spear was commissioned by Mencap from 2019 to 2022 to conduct and independent evaluation of Round the World Challenge (RTWC). The evaluation assesses the impacts of RTWC on stakeholders, and how these impacts have been achieved. It explores the challenges faced, showcases effect practice and provides key messages for enhancing provision. The overarching evaluation comprises a rapid evidence review of activity interventions for people with a learning disability, case studies from site visits to RTWC locations, interviews with RTWC providers, and secondary analysis of output and impact data from the RTWC portal.

RTWC is a programme designed to support people with a learning disability to become more active. Participants turn hours of sport and activity into distance travelled around the world with progress recorded in specially designed passports and are awarded for their achievements.

Key Findings

• Since 2019, RTWC has engaged almost 4,000 people with a learning disability in over 105,000 hours of sport and physical activity
• Over 200 providers participated in RTWC, delivering or facilitating over 41,000 activity sessions and training 361 participant volunteers
• Participants joined RTWC to have fun, build confidence, become healthier, try new sports, learn new skills, make friends and feel more independent
• Providers engaged in RTWC to expand or refresh their activity offer, enhance collaborative work and support participants’ health, wellbeing, development and quality of life
• RTWC resources such as t-shirts, passports and postcards were highly effective in engaging and incentivising participation
• RTWC appealed to providers because it was person-centred, simple in concept, structured, funded, and supported by Mencap and through the Hubs

Date: 20th March 2022

Client: Mencap

“RTWC has helped me to be more aware and to become a whole better person. RTWC has inspired me” – RTWC Participant