Evaluation Specification EVALUATION OF 5 NATIONS 1 VOICE PROJECT Maciej Alexander WHO CARES? SCOTLAND
Introduction We are looking to appoint an independent organisation to conduct an evaluation of a 3 year-project: 5 Nations 1 Voice. The project is delivered across England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales and has entered its second year. Background The 5 Nations 1 Voice project is a nationwide initiative delivered across the UK and Ireland. It is delivered by Who Cares? Scotland, The Who Cares Trust (England), Voices from Care (Wales), Voice of Young People in Care (Northern Ireland) and EPIC (Empowering People in Care) (Ireland). This collective group of organisations are henceforth referred to as the 5 Nations. Each of these organisations work with and for care experienced young people. In this context, care experienced refers to a child or young person who has social work involvement which has resulted in them being formally looked after either at home (with social work supervision), with wider family members in kinship care (such as grandparents) or away from home (such as in a children s home or with foster carers). The development phase of this project involved a number of key meetings and events bringing the 5 Nations together and culminated in the production of detailed project plans and a logic model identifying the following outcomes: Care experienced young people will feel more connected to the wider care community within their own nations and across the UK and Ireland, with increased opportunity to develop meaningful relationships. Care experienced young people will feel more confident about their Care Identity. They will feel less stigmatised and stereotyped by society and more understood and respected by professionals and non-care experienced young people. Care experienced young people will be integral to shaping national policy, practice and legislation that affect their lives. The project consists of an array of outcome-driven activities leading to increased connectedness, policy shaping, individual development and group mobilisation, and challenging stereotypes and misconceptions about care experienced young people and their Care Identity. 5 Nations 1 Voice has united the five organisations for the first time, working across the varying political jurisdictions and uniting the collective voice of care experienced young people. Together the project raises awareness of the challenges facing these young people. Importantly it seeks solutions, carries out research and connects young people across the five nations too. Each nation takes its mandate from care experienced young people to campaign for the changes to policy, practice and legislation that will improve their experiences of care and their life outcomes. Care experienced young people lead the charge for change, supported by the charities. The project is based on the premise of: a shared experience care experienced young people from across the UK and Ireland experience similar challenges and with the right support they can achieve their full potential. Their care status provides a sense of community when they are provided opportunities to connect with their peers in positive, affirming environments. As a minority group it is important to provide opportunities for them to connect, share experiences, receive peer support and work together to create the changes needed to improve outcomes for care experienced people; 1
recognition that every journey tells a story every young person is unique and they should be supported to understand how every aspect of their personality and their life experiences shape their identity. Understanding how being in care impacts on who they are as individuals has the potential to empower care experienced young people and help them achieve their true potential. For some this can be a liberating experience. How care experienced young people choose to identify is deeply personal and whether they choose to express this openly or not is entirely their choice and ought to be respected. The more society understands about the realities of care the less likely it becomes for care experienced young people to be stigmatised and discriminated against; empowering young people giving every young person the support they need to succeed in life and reach their potential benefits everyone. Extra protection through law and policy has the potential to lead to significant improvements in outcomes for care experienced people and will ensure that their rights are upheld. The successful organisation will work alongside the project for 2 years utilising a critical friend approach which enables immediate research, organisational and evaluation benefits. Overall aim: To evaluate the impact of the 5 Nations 1 Voice project. In particular, the evaluation should focus on the following themes: Impact questions in this theme relate to deliverables of the project and the underlying methodology e.g. events, residentials, campaigns. Influence questions in this theme relate to attitudes across various audiences; and demonstrable change in those as a result of the work of the project, and; Empowerment questions in this theme relate to development path of young people as a result of the project or the messaging and activities it has delivered and the influence it has had. Specifically, the evaluation should establish: The impact has the project has had on key stakeholder groups (e.g. care experienced young people, partner organisations, policy makers) to date. The level of awareness of the subject matter locally and nationally amongst policy makers, if any. The current attitudes towards the subject matter amongst key influential individuals and groups. The unintended outcomes of the project, if any. Areas of weakness and potential improvement. Methodology We expect the evaluation to take into consideration the views of a number of stakeholders including care experienced young people, partner organisations and policy and decision makers. Therefore, it is anticipated that mixed research methods would be used to comprehensively evaluate the impact of the 5 Nations 1 Voice project. Interested organisations are expected to outline the proposed methods and rationale for choosing each method, ensuring at the aim of the evaluation is met. 2
Without being prescriptive, we would anticipate that the evaluators might consider the Bellwether method, or a similar method suitable for measuring policy impact in at least some of the jurisdictions. The Bellwether method has been developed by the Harvard Family Research Project and is used to determine the position of an issue on the policy agenda. It involves carrying out structured interviews with influential individuals from across the private, public and third sectors to determine the awareness and appetite for the issue in question. The proposed approach to establishing impact of the project on the key stakeholders and wider society should be outlined by the successful organisation. We are keen to hear from organisation who utilise creative yet methodologically sound evaluative methods. Who Cares? Scotland is looking for interested organisations to: outline their experience in project evaluation including campaign and lobbying evaluation (e.g. the Bellwether method or similar); describe the strengths and potential weaknesses of their approach, as well as the control measures taken to limit the latter and to ensure a comprehensive evaluation; explain their approach to sampling and analysis; clearly outline the potential ethical considerations related to the project evaluation and how these will be taken into account throughout the duration of the project, and; explain evaluation limitations and propose how Who Cares? Scotland can address these while the project is underway. Outputs It is expected the evaluation will produce the following outputs: Detailed evaluation plan Critical friend days Two interim reports Debrief after each research period (format to be agreed by both parties) Final report explaining methodology, findings and recommendations Presentation of findings In addition, the successful organisation will act as a critical friend throughout the duration of the project, in particular before and after periods of intense campaigning. Other The proposal should include an evaluation plan and costings. The partner organisations will facilitate access to internal stakeholders, yet it will be responsibility of the successful organisation to identify and contact suitable and appropriate stakeholders to answer the evaluation questions. The successful provider will have relevant policies (Data Protection Policy, Indemnity and Public Liability Insurance) in place to ensure smooth delivery of the project. The first annual report will be provided to interested parties upon request. 3
Timetable Following submission of proposals, the partner charities will review all proposals and may contact selected organisations for interview if practicable. It is anticipated that the evaluation will be carried out between December 2016 and May 2018 with interim reports produced after each stage of the research period to inform the delivery and ongoing internal evaluation of the project. A final report, discussion and presentation of findings will be held with the Senior Management Team. Budget A budget of 35,000 is available for this project. The proposal should consist of a clear breakdown of costs, including adequate provision for all costs associated with the project evaluation over the full period of the contract. Payments will be phased as follows: 30% after submission of 1 st Interim Report; 30% after submission of 2 nd Interim Report, and; 40% after discussion and presentation of findings and final report. Due to the significance of the project, Who Cares? Scotland will require the successful organisation to provide references from two clients. Project Management The evaluation work will be overseen by Maciej Alexander, Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Manager at Who Cares? Scotland. 4
Criteria Criteria Weighting Previous experience of evaluation work 30% Experience and understanding of the care system 20% Assessment of proposed methodology of evaluation, including risks and limitations 20% Ethical and data protection considerations 10% Value for money 20% Total 100% Project Management Evaluation proposals should be sent by 13 th November 2016 to: Who Cares? Scotland 5 Oswald Street Glasgow G1 4QR E: reception@whocaresscotland.org Please add 5N1V evaluation proposal in your correspondence 5