AKOU

Our co-founder Alex Pielak had a brilliant time yesterday at the #FestivalofPlace, where he chaired a panel discussion about creating green spaces for equity. He started by asking how many people in the audience knew what ‘equitable green spaces’ meant – and it turned out not very many. Ceylan Belek Ombregt, ASLA PLA, Partner at Martha Schwartz Partners, kicked off the conversation by highlighting that truly equitable green spaces need to account for more than human life – taking factors like plants, animals, biodiversity and climate change into consideration.  Dr Saira Ali, Landscape Architect and Team Leader at Bradford Council went on to talk about the benefits of adopting an inclusive approach when designing green space, and shared an inspiring video about how Bradford has been involving local communities. Cannon Ivers, Director at LDA Design gave us a tour of the projects his firm has been working on in London, and spoke about the importance of readjusting our focus from cars to people to create spaces that allow for interaction and connection.  There were a couple of questions from the audience about how to engage deprived neighbourhoods in equitable green projects and ways to avoid the effects of gentrification. Saira spoke about the need to actively identify relevant projects and then co-create them in partnership with communities, while Ceylan noted that green projects will inevitably increase the value of surrounding areas but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do them – because everyone deserves access to good quality green space. Alex wrapped up by asking his original question again and it was fantastic to see more people had a better understanding of the topic following the conversation. A big thank you to Alex’s fellow panellists, The Developer and Festival of Place for arranging such a thought-provoking session, and to all the audience members who took part. #greenspace #equity #socialimpact

Creating green spaces in the city can help to boost peoples' health and wellbeing and mitigate challenges around climate change, but how do we make sure we create green spaces that are equitable? This Thursday, our co-founder Alex Pielak will chair a panel discussion at The Developer and Festival of Place's Festival of Place – the leading placemaking conference which brings together professionals working in urban places and mixed-use development to tackle the major issues facing UK towns and cities. Alex will join the following speakers for a debate around the opportunities, benefits and challenges of delivering green spaces to create an inclusive city: Dr Saira Ali, Landscape Architect and Team Leader, Landscape Design and Conservation Bradford Council Cannon Ivers, Director LDA Design Ceylan Belek Ombregt, ASLA PLA, Partner Martha Schwartz Partners

How can the fitness industry recover from changes brought about by the pandemic and become a major partner in improving the health of the nation? Good health is vital to a thriving economy, yet meaningful social impact measurements need to be developed so individuals, communities and wider organisations understand the value of fitness provision and services. On Thursday, our co-founder Tilley Harris will participate in a panel discussion at Elevate – the B2B event of physical activity in London entitled ‘Proving the good you do: how does the fitness industry prove its worth?’ Tilley will join the following speakers for a lively debate about how fitness organisations can identify, capture and communicate data and insights that are most relevant to them: David Minton, Founder and Director at Leisure DB Joanna Seldon, Propositions Manager, Fitness at Nuffield Health John Oxley, CEO at Life Leisure Lisa Forsyth, Managing Director at, Max Associates Keith Burnet, co-founder of The Alchemist & Adventurer #Elevate2024 #socialimpact #fitness

Our co-founders Alex Pielak and Tilley Harris are heading up to Leeds next week for the much-anticipated UKREiiF. As one of the largest and most important events in the UK built environment calendar, we’re thrilled to see #socialvalue and #EDI included as one of UKREiiF’s key themes. We’re excited for lots of conversations about how designing, delivering and measuring #socialimpact can be achieved in partnership with people, and helping organisations understand how to capture the impact data and insights most relevant to them. If you’d like to meet up in Leeds, send Alex or Tilley a DM. #UKREiiF #realestate #builtenvironment

In a new piece for Property Week, our co-founder Alex Pielak shares his experience and expertise of measuring social impact in the built environment. Despite growing awareness around the topic, many investors, developers and real estate organisations still struggle to fully demonstrate how their projects impact people and places. Drawing on AKOU’s recent impact report for School for Social Entrepreneurs (SSE), which showcased how transforming data collection processes can lead to richer insights while simultaneously enhancing social impact delivery, Alex provides three top tips for meaningful measurement: - start simple with your existing data - ensure equity when evaluating - foster mutual benefit when looking to capture new data He explores how these approaches move beyond the ‘tick-box’ exercises of the past, helping to generate inclusive, equitable insights that make social impact more understandable and demonstrable for all. Tap below to view the article in full: https://lnkd.in/eWn5A7mj #socialimpact #builtenvironment #impactmeasurement

AKOU is recruiting a Head of Projects. If you've got a passion for project management, experience in evaluation, impact measurement and research then we'd love to hear from you. You'll be joining a collaborative and supportive team supporting a range of projects with some amazing clients keen to make a positive impact on the world.

If you want to hear more about how AKOU's Research Associate programme helped to give the School for Social Entrepreneurs never before collected data about the wider impact of their Lloyds Bank programme - check out my new blog post: https://lnkd.in/dQgv_4Wj

👏 A big thank you to: Adekemi Giwa at The Play Centre Glasgow CIC Ali Horton at The Gateway Collective CIC Chris Paul Chris Paul at Wythenshawe FM Jayne Howard Jayne Howard Arts Well CIC Josh Allen at Monty’s Bike Hub Martín Cosarinsky Campos at Breadwinners Breadwinners Nicole Robinson Edwards at Her Path to Purpose CIC Pauline Miller-Brown at RESTART ENTERPRISE LIMITED Veronica Gordon at Our Version Media® CIC Vicki Ayton at BizEd Projects CIC All these incredible social entrepreneurs are School for Social Entrepreneurs SSE fellows from the Lloyds Bank and Bank of Scotland Social Entrepreneurs Programme, plus they were AKOU’s Research Associates (you can check out our full impact report for the programme here: https://lnkd.in/dWEuyYXM). These ten individuals were supported to collect insights relating to their ventures' impact. Which for the first time has given an in-depth picture on how beneficiaries and communities experience the ripple effect of funding and training programmes for social enterprises. Explore our publication Making impact meaningful for social entrepreneurs which highlights our methodology and showcases the impact of the Research Associates: https://lnkd.in/eKrR2fBV

AKOU is excited to reveal findings from one of our most prominent projects over the past year, our independent report for School for Social Entrepreneurs on the impact of the Lloyds Bank and Bank of Scotland Social Entrepreneurs Programme. Funded by partners including Lloyds Bank, Bank of Scotland, the Scottish Government and The National Lottery Community Fund, this flagship programme has supported over 2,400 social entrepreneurs since 2012. Our evaluation uncovered some powerful points: Survival Success: Social ventures under SSE's wings boast an impressive 2-year survival rate of 81%, outshining the UK SME average of 73% Economic and Social Powerhouses: SSE ventures contribute not just socially but economically too, injecting an estimated £11.9 million annually into their local communities Community Connectors: Social enterprises champion local connections, supporting an astonishing 1.8 million people each year across the UK Check out our blog post to find out more about our findings: https://lnkd.in/ejVVmd2G Or read our full report to uncover the stories behind the numbers and be inspired by the changemakers shaping a better tomorrow here: https://lnkd.in/eCCh5aDB