Our work
Building evaluation capacity
A tailored programme of development support for front-line organisations
The challenge
Delivery organisations operate in complex funding and policy context with competing demands and they do not always have the necessary resources and infrastructure to conduct high-quality evaluations of their programmes.
The opportunity
Understanding more about what works means more young people can receive programming that has been rigorously tested and found to be effective in supporting them reach their goals.
What did we do?
We delivered tailored support to nine UK-based delivery organiations to get them ready for impact evaluation.
We also explored the key enablers and barriers to building capability in monitoring and evaluation, and developed a range of learning resources to share insights.
Our aim
We wanted to build evaluation capacity and literacy within front-line organisations and capture and share this knowledge so that participating organisations could:
- better understand their impact
- help grow evidence base on what works for youth employment
If we can take incremental steps in building capacity – so internal and external evaluation becomes a standard feature of every youth employment programme – we can strengthen what is on offer for young people through continuous learning about what works best.
And with this evidence, organisations can design more effective programmes – and demonstrate to stakeholders, with greater confidence, the impact of their work.
Targeted support
The project was run in a series of group workshops, creating a community of learning and practice.
Support included:
- Developing and refining a theory of change
- Improving data collection approaches and systems
- Growing understanding of quantitative experimental or quasi-experimental design
What is capacity building?
We understand capacity building as the development and strengthening of the skills, instincts, processes, and resources needed to improve performance.
Who we worked with
The participating delivery organisations work regionally with young people to help them into employment through a variety of activity. They were identified as having promising programmes that would benefit from targeted support to be ready for an impact evaluation.
We partnered with Ipsos, New Philanthropy Capital and the National Centre for Research to deliver the programme.
