What do we mean by evaluation?
From Our Toolkit
Evaluation is about the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of what worked well or what did not work well. It provides you with evidence of the challenges and successes of your project or activity. This is useful for future planning and delivery.
Evaluation as a constant
Evaluation is often forgotten and / or left until the end of a project or activity. To get the most out of evaluation you will need to plan your evaluation to ensure you are collecting data throughout. An evaluation plan or framework is a key tool and should be part of the planning process.
Tailored evaluation
Evaluation should be tailored to the audience and the activity; generic templates should be avoided as these will not use questions that are relevant to you.
Less is more! The quality of the data you collect is more important than how much you collect.
What types of evaluation do you use?
The types of evaluation you use will depend on the scale of your project or activity, smaller projects will require less evaluation than larger scale, more complex projects.
Evaluation and funding
Funders often require evaluation as part of the delivery of a project, and evaluation also provides valuable evidence to support an application for funding.
Who carries it out?
Evaluation can be carried out in-house or outsourced to an evaluation consultant. There are pros and cons to both approaches.
