What it takes to make youth employment programmes work

Head of Evaluation Hannah Murphy introduces new guidance on theory-informed implementation and process evaluation (TIIPE)

Understanding what works means understanding why it works.

At Youth Futures Foundation we focus on what improves employment outcomes for young people, particularly those facing the greatest barriers to good work.

We commission impact evaluations to understand whether support provided genuinely made a difference. These studies can tell us “what works”, but we also want to know why it worked, how it worked, or whether it would work again.

This matters because youth employment programmes often combine multiple elements and are shaped by how they are delivered and the contexts they operate in.

At Youth Futures we embed implementation and process evaluation (IPE) alongside impact evaluation and cost benefit analysis. This helps us to build a stronger understanding of how programmes work, how change happens, and the conditions that enable this.

Looking inside the “black box”

To support high-quality IPE, we commissioned guidance on Theory-informed Implementation and Process Evaluation (TIIPE). This has been developed with the Centre for Evidence and Implementation and Dartington Service Design Lab, alongside an evidence review.

The guidance is designed primarily for evaluators, while also supporting commissioners and delivery partners to engage more confidently with theory-informed approaches.

TIIPE focuses on connecting two deceptively simple questions:

1. How is the programme expected to create change? (programme theory)
2. What happens when it is delivered in practice? (implementation)

TIIPE provides a structured approach to bringing these together. It combines a clearly articulated Theory of Change with a complementary implementation theory exploring the contexts and strategies that shape delivery.

When these are treated as interconnected frameworks, they help evaluators to better test what matters and interpret findings.

The guidance sets out how to do this in practice, from informing early testing and iteration of programmes, through to strengthening the design and interpretation of impact evaluations.

Why it matters

Without a carefully designed IPE, impact evidence can be difficult to interpret with confidence.

For example:

• A programme may show no effect – is that because the theory did not hold, or because delivery did not match the design?
• A programme may have a strong effect in one place – is this replicable, or does it depend on specific delivery conditions?
• A programme may work well for some groups of people or in some contexts – but it may not be obvious why.

TIIPE helps build a clearer picture of which aspects of support matter, for whom and in what conditions. This supports more informed decisions about how programmes are delivered and how effective approaches should be targeted, adapted or scaled.

A way of working

This approach reflects thinking championed by Dr Jane Colechin, who was foundational in shaping our evaluation approach as a What Works Centre.

Jane believed programme theory should be at the heart of evaluation and be actively used to test and refine how programmes create change in practice. She pushed teams to articulate how change was expected to happen, often literally drawing it out, and to interrogate whether those pathways held up.

That focus underpins the development of this guidance and continues to shape how we approach evaluation so that evidence can be better understood and applied to improve support for young people.