As budgets in the public sector are constrained by Government policy, one area that seems to be being squeezed is evaluation. Recently a discussion with a former client over the progress with their new project provoked the following exchange:
- I gather the new project is proving interesting?
- O yes, very much so, but challenging too.
- How will you be evaluating it?
- We don't need to do that, as the requirement for evaluation by the funders has been dropped.
If evaluation was only to prove to funding agencies that work is being done to the schedule and cost that is set out in the contract, then it would be called audit. There is a real purpose to evaluation, or rather a number of purposes.
Most importantly, formative evaluation, undertaken during the life of the project or programme is there to help those delivering the project ensure that things are going to plan, that there are no perverse effects to beneficiaries or to the market place, and that the systems they employ to manage the project are adequate and not overly onerous. Lessons can be learnt and changes implemented to ensure that the full final benefits of the project are achieved.
Summative evaluation, at its most basic, provides evidence to all that the project achieved all (and hopefully more) that it set out to at the start, demonstrating the quality of the project manager or organisation in being able to deliver successfully and to time. Better evaluation will also set out the impact of the project on its beneficiaries and to the wider community or economy to provide evidence for future planning and policy development. It also should provide an opportunity for a full 360 review of how the project worked to inform future work patterns and personal development plans.
Evaluation is not a nice to have add on to a project, it is a key component of a project, without which wheels will be reinvented, or perhaps TECs and Business Links - who knows?