Voluntary Action Rotherham
Transforming Rotherham's community infrastructure.
After working closely with local stakeholders to understand their needs and ideas, we produced a detailed report for Voluntary Action Rotherham.
It sets out what a new community platform needs to do to become essential community infrastructure that helps address Rotherham’s challenges, rather than simply listing local services.
Rotherham Gismo is underperforming in a system facing significant challenges.
Rotherham faces many challenges. More than a third of residents live in some of the most deprived areas in England and healthy life expectancy is 55.8 years, well below the national average.
The existing community platform, Rotherham Gismo, no longer meets people's needs. It scored poorly in our review. Practitioners told us that they rely instead on 'who they know'.
Simply replacing Gismo with another directory would solve only part of the problem. What’s really needed is a shared community platform that connects the NHS, council, voluntary organisations, businesses and local communities; built around prevention, early intervention and reducing health inequalities.
Listening to residents, practitioners and partners.
Voluntary Action Rotherham (VAR) supports the borough's voluntary and community sector. They commissioned us to consult local people and organisations to define what a new community platform needs to do.
We used Made Open's 5Ps framework to help define the vision, strategy and governance of a community platform. Our approach draws on the principles of Collective Impact, which focus on organisations working together towards shared goals.
Rather than relying on a handful of voices, we heard directly from residents, social prescribers, NHS leads, public health specialists, the council's communities team and local organisations. This gave us a clear, evidence-based picture of what people need from a new community platform.
Move from fragmented service directory to connected community infrastructure.
We organised stakeholder requirements around three tiers of platform capability.
The essentials: Intelligent semantic search; universally accessible design (mobile-first, multilingual); accurate and trusted information maintained through automated verification.
High-priority enhancements: Interactive maps; self-referral tools; personalised recommendations and experiences.
Community and long-term impact: Community feedback; peer support; volunteering and community participation.
We also recommended a shared investment model, where contributions from knowledge partners, co-delivery partners and referral organisations reflect the value they gain. This keeps the platform free for residents and accessible to the voluntary and community sector.
From report sign-off to hard launch by spring 2027.
Our work set out a roadmap for launching Rotherham's new community platform by spring 2027, covering the key steps from agreeing the vision and partnership model to securing investment, setting up the technology and preparing for launch.
We recommended treating the platform as shared community infrastructure, bringing together the organisations that can benefit from it and sharing responsibility for its long-term success. This would keep the platform free for residents and community organisations while providing a more sustainable approach to funding and development.
Our proposed model brings together Made Open's technology and expertise, Voluntary Action Rotherham's local knowledge and coordination, and investment and participation from key partners across health, care and local government.
We also set out how the partnership could develop over three to five years, helping the platform become an established part of Rotherham's approach to connecting services, supporting prevention and reducing health inequalities.
"What impressed me most was Made Open's knowledge, and their ability to capture requirements at every level. They understood our sector and our place straight away, and they drew out what mattered from strategic partners, practitioners and residents alike. We came away with absolute confidence in their expertise."
Hannah Thornton
Primary Project Contact, Voluntary Action Rotherham
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