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.

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 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 Research Councils UK evaluation guide is aimed at anyone who wants to talk with the public about issues around science and research. The guide provides support to help evaluate the impact of what you do, as well as think through approaches, motives and strategies. It is designed for those who lead projects intended to engage general audiences in science, social science, engineering and technology and the social, ethical and political issues that new research in those areas raises. United Kingdom. March 2005.

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)

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.

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.