Leisure: affordable and accessible
The customer
For 12 years, UiTPAS has been lowering the threshold for leisure activities, today in more than half of the Flemish cities and municipalities. The network consists of more than 500,000 pass holders and 5,000 organizers. The UiTPAS thus contributes to more participation, especially for people with a limited budget.
The question
publiq asked us to do a qualitative evaluation of the UiTPAS. Since the last evaluation in 2018, UiTPAS has grown seriously and so a clear view and critical view was needed on the effective impact of the UiTPAS. The organization wanted an evaluation of the program and advice to increase its impact.
The impact
The evaluation gave us a thorough picture of the UitPAS network. We spoke to representatives of sports and cultural organizations, people in poverty, associations and municipalities that work with UiTPAS. The result of the evaluation helps publiq to better target future investments and optimize the system behind the UiTPAS. Further rolling out the UiTPAS in Flanders is also included in the new coalition agreement.
The challenge
Publiq wanted to consult all stakeholders in the process, including people in poverty. But achieving this is not always self-evident. The advantage was the strong link with organizations where poor people take the floor, which allowed us to look for the right approach together. For example, we worked with visual methods and intermediaries that already had a relationship of trust with the stakeholders.
According to the principle of safe(r) spaces, we went to the familiar environment of the people we wanted to interview. In group discussions we helped people to share their opinions in safety and confidence. We counterbalanced the classic asymmetry in group conversations by the presence of reflective questions such as “What space do I take up?”, “Why does something bother me?”, “What inspires me?” And for those who did not want to speak in groups, there were in-depth interviews.
We have always adapted the approach to the stakeholders: for pass holders it was about gaining insight into their experience with applying for and using UiTPAS, while local authorities were mainly interested in the underlying system. Combining these perspectives required fine-tuning our efforts and the safe(r) spaces methodology.
“In a short period of time, S&L has not only managed to consult a wide range of diverse stakeholders, but also to clearly visualize the complex layering of UiTPAS.”
The collaboration
The collaboration with publiq was intensive but efficient over a period of approximately three months. While they provided the quantitative data, we performed the qualitative evaluation. We interviewed a total of 51 stakeholders, including focus groups with pass holders, local authorities, poverty experts and various organizations such as sports clubs and cultural institutions. By coordinating regularly, we were able to continuously adjust the approach and support it with academic input.
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Images: © Lies Engelen
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