Evaluation of an important disaster response program
The 2019-20 bushfire season was the worst New South Wales has recorded. Over the course of a few months, 26 lives were lost, 2448 homes destroyed and 5.5 million hectares of land burnt. If I say St Vincent de Paul Society, what do you think of? Vinnes charity shops along main streets? You’d be right, […]
Read moreEvaluation on a shoestring
It’s the beginning of a new year and you may be wondering how you can afford to conduct that important evaluation of your program, initiative or activity. You won’t be alone. But if you’ve ever felt you shouldn’t proceeded with commissioning an evaluation because of budget or resources constraints, think again. I’ve worked with many […]
Read moreCan too much positivity be a bad thing?
If you run a program, project or initiative that you intend to evaluate, it’s natural that you hope the evaluation will show evidence of positive outcomes. Favourable evaluation outcomes may be needed for your initiative to leverage ongoing funding, perhaps from government, philanthropic funders, or other foundations. As an evaluator, there have been many times […]
Read moreEvaluation: 4 reasons to plan ahead
If you work in the delivery of programs, events or initiatives in a sector that has been particularly impacted by COVID—perhaps the arts or cultural sector—it’s likely that things have been a little quiet over the past 12 months. You may have been forced to delay the delivery of something new, and budgets may have […]
Read more5 tips for good survey design
As we emerge from the pandemic and start to evaluate COVID- response programs and initiatives, it’s likely that you may need to collect data in the form of online surveys. Online survey software is available to everyone at little or no cost. But if your survey is not well designed, the internal validity (accuracy) of […]
Read moreA successful and timely program model
The Australian live music industry was the first sector to be significantly impacted by COVID-19, when non-essential gatherings were banned in March. Eight months on, restrictions in Australia have eased and the live music industry is in recovery mode. At this significant time of rebuilding and recovery, targeted and tailored creative initiatives are more important […]
Read moreLet’s celebrate Local Government Week!
This week (3-9 August) is a time for local government areas across NSW to celebrate council services that extend beyond rubbish, roads, rates and rubbish to include areas such as arts and culture, the environment, public libraries, childcare centres, sporting facilities, building and development. There are even Local Government Week awards! Peak organisation, Local Government […]
Read more4 things council staff need to know about evaluation
Program evaluation play a key role in supporting local government decision-making by helping council managers understand whether a program is working, for whom, in what context, when it’s not working, and why not. Except in larger LGAs, councils often have inadequate time and personnel to learn the specialist skills required to conduct evaluations. Additionally, the […]
Read moreGirgarre: a successful small town
Girgarre is a dynamic small town situated in the Shire of Campaspe in northern regional Victoria. It was featured on the ABC’s Backroads program just this week as a town transformed by the power of music. From 2016-2018, Girgarre was one of six small towns funded by the Victorian state government as part of the […]
Read more4 takes and 4 tips!
I have just launched my first in a series of online evaluation courses. This opening course is tailored to the local government sector, in which I have extensive evaluation experience. You can see it HERE and even preview the first lesson without enrolling. The whole course creation process was new to me. It was a […]
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