Place Support
Welcome to the Place Support area
What is the Place Support System?
The Place Support System (PSS) is here to help you and your Place Partnership through your Place Evaluation and Learning Approach (PELA) journey from developing your Theory of Change through to testing and refining it. It offers guidance, training and resources at each stage, delivered through a collaborative structure involving NELP Place Support Leads, the Place Relationship Team, and Place Partnerships themselves.
The PSS has been co-designed by NELP, Sport England and Place Partnerships to bring PELA to life.
Through the PSS, Place Partnerships are supported to:
- Develop complexity-sensitive Theories of Change that collaboratively illustrate how and why places tackle the inequalities impacting on physical activity in their place.
- Develop explanatory accounts to bring their Theory of Change to life and show how, why and for whom change may come about.
- Develop a collaborative, shared Evaluation and Learning Plan to test their Theory of Change and explanatory accounts drawing on locally determined evaluation methods to understand how and why their Theory of Change is working.
- Draw on the nine conditions of change (System Maturity Matrix) to shape their collective approach to tackling physical inactivity in their place.
The PSS is a crucial pillar underpinning NELP and Sport England's commitment to supporting places in their evaluation and learning journey. It aims to build confidence, capacity and capability in the way Place Partnerships evaluate and learn from their work within a genuinely collaborative environment.
How does the Place Support System function?
The PSS is a collective endeavour, bringing together NELP Place Support Leads, the Place Relationship Team, and Place Partnerships. The Place Support Team aims to be direct and responsive, offering cluster-level support to enable engagement in evaluation and learning activities. This structure is aligned to the Sport England regional cluster model.
How can this part of the website support me in my Place?
Use the left-hand panel to navigate to information, training and resources relevant to your participation in the NELP national evaluation of place-based approaches to tackling inequalities in physical activity. These are structured around the key features of PELA.
There's a lot happening across the year, with different types of support available at different times see the Activity Across the Year section for the full picture.
Who are the NELP Place Support Team?
See who the NELP Place Lead is for your regional cluster here.
