Innovation in Program Success

The Role of Innovation in Voluntary Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE)Program Success

Innovation plays a crucial role in the success of many programs.

For instance, The Birmingham City of Nature Plan and an Alliance to help deliver it is the legacy of both the work of the Naturally Birmingham Project and, through the achievements of this pilot project, the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

It became clear that access to green space across the city was not equitable, and some sections of our diverse population of over 1 million people face barriers in accessing green spaces, participating in activities, or making full use of the facilities on offer. 

The innovation?

Birmingham was the first city in the UK to develop a tool to highlight the inequalities in accessing green space alongside other key measures and produce an Environmental Justice Map which considers access to green space, health inequalities (through excess years of life lost), flood risk, urban heat island effect and the indices of multiple deprivation. ​

In the third sector, the key to success often lies in the most impactful programs. That is not to say that those programs necessarily cost the most to deliver – they are just the most impactful, which feeds their success.