Monitoring & Evaluation of Livingwell Workshop at Annual Conference

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

Who are GHK? What are we doing? 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

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 easy…outputs more problematic…outcomes the real challenge

One Possible Response & Our Approach 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

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 ...

Applying this Model Project M&E plans: Where does this leave us? 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!

Final Reflections Needs different skills: Requires a balance between: 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

Thank-you for Listening Questions & Group Discussion