Supporting Capacity Building of Frontline Organisations

This case study forms part of the youth employment infrastructure research and evaluation project carried out by RAND Europe in 2021-22 on behalf of the Youth Futures Foundation (YFF). It aims to understand how infrastructure organisations (IOs) in England support frontline organisations (FOs) through capacity building, the challenges and facilitators involved, the impact on FOs and their work, and any lessons learnt. FOs are organisations that deliver services directly to or campaign or advocate for or on behalf of young people. For the purpose of this study, this includes charities, social enterprises, education or employment providers working with young people. This case study draws on three semi-structured interviews, one with an IO (Association of Employment and Learning Providers [AELP]) and two with FOs who have previously received capacity building support capacity from IOs (Cognassist and Proudtobeme). In addition, it draws on information from interviews conducted throughout this study with one IO (Money4You). Those interviews did not focus specifically on capacity building but provided relevant information for this case study. Cognassist and Proudtobeme were identified as organisations who had previously received support from AELP (Cognassist) and Money4You (Proudtobeme). The interviews were complemented by a targeted review of relevant literature.