A ten-year approach to landscape-scale change

The National Lottery Heritage Fund commissioned Wavehill to design the monitoring, evaluation and learning approach for Landscape Connections, a £150 million, 10-year investment in National Parks and National Landscapes across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Wavehill engaged stakeholders across policy, delivery and specialist organisations in all four nations to develop a programme-level theory of change, a phased evaluation approach covering development, delivery and longer-term change, and a learning approach to help projects apply the framework in practice and share insight across the cohort.

The work delivered
• A shared theory of change and phased research questions, giving the ten-year programme a consistent way to track progress from early foundations such as outcomes
• A set of core outcome areas, covering habitat condition, extent and connectivity, community stewardship, access and organisational capacity, aligned with the Heritage Fund’s own strategic monitoring while accounting for each nation’s distinct approach to biodiversity target measurement and 30by30 reporting
• A mixed-methods approach combining spatial, qualitative and quantitative evidence, alongside tools, templates and a learning cohort model, giving projects a consistent way to evidence change and share insight with each other across very different landscapes and policy contexts.

No report published but detail on project here: https://www.heritagefund.org.uk/funding/strategic-initiatives/landscape-connections

The Heritage Fund has taken the proposed approach forward within the delivery of the programme.