Related resources for measuring success

Funders need ways to monitor funding arrangements to reduce risk. The Good Practice Funding website discusses how to establish good information sources, and provides information about monitoring and successful relationships, measuring performance and evaluating project progress. New Zealand website. 2004-2008.

This report documents three different types of research carried out by social workers and discusses the benefits and draw-backs of each type of research. Lunt, N, C Fouché and D Yates. (2008). Wellington, New Zealand: Families Commission.

Urban Water Decision-Making Project: Learning from the Stories of Nga Puna Wai o Hokianga is a research report prepared for the Foundation for Research Science and Technology. This was a collaborative evaluation undertaken by Institute of Environmental Science and Research (ESR) with Hauora Hokianga and Whirinaki Maori Committee. The project featured in two Good Practice in Action seminars hosted by the OCVS. New Zealand, 2005.

SPEaR is a cross-agency group overseeing government investment in social policy research and evaluation. Its resources include good practice guidelines on commissioning quality research. New Zealand, 2008

The Research Centre was established to "contribute to the strengthening of the capacity of the tangata whenua, community and voluntary sector through research".  A Code of Practice benchmarks principles and standards by which researchers can measure their work. It represents what contributors consider to be important when doing research. The Clearing House enables people to look for research partners and access existing research about the community and voluntary sector in New Zealand.

This self-evaluation tool is designed to support those planning and delivering services through children’s services providers, to review their levels of engagement with the voluntary and community sector (VCS). It includes a number of questions for statutory and community partners to discuss, so they can consider their progress and establish agreed actions for further development. Also read the Engaging Voluntary and Community Sector Organisations: Best practice case studies working with children’s trusts and the report on VCS engagement in the development of Children and Young People’s Plans 2006/07: current status and good practice. Produced by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), United Kingdom (2008).

This book has been written as a framework for auditing community participation in public decision-making. Burns, D and M Taylor (2000) United Kingdom: Policy Press. 

This guideline has been written for the health sector and sets out what is involved in conflict negotiation.  It is part of a policy toolkit to be used in strengthening health sector reform.  It includes templates for analyzing different responses to conflict, and how to deal with them and worksheets that can be used to clarify the conflict before any discussion has occurred. Novak, K. and C Hall. (2001). United States of America: Health Systems 2020

This Australian resource provides guidance in developing an evaluation framework; developing evaluation data collection tools, interpreting and analysing evaluation data, ensuring evaluation outcomes feed into future planning and decision-making.  The resource is designed to be used in conjunction with the Queensland Government's Get Involved website (www.getinvolved.qld.gov.au), which provides additional evaluation resources such as tools to develop an evaluation framework, case studies, and examples of community engagement evaluation performance critieria and indicators.  Produced by the Department of Communities, Queensland, Australia. Nov 2004.

This report presents an evaluation of the public engagement activities undertaken through the Drugs-futures project.  It has an emphasis on the successfulness of the deliberative public engagement elements of the project.  It documents elements that worked well and suggestions for improving future projects of a similar type. Brighton, United Kingdom: Shared Practice. Warburton, D. (2008)

This guide is designed for those who lead projects intended to engage general audiences in science, social science, engineering and technology.  It is intended to help project managers evaluate individual projects regardless of their experience of evaluation. People Science and Policy Ltd (2005). London, United Kingdom: People Science and Policy Ltd

The IAP2 Training Program offers a Certificate in Public Participation throughout Australasia, North America, Europe and Asia. The certificate program consists of three courses: Planning for Effective Public Participation (2 days); Effective Communications for Public Participation (1 day); Techniques for Effective Public Participation (2 days). All three courses are presented in an experiential learning environment that provides students with the opportunity to explore their own public participation challenges with their instructor and peers. Interactive exercises and practical tips are used to enliven the basic theory and reference materials presented throughout each module and reinforce skills that participants can put to immediate use.

This guide gives practical steps for assessing the successfulness of public participation.  It covers the evaluation process, the costs and benefits of engagement and includes a case study. Warburton, D. R Wilson and E Rainbow. London, United Kingdom: Involve 

This guide states that successful engagement will depend on three elements: the purpose, the process and the context within which it is taking place.  At its most basic, evaluation should answer three simple questions:1. Has the initaitive succeeded (eg: met targets, met objectives, resulted in acheivments).2. Has the process worked? (eg: what happened, what worked well and less well, and lessons for future particiapatory activities).3. What impact has the process had?(eg: on participants, on the quality of policy, on policy-makers or on others involved).Produced by Involve, Shared Practice and Department of Constitutional Affairs, United Kingdom, 2007.

This was the first publication from Involve, and provides much needed practical detail.  It draws on the experiences of many hundreds of practitioners who have used new methods to involve the public in issues ranging from local planning to nanotechnology.  Its starting point is that deepening and strengthening democracy depends on success in learning lessons about why some kinds of participation lead to better and more legitimate decisions, while others do not. Its content is complemented by the interactive website peopleandparticiption.net.  United Kingdom, 2005.

This report discusses the problems encountered in placing a monetary cost on participation and the reasons for this.  It then goes on to suggest a framework for thinking about costs and value of participation in a structured way. Involve.Org.UK. (2005). United Kingdom: Involve.

Established as a strategic research and community engagement initiative of Griffith University, the URP is now the largest dedicated urban research grouping in Australia.  Urban research is founded on a set of guiding principles for effective and inclusive participation and partnerships to achieve sustainability.  The Toolbox states that evaluation is deeper and more analytical than monitoring, focuses on results and impacts as well as describing activities, and is long term. The Toolbox highlights what evaluation might cover and includes links to a number of evaluation resources.  Australia, 2003.