CCT impact study series

Tearfund is assessing the impact of church and community transformation (CCT) processes around the world.

Large-scale quantitative research is being carried out in partnership with impact specialists, State of Life, over several years. It uses a rigorous and pioneering approach that includes social value measurement and social cost-benefit analysis. This means putting a monetary value on the transformation that CCT brings to individuals and communities.

As of the end of Year 1 (2022), we have found that:

• CCT brings positive, whole-life transformation
  
  We asked people who live in communities that are doing CCT, and those yet to start, about 23 aspects of their wellbeing. People who live in CCT communities experience significantly better outcomes in all of these aspects of wellbeing – especially if they participate in CCT activities themselves.
• CCT creates far-reaching, sustained change
  
  The evidence suggests that the impact of CCT spreads through a community, so that even those who do not take part directly in CCT activities still experience some benefits.
• CCT creates high social return and is great value
  
  The social value of CCT far exceeds all the resources, time and money invested in the CCT process by Tearfund, partners and communities, by as much as 28 times. Tearfund’s investment in CCT has a multiplier effect by helping communities to unlock their own potential. For every $1 invested in CCT by Tearfund, communities themselves contribute $7 worth of time and resources, and together create the equivalent of $211 of impact upon people’s wellbeing.

Among the 23 aspects of wellbeing that are being positively affected, and based on rigorous statistical analysis, people in CCT communities are:

• more likely to influence decision-makers through advocacy
• more likely to feel that they have a voice to influence decisions that affect their community, and more likely to feel that they can trust others
• more likely to have invested in assets, such as animals, land, a house or business
• more likely to feel confident they could cope with unexpected events in the future
  

…compared to people in communities that have not started CCT. 

You can find out more by exploring our reports, summaries and videos from each year of the study.