This service aims to provide you with an independent evaluation that systematically assesses all elements of your project to determine to what degree it has achieved what it was designed to deliver.
The evaluation will look at the strengths and weaknesses of your project, drawing out ‘best practise’ and lessons that can be learned. It will also meet all the requirements laid down by stakeholders involved in your project.
WHY WILL THIS BENEFIT YOU?
- European Funded projects in the majority of cases are required to carry out a form of evaluation to demonstrate that the European funding used on the project has been spent effectively achieving the agreed targets.
- The production and publication of an evaluation also presents an excellent way to; a) share the best practise that has been generated by the project and b) enhance the credibility of your organisation when constructing future projects and making further funding bids.
WHAT WILL A TYPICAL EVALUATION INVOLVE?
- The makeup and scope of an evaluation will very much depend on your project and the requirements of the accountable body that has provided you with the funding.
- It will also depend on the audience you wish to distribute the evaluation to and the level of analysis required.
- We offer 3 different types of evaluation:
Standard Evaluation: This type of evaluation is built around a simple methodology making the evaluation accessible and easily understood by all stakeholders. It is less statistical and more practical in its outlook and would look to answer the following questions:
What did your project aim to achieve?
What did your project actually achieve?
Was your project successful?
What can we learn from your project?
Technical Evaluation: This type of evaluation takes the standard evaluation and builds on it using a more technical and analytical methodology to quantify the benefits and outcomes of the project. Examples of further analytical tools that would be included are:
Gross Value Added (GVA) Analysis – consideration of the contribution your project has made to the local economy. This can be defined in various ways including – Jobs; Skills; Carbon emissions etc.
Additionality – consideration of whether an impact arising from an intervention is additional if it would not have occurred in the absence of the intervention. For example; has the project reduced existing activity from within the target group or area? If yes, where and by how much?
Strategic Added Value (SAV) – looks to capture the effects of the wider coordinating, catalytic and influencing role of the project and its stakeholders.
Persistence of Benefits – assessment of how likely the benefits generated from the project are likely to continue onwards into the future.
All of the above would be carried out in line with HM Treasury Green Book & BERR best practise.
Bespoke Framework Evaluation: While the standard and technical evaluations will cover the majority of requirements, we can also produce an evaluation bespoke to your requirements or in line with guidelines laid down by your funders.
For example the London Development Agency has defined an evaluation framework for all the European Funded projects in London.
For long terms projects over 3-5 years, best practise would require you to have an evaluator present throughout the project to provide yearly / midterm evaluations.
If you are unsure what you want to achieve through your evaluation we can also help you define, set the scope and procure your evaluation.
Underlying all of these evaluations will be a process that involves:
- Assessing all of your project documentation to establish the project’s position and benchmarking information.
- Highlighting ‘information gaps’ from the documentation assessment.
- Designing a research methodology to fill the ‘information gaps’ and gather all the data and views from stakeholders to complete the evaluation.
- Agreeing a ‘product description’ with you (i.e. this is what the evaluation will contain, this is where the information will come from, this is the quality and format it will be presented in)
- Delivering the research methodology (surveys, focus groups, interviews etc)
- Producing a draft of the evaluation for your comment and stakeholder input
- Agreeing a final evaluation document.
- Disseminating and distributing the document to appropriate stakeholders and interested parties.
An example evaluation (standard) can be viewed by clicking here.
WHAT IS REQUIRED FROM YOU?
- A focused brief on what you would like the evaluation to cover.
- Access to all project records, i.e. finance, management records, original business plans, beneficiary contact details etc.
- Opportunity to interview and discuss the project with individual members of the project team.
- Contact details for delivery partners and stakeholders linked to the project with an opportunity to be able to interview them and gain feedback from them on your project.
COST & PROCUREMENT
- The cost of an evaluation will be dependent on the type and level of analysis you want carried out as well as the quality of the project information you have collected as delivery has taken place.
- In terms of fee estimates, a standard evaluation would typically cost £5,000 – £10,000, with a technical evaluation ranging from £7,500 to £20,000. Bespoke evaluations can cost over £20,000. All fees would attract VAT.
- The cost of producing an evaluation is an eligible project cost and therefore can be claimed and charged project’s budget. However due to the level of cost involved you will have to go through an appropriate procurement process to be able to claim the costs.
- Our procurement service can help you through this process. Click here for more information.
TIMESCALES
- The overall timescales for completing an evaluation will usually be between 3 and 6 months.
To benefit from this service please using the contact details on the right hand side of this page.