Evaluation
The Evaluation project aims to assess the impact that the AvenCentral Programme is having upon the local area. This is done through looking at what improvements have been made to the area since the beginning of the Programme, and untangling what improvements projects part-funded by the AvenCentral Programme have been responsible for.
It also helps projects to better understand what activities they are conducting are beneficial to the local community. This is done by providing advice and guidance on evaluation methods to project staff so they know what activities they can continue with that are proving to make a difference, what services they could improve or whether their focus needs changing.
The project works closely with local community evaluators who play an important role in understanding the local benefits that take place through AvenCentral partnership work. The Evaluation Process
Each project that is supported by the AvenCentral Partnership undertakes a formal evaluation of their activities. This includes a self assessment by the project, a follow up by the Evaluation Officer and further investigation by the Observatory's Community Evaluators. A review meeting with all parties takes place and a report is taken to AvenCentral's Board for approval.
A copy of the self assessment form that projects complete is provided below.
Project support
The Evaluation Officer provides a range of support measures to Project Managers, including guidance documents, the organisation of training events and workshops and the sharing of best practice between different projects.
In March 2005 an Evaluation Planning Workshop was carried out with around a dozen projects. A copy of the presentation and some accompanying notes are provided in the download section below which outlines the areas that were discussed. Please contact David for more information.
Listed below are a couple of documents written by other projects that will give you an insight into some of their activties and how they go about carrying out evaluation-related work.
Evaluation Guidance Document
This report provides an outline of the evaluation process that will help projects to carry out specific activity evaluation, interim or final evaluations. It is a useful resource for new projects to map out their evaluation requirements, as well as a reference document for more established projects to dip into.
The report can be accessed below.
During the coming year the project will continue to work on the individual evaluations of each project within the programme as well as organizing an external evaluation of the whole AvenCentral Partnership programme.
The programme evaluation will look at the impact of the SRB spend across all objectives and report to the interested parties the findings. This work will also look at what outstanding needs are within the area and ensure that the appropriate bodies are aware of these.
For more information contact:
Evaluation Officer: David Gordon
Tel: 01772 901203
Email: da.gordon@preston.gov.uk
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