Impact evaluation of the Sexual Health, Reproductive Health and HIV Innovation Fund

Ipsos has published its overarching impact evaluation of the Sexual Health, Reproductive Health and HIV Innovation Fund.

The Fund was set up by Public Health England in 2015 to support voluntary and community sector organisations to reduce the impact of HIV through innovative interventions, targeting groups most affected by HIV. Seven cohorts have been funded since 2015. Cohorts 5-7 (2020-22) had a broadened scope to include projects offering innovative ways of improving reproductive and sexual health, in addition to HIV-specific innovations.

Our evaluation demonstrates that:

• The Innovation Fund is an enabler for organisations seeking to pilot innovative ideas, such as using existing cultural practices in new ways to create safe spaces for discussion of sexual and reproductive health;
• The vast majority of projects and innovations have been sustained in some way beyond the initial funding period; and
• There is appetite for resource sharing across the sector, which has now been addressed by the newly created resource repository, which has been established on the Sexual Health, Reproductive Health and HIV Knowledge Hub (KHub), hosted by the UK Health Security Agency. The repository contains project/innovation resources and evaluation reports, and is intended to enable sharing of innovation outcomes between VCS organisations, local authority commissioners, sexual health facilitators, and the wider sector.

This overarching evaluation provides insight into:

• the types of projects that were funded and how these interventions were implemented;
• achievements of the individual projects and the Fund overall;
• understanding what works in terms of HIV prevention, improving sexual health, and reproductive health in specific contexts;
• lessons for implementing these types of interventions, including enablers and barriers;
• the lasting legacy for the projects; and
• key learning for the Fund as a whole.

 Louise Adkins, Research Director, said:

This overarching impact evaluation shows the Innovation Fund is viewed extremely positively as a way for organisations to pilot innovative ideas which are seen as being essential to drive forward change. Encouragingly, the vast majority of projects or innovations have been sustained, in some form, beyond the end of the funding period. The creation of a resource repository should now help organisations within the sector to share their achievements and learn from others.

Notes:

The Fund was originally named the HIV Prevention Innovation Fund. Since the disestablishment of PHE in 2021, the Fund’s administration shifted to the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID), within the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC). Seven cohorts have been funded since 2015. Cohorts 5-7 (2020-22) had a broadened scope to include projects offering innovative ways of improving reproductive and sexual health, in addition to HIV-specific innovations. The Fund was renamed to reflect this change in scope.

Having conducted four previous evaluations of the Innovation Fund and its projects (reports linked below), Ipsos was commissioned to undertake an additional overarching impact evaluation of the Fund since its inception, up to and including the work of Cohort 6. The evaluation objectives were to: 

• Assess the impact of the Innovation Fund against its original objectives;
• Understand the effectiveness of the processes involved in delivering the Innovation Fund; and
• Establish what works and the enablers and barriers that affect impact and delivery of Innovation Fund projects. 

The previous evaluations conducted by Ipsos focused on a single cohort, providing a summary of the activities and achievements of each funding round. These reports are available here: Cohort 1, Cohort 2, Cohort 3, and Cohort 4.

Technical details:

This report is based on the following activities carried out between November 2021 and February 2022: 

• A review of project evaluation reports, supporting documentation, and previous Ipsos evaluation reports;
• In-depth interviews with a total of 31 project leads, representing 38 of the 66 funded projects (22 from Cohorts 1-4 that have been reported upon by Ipsos historically, and 16 from Cohorts 5-6 that have not been interviewed by Ipsos previously);
• In-depth interviews with key stakeholders, including OHID staff who manage the Fund, three Sexual Health Facilitators (SHFs), four Local Authority commissioners (LACs), and three senior representatives of large organisations in the sector.

A Theory of Change, designed in collaboration with Cohorts 1-2 and subsequently refined in discussion with OHID, underpinned the evaluation activities and evidence sought in support of the intended outcomes and impacts from the Fund.

The resource repository can be found in the ‘Library’ of the Sexual Health, Reproductive Health and HIV Knowledge Hub, and is entitled the ‘Sexual Health, Reproductive Health & HIV Innovation Fund’. A central spreadsheet detailing the resources available across the funded cohorts is available to assist in navigating the repository.