Girgarre: 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 […]
Read moreSave Your Survey
Do you work in the arts, cultural or not-for-profit sector in Australia’s regions and cities? If so, you’re no doubt experiencing considerable stress at the moment, amidst a pandemic that has resulted in the cancellation of everything, accompanied by widespread job losses, not to mention Australia’s recent devasasting bushfire season. You may currently have important […]
Read moreFrom a distance. Evaluation in the era of social distancing
No one needs reminding we’re entering challenging financial times and need to practice social distancing. It’s possible that your evaluation plans may need to be pared back or reconfigured. But there are ways that your evaluation project can still be carried out without compromising its validity. 1. Modify the evaluation design Ask your evaluator if […]
Read moreAvoiding positive bias
As evaluators, it is sometimes clear at the outset of a project that there is an expectation of positive outcomes and recommendations that will lead to projects leveraging ongoing funding (perhaps from government, philanthropic organisation, social enterprise or other foundations). There are even times when this is explicitly articulated in the project brief. Evaluators may […]
Read moreYes, please be judgemental
Evaluation is a field in which we encourage judgement. Rather than living by the ‘Please don’t be so judgemental’ mantra, evaluation is about judgement. It involves pulling all of the empirical data together and making a call. Making a judgement in evaluation goes from the ‘what is so’ (typical of research), to the ‘so what’. […]
Read moreWhen to make an impact
You’ve delivered a government program or initiative with specific objectives in mind and now you ask yourself: “What was the impact of this program? How can an evaluation answer this question?” You’re right in leaning towards evaluation to answer your question about impact. But is this the right time? Have you let enough time pass […]
Read moreCollaborating with regional communities
It’s well understood now that arts and culture make regional Australia a better place. Communities thrive when people come together to share stories, reflect on a common history, and build social inclusion through arts and cultural activity. Last year NSF Consulting was commissioned by Regional Arts Australia to research and prepare a guidelines document to […]
Read moreEvaluating transformation
I’m currently ensconced in report writing for an evaluation project. That is not an uncommon situation to be in, as I work as a program evaluator and consultant. But this project is different; it is more challenging than many, as it poses some big theoretical questions. I am evaluating Small Town Transformations; an initiative of […]
Read moreLessons from the regions
Having recently returned from a 10 day road trip around regional Victoria I am reflecting on the lessons that can be learned when consulting with communities in small towns. This is because the turn-out to my scheduled consultation meetings was lower than I had hoped. My road trip was a mid-point reading on the mood […]
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