

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Dartington to lead new Youth Endowment Fund COVID-19 Learning Partnership

The Dartington Service Design Lab joins the Centre for Youth Impact, Research in Practice and the University of Plymouth to form the Learning Partnership for the new Youth Endowment Fund COVID-19 Grant Round. We will focus on understanding the impact of COVID-19 on young people at risk of being drawn into violent crime, and the most effective approaches to reaching, engaging and serving vulnerable young people during the pandemic.

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The ‘Questions Generator 1.0’: producing scientific evidence to inform child and family service adaptation in response to COVID-19

We’re ready to generate and synthesise the knowledge that delivery organisations and commissioners need during the COVID-19 crisis. We want to hear from statutory and voluntary sector service providers and commissioners about their most important and pressing needs are. We also want to hear about what sorts of support would be most valuable in applying this evidence. Fill in our five-minute survey now.

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Catalyst Collaborative: embedding learning into digital transformation at scale

The COVID-19 emergency is demanding radical changes in how public systems, communities and civil society organisations support those in need across the UK. Funders, Government and Civil Society are rallying in support. With so much activity taking place at an unprecedented pace, it is imperative we learn from elsewhere and each other. We’ll be working with the Collaborative to bring learning from the outside in, and learning from the inside, out. Here we provide a brief overview of how we expect this will look and evolve.

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Local Government are the Systems Thinkers - The time to act is now

‘Systems Thinking’ is decidedly in vogue - but many working in local government have been thinking in systems for decades (maybe they just didn’t know it). Now is the time to intentionally embrace this way of thinking: to make the most of the current scarce resources, but given all the political promises, to prepare for when the economic tide turns.

[This blog was first published on themj.com website December 18th, 2019]

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Three views on evidence for local systems change

Save the Children UK are committed to working in local communities to promote children’s early learning and help narrow the attainment gap for children growing up in poverty, compared to their more affluent peers. To support this, they asked Dartington Service Design Lab to develop a framework that local communities could use to develop an evidence-informed strategy for their area to support improved early childhood development. Tim Hobbs explains why it takes a holistic approach to evidence to make meaningful change.

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NewsBLOGTim
What next for evidence?

In 2015, the National Lottery Community Fund launched its 10-year programme ‘A Better Start’, focused on promoting good early childhood development. The Dartington Service Design Lab was brought in to put together an evidential foundation to support sites to plan their strategies. CEO Tim Hobbs was closely involved, and now asks: what’s next for the evidence?

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ReflectionBLOGTim
Are services meeting the needs of children?

Now after three decades, we are pretty confident in our response to the question, which we’re sharing in our new report, Matching Children’s Needs and Services: A Case of Three Circles. In some ways, the answer won’t surprise many. But it contains some fundamental challenges to the way that we have organised support for vulnerable children and families.

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ReflectionBLOGTim