Why Evaluate?

These are just some rough ideas and points on why it will be useful to evaluate the progression of the mentoring project. We can use these ideas in order to aid with the de,ivery of the findings when we have more statsitics and data that we can all assess.

Why Evaluate?

Management can improve its decision-making, and staff and volunteers will appreciate the value of the work that they do and understand how they can make further improvements. Once the immediate reporting back has taken place, make sure that dates are set for action so that impetus and enthusiasm are not lost.

The evaluation can provide decision-makers with knowledge and information to make informed choices. Your evaluation should show which parts of the project are working, for what people and in what circumstances, and provide a warning if something is going wrong. These are key findings and you need to decide what action to take. Is extra funding needed? Are new activities required? Do staff or students need extra training or skills?

The evaluation will also provide information for your next year plan. It will help you to review your objectives. Are your services or activities the right ones to achieve the intended change or benefits? If the project has brought about some unexpected results, how will you take those into account in future planning? You may need to gather more information about the outside world, for example local strategies and other service provision, before making decisions about changing services.

The evaluation may give you clearer information about who is using your services, about your members, or who you are reaching with your information or publicity. This will help you to think more carefully about who you are not reaching. If the findings point out areas where need is greatest or least served, you may need to consider redefining your target group. You may need to carry out more publicity or establish new contacts and networks. It may be that you need to follow up your evaluation with a more in-depth needs analysis.

Your evaluation will also allow you to review your targets for outputs and outcomes. If you have not met certain targets, or if you have exceeded them, then you should be able to set this against what you now know about the capacity of the project and the performance of other agencies. Your evidence should be strong enough to show if there were good reasons for a lower than expected performance, whether targets were set realistically and whether you should adjust them.

Use the lessons learnt about what you could do better, or differently, in your operational planning. Do you need to:

• change the way the project is managed?
• reallocate resources?
• expand or change direction?

Staff and volunteers are under pressure in their daily work routines and will need motivation to use evaluation findings and make changes. Work towards changing the culture of the organisation, so that people are receptive to new ideas and challenging feedback.