Monitoring

1
Monitoring Evaluation of Livingwell

• Workshop at Annual Conference

2
Workshop Structure

• Part 1 Presentation
• GHK and this study
• Challenges facing us
• Two possible approaches
• The one we used
• Part 2 Group Discussion

3
Who are GHK? What are we doing?

• GHK
• Employee-owned research firm
• Multi-disciplinary work in most policy areas
• Specialism in evaluation
• Local
• Livingwell Project
• WMRA
• Quarterly monitoring
• Ongoing evaluation
• Of projects, but at regional level

4
Inherent Challenges

• All the usual evaluation challenges, plus
• Diversity of projects
• target groups
• desired outcomes
• interventions
• contexts
• capacity at project level
• The need to add it up to regional level
• Inputs () are easyoutputs more
  problematicoutcomes the real challenge

5
One Possible Response Our Approach

• Possible Response
• Decide what a wellbeing is
• Give projects a tool to measure it
• Advantage can add this up easily (compare
  approaches??)
• Disadvantage ignores complexity / reality
• Our Approach
• From the project up (not programme down)
• Based on individual project plans
• Guidance and support to projects self-evaluation
  
• Backed by some external evaluation

6
Basis of Approach Theories of Change
Rationale for intervention (problem /
opportunity and most appropriate response -
identified)
Inputs (what you have)
Impact (wider societal change)
Activities (what you do)
Outcomes (the effect this has)
Do this for each project, then add-up each
element ...
7
Applying this Model

• Project ME plans
• Project-level theory of change
• Specific quarterly / annual indicators
• Common tools for common outcomes, e.g.
  Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale
• Common outcomes at theme level
• But not a blanket approach (e.g. adults with
  learning difficulties / low project capacity)
• Where does this leave us?
• Allows aggregation, but retains flexibility
• Makes our job more complex, but more like the
  real world!

8
Final Reflections

• Needs different skills
• More collaborative
• More facilitative
• Understand constraints facing practitioners
• Requires a balance between
• Adding things up (quantitative)
• Explaining and learning (qualitative)
• Overall, a sound approach - given challenges
  outlined at start

9
Thank-you for Listening

• Questions Group Discussion