An independent evaluation of ARFOR 2 has been published, highlighting some of the main outcomes of the £11m economic programme for Gwynedd, Ynys Môn, Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion during the second phase of the scheme. The company Wavehill was commissioned to produce the documents as part of ARFOR’s ‘Evaluation, Monitoring and Learning’ workstream, with the aim of documenting the successes and challenges of the project, as well as sharing any lessons learnt as part of the work programme.
The significant report summarises the main activity of the scheme and provides an assessment of the performance of the different work streams. As well as the ‘Evaluation, Monitoring and Learning’ stream there were four other workstreams as part of ARFOR’s second phase with each of these supplied by different partners:
- Llwyddo’n Lleol: an awareness campaign that encouraged people to settle and return to the region.
- Enterprising Communities: grants that helped businesses to create jobs and increase the use of Welsh.
- Challenge Fund: a fund that finances innovative collaborative projects that met the specific needs of the area in line with the programme’s objectives.
- Bwrlwm ARFOR: a marketing campaign to raise awareness of the work of the programme and share positive stories.
The report is a detailed analysis of the performance of each of the workstreams listed above, and provides and assessment of the ways they worked in tandem in order to fulfil the main objectives of the project, which was to establish a framework of economic and social interventions that would secure the future of the Welsh language in those areas where the highest percentages of speakers in terms of population live.
Among the main findings of the evaluation are the following points:
- According to the report the scheme has bene successful in achieving that which was planned.
- Through the Challenge Fund 30 projects worth a total of around £2.1m were financed.
- Through Llwyddo’n Lleol around 200 individuals received support and advice on how to create and plan businesses, get hold of a job or financial support to move to the area.
- 327 new jobs were created, and 295 jobs were secured because of the scheme.
- 263 new enterprises, and 678 already existing ones were supported over the lifetime of the project.
- According to feedback from the businesses that took part, 210 of them saw an increase in the use of Welsh in the workplace.
As well as documenting key outcomes, the report also makes several recommendations for policy makers to consider for similar interventions in future. These include
- The need to consider a work programme that is implemented across a longer period, because of the challenges caused by such a tight timetable.
- Any similar programmes in future should focus on specific elements, including sharing good practice an providing advice and strategic co-ordination, research and piloting that focuses on young people and marketing that tries to change assumptions.
- Applying the research’s main lessons to inform next steps
These recommendations were used to plan the bridging phase of the programme that the scheme is in at the moment, with the Welsh Government providing an extra £500,000 to keep some elements of the project operational into 2026. You can download and read the report in its entirety by following this link to ARFOR’s website.
