A five year longitudinal research study to determine the impact of the Sport Northern Ireland (Sport NI) Active Communities Programme was launched in November 2010.

The Active Communities Programme is the first to reflect the new local government model, with funds distributed through eleven consortia of district councils following their solicited submission of a Coaching and Leadership Implementation Plan (CLIP).

The £13.5m national investment programme is designed to employ and embed a network of 100 new sports coaches and leaders to deliver activities in community and club settings. It aims to get 100,000 participants benefiting from the activities delivered and is primarily focused on under-represented groups, including older people, women and girls, and people with a disability.

This five year study, which Knight, Kavanagh & Page (KKP) has been commissioned to deliver, will start by creating an evaluation framework to guide a subsequent series of workshops, participant and partner surveys and detailed case studies scrutinising the short-term and sustained value of the programme.

KKP will assess the impact of the various Active Communities interventions, make recommendations for future programmes and the way in which future investment is targeted to increase participation in sport and physical recreation.

KKP's research team is regarded as a market leader in the sport/culture research field. It specialises in impact evaluations and in aligning research findings to sophisticated geographic information systems to provide easily interpreted data and intelligence.

With 20 plus years industry experience, KKP is ideally placed to carry out such a project. It will also draw upon local knowledge gleaned from supporting Sport Northern Ireland to establish and embed Clubmark, as well as specific project work in Belfast, Derry, Lisburn, North Down, Omagh, Larne and Banbridge.