Different People, Same Place

Different People, Same Place is a research grant to What Works Centre for Wellbeing.

This project is match funded by the Centre for Aging Better.

Over the years, Spirit of 2012 has funded many organisations seeking to improve both the wellbeing of individuals in their communities, and those communities as a whole. Our theory of change sets out our long term goals that individuals and communities thrive, irrespective of their backgrounds, and that society is set up in a way that allows everyone to flourish.

But the relationship between individual and community wellbeing isn’t a simple one. On the one hand, our efforts to improve the wellbeing of specific groups of people can end up improving things for everyone in that community. But the opposite can also be true: plans and actions that are intended to improve our community overall, might have a negative impact on the wellbeing of individuals or groups within it, and vice versa. This makes it hard for people to know how they can most effectively work to improve wellbeing within communities and among individuals, and how different interventions might affect different people in different places.

This research grant set out to explore the relationship between individual and community wellbeing. What Works Centre for Wellbeing commissioned researchers at Warwick and Birmingham Universities to conduct the research. Led by Dr Laura Kudrna and Dr Oyinlola Oyebode, the team are also looking at how this relationship is different for different people and in different places.

The project includes a qualitative review of existing evidence and discussions with stakeholders to inform a new model setting out different aspects of individual and community wellbeing, and how they are related. It also includes quantitative data analysis using the new model. Finally it is informed by interviews with stakeholders in places to understand the barriers and trade-offs involved in seeking better outcomes for people and places in more detail.

The model is designed for policy makers and practitioners who are working to improve wellbeing at the community level. It will help us understand how interventions might impact different people within the same place differently, and to consider what kinds of interventions might affect individual and community wellbeing differently.