NH Food Alliance's 2021 Network Health Assessment

Every two years, the NH Food Alliance evaluates its network by conducting a network health assessment to measure progress and provide overall strategic direction. The assessment was conducted using an online survey that is shared with anyone who has participated—at any level—with the NH Food Alliance. Results were analyzed question by question, as well as across survey years (2016, 2019, and 2021).

2021 Network Health Assessment Objectives

1. To better understand how people participate in the NH Food Alliance and how it impacts their work, including: how the network has changed over time, how COVID impacted the network, and how the network impacted the COVID response of participants.
    
2. To assess if the network improved to better serve participating individuals and organizations, and the New Hampshire food system.

2021 Network Health Assessment Results Brief

• Overall, we see positive trends in our network development, including increases in partner commitment, better alignment around core values, and finding value in our collective work.
   
• As a gap assessment, we asked survey respondents to assess a list of network benefits and indicate how important each benefit is to their organization and how well the NH Food Alliance is doing in promoting this benefit. Responses would highlight the gap between network benefit importance and the NH Food Alliance's success in promoting the benefit. Results showed narrow gaps for “learning and information exchange” and “getting a statewide and/or systems level perspective,” and wider gaps for “building trust/relationships” and “innovating solutions and ideas.” We interpret these data as confirmation that the network helps members to see statewide issues but has room to grow at helping partners collaborate on those issues.
   
• The majority of NH Food Alliance partners have a statewide focus in their work, and the sectors represented have shifted over the last six years, likely in response to shifting needs in the food system. Survey respondents listed 67 organizations not identified in 2019, as important to their work, which presents an opportunity to expand the NH Food Alliance through existing partners.

Special thanks to Jennifer Wilhelm and Bruce Hoppe for conducting, analyzing, and reporting on the 2021 Network Health Assessment.
 

CLICK HERE TO VIEW & DOWNLOAD THE FULL REPORT