Most Significant Change

TfC works supports MSC work across different places in Wales, working bilingually with communities and partners to understand what really makes a difference to people’s wellbeing.

What is Most Significant Change (MSC)?

MSC is an approach that involves the gathering of stories about changes in people’s lives – stories that highlight a change for a person, why it mattered to them and what made it possible. The stories are then discussed by those involved in policy making and policy implementation to consider the implications for the planning and delivery of a service or activity.

An overview of what we do

TfC is experienced in MSC: coproducing projects, facilitating learning panels, delivering training and workshops, and identifying themes that can drive systemic change.   MSC is a developing methodology, and Together for Change’s work focusses on learning, reflecting both how it can sit relationally with other evaluative approaches and how sharing stories can enhance both collaboration and give form to concrete change.

Specific work in Pembrokeshire

In Pembrokeshire we have coproduced a dedicated MSC Project as part of the Strengthening Communities Programme. Over the past two years, Together for Change has supported the development of the MSC methodology across Pembrokeshire in partnership with colleagues from the statutory and third sectors. Building on the successful pilot in 2024-2025, this Project has continued to demonstrate the value of creating structured opportunities to listen to people’s experiences, reflect collectively on what matters most, and to use those insights to strengthen services and partnerships.

At its heart, the MSC Project in Pembrokeshire is founded on the simple but powerful principle: that the experiences of people using services should inform how those services develop. While quantitative data demonstrates what is happening, stories provide understanding of why change matter, what enables it, and where further improvement is needed. MSC is therefore much more that collecting stories – it is a structured methodology for learning, creating opportunities for people from different organisations and backgrounds to reflect together on lived experience and consider how services and systems can improve.

The aim is to learn, through people’s own stories, what really makes a difference to community wellbeing. We focus on the everyday spaces where community life and public services meet. By listening to and reflecting on these stories, we can better understand what matters most to people. We work with partners across voluntary, community and public sectors to gather stories of change, and to find ways to make that change happen.

2024 – 2025: The evaluation of the first year of the project is now available:

We have also produced a range of materials to support this work, including a handbook, templates, and training slides.

Enquiries

We welcome enquiries from organisations interested in using MSC to support learning, reflection and change please email karen.chandler@tfc.cymru.

MSC in Pembrokeshire is funded by the Regional Integration Fund.