Call out for Evaluation Partner: Baby Steps to Reading Wellbeing
Inspire: Culture, Learning and Libraries
Award
Up to £6,000
Deadline
Closes in 21 days (13 September 2026)
Where
Not stated
East midlands
Summary
We are looking for an Evaluation Partner with experience of working across an extended, phased project. The programme will take a “test and learn” approach and be shaped by participant feedback throughout.
Full details
Baby Steps to Reading Wellbeing is a new programme from Inspire that aims to support adult confidence in sharing books with their very young children and provides accessible reading initiatives for time-poor parents to connect with reading for their own wellbeing. Supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England, the programme will see us working with parents and babies (aged 0-3) in libraries and Family Hubs in Ashfield and Mansfield. What we want: We are looking for an Evaluation Partner with experience of working across an extended, phased project. The programme will take a "test and learn" approach and be shaped by participant feedback throughout. We want the work to inform reading programmes beyond the project, so you will develop appropriate, accessible and targeted evaluation methods within the framework of the COM-B Model of Behaviour Change. We want to ensure our activity addresses common barriers to reading and reading confidence. You will devise light-touch mechanisms to survey attitudes to reading, reading frequency, and explore the impact our programmes have on reading enjoyment and the desire to read more, recognising that motivation to read is a first step to accessing its wellbeing impacts. Your evaluative work will take place alongside creative practitioners with a passion for books and reading, who will design and deliver playful and creative book-based sessions in libraries and Family Hubs for parents and their early years children (aged 0-3). The evaluation will also cover a programme of events designed for parents to explore their own reading, which may be led by authors or storytellers. Session dates will be negotiated as the project takes shape. This work may include a combination of desk research and in-person contact with participants and partners. Fee Maximum £6000 (inclusive of VAT and all costs). There will not be additional budget for travel or accommodation.