The foundation of Change Forward is the MLA South East / University of Brighton Mapping Report into the Regional sector workforce.
To describe the region specific challenges faced by the sector, MLA South East commissioned the Social Informatics Research Unit (SIRU) at the University of Brighton to map the size and qualifications of the sector workforce. Begun in Spring 2004, this was a complex piece of work, requiring the development of appropriate mailing lists, a generic cross domain questionnaire and the identification of key themes for in depth interviews with thirty organisations.
The study is groundbreaking in that it is the first regional sector workforce study of such breadth, and has provided a template and toolkit for the other MLA regional agencies to gather data. The final report moves from identifying the size and make-up of the workforce, their qualifications and key themes they are or should be tackling over the coming years. The mapping report has been used extensively to inform Change Forward.
