The Methodology
Most social value fails before it starts.
It fails because social value is planned in offices, not in communities. Organisations decide what is needed before they have asked. They produce a social value plan based on assumptions. And when the audit comes, or the bid is scored, or the project hits resistance - none of it holds up. Social Value CWaNA™ was built to fix this. To ground social value in the communities where it is being delivered.
◉ The methodology that grounds social value in community.
What is Social Value CWaNA™?
Social Value CWaNA™ - the Social Value Community Wants and Needs Assessment - is a structured, evidence-based decision-making and problem-solving framework for social value delivery and community engagement. It was developed by Sonar Engagement, is trademarked, and is in active use across the UK's infrastructure, highways, rail, utilities, public transport, and NHS sectors.
It is grounded in the SARA model (Scanning, Analysis, Response, Assessment) - the same structured problem-solving framework used in UK policing and national decision-making. The methodology is rigorous because it comes from a discipline where getting it wrong has real consequences.
Social Value CWaNA™ produces an auditable social value evidence trail at every stage - one that stands up to scrutiny from commissioners, auditors and the communities themselves.
The Core Issue
The problem CWaNA™ solves
Every sector has its version of the same problem. In construction, it's social value pledges that look good in a bid and disappear on site. In local government, it's consultation processes that generate the appearance of engagement without influencing any actual decision. In healthcare, it's NHS suppliers who know they need to hit Evergreen Assessment Level 3 but don't know what genuine community engagement looks like in their context.
The shared failure is the same: organisations engage communities to satisfy a requirement rather than to learn from them. CWaNA™ flips this. The methodology treats community intelligence as a genuine input to decision-making - which is what it should be, and what the best organisations have always known it is.
What's changed is that PPN 002 now requires this of every contractor bidding for public sector work. The standard is no longer optional.
Seven Stages
The CWaNA™ methodology
Seven interconnected stages, always anchored in your organisation's guiding principles and compliance with PPN 002.
Select any stage on the wheel to explore what happens at each phase of the CWaNA™ methodology and see how it maps to PPN 002 requirements.
Download the Social Value CWaNA™ framework alignment guide
A free PDF guide to the methodology, the seven stages, and how it maps to the social value frameworks that matter.
The Legislative Moment
Social Value CWaNA™ and the social value frameworks that matter
Social Value CWaNA™ was designed to support genuine social value delivery rooted in real community intelligence - which means it maps to every major framework commissioners and auditors use to assess it.
Within PPN 002, that means more than Section 3b. Across all Outcomes and Model Award Criteria, the words 'local' and 'community' appear 29 times in the government guidance. Section 3b goes furthest in what it explicitly requires - genuine community co-design, named engagement methods, involvement of local stakeholders in design, and positive action with under-represented groups. But the community intelligence thread runs through the entire policy. CWaNA™ addresses all of it.
Beyond PPN 002, CWaNA™ aligns to:
- The Social Value Model 2025 and its Model Award Criteria (MACs)
- The National TOMs (Themes, Outcomes and Measures) framework
- The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) framework
- MeasureUp impact reporting
- NHS Evergreen Assessment Levels 1 to 4
- The NHS Social Value Playbook 2025
Whichever framework your client, commissioner, or contracting authority requires, Social Value CWaNA™ produces the community intelligence and auditable evidence trail to support it. When commissioners ask for evidence, you have it.
The real risk isn't technical. It's relational.
Community resistance, media pressure, political intervention, and stakeholder conflict are increasingly the factors that delay or derail projects - not engineering or logistics failures.
CWaNA™ addresses non-technical risk directly. A structured community intelligence process, conducted early, identifies the issues before they become crises. It gives projects the time to adapt - to co-design around community concerns rather than manage complaints after the fact.
One well-managed community relationship has averted scheme stoppages worth millions of pounds. The return on genuine community engagement is not difficult to calculate.
Certification & Licensing
Become CWaNA™ certified
When you carry the mark, it means something. Two tiers of certification - from individual practitioner to certified organisation.
CWaNA™ Practitioner
Complete the six-session training programme. Receive your personal CWaNA™ Practitioner certificate and earn the right to state 'CWaNA™ Trained' in bids and proposals.
CWaNA™ Certified Organisation
Your team completes training and your organisation undergoes a structured audit to verify CWaNA™ is genuinely embedded. Use the branding and methodology in your client work.