What is evaluation?

Evaluation can be both quantitative, how many people enrol on a training course, and qualitative, results of learner surveys or discussions with beneficiaries.

When should I evaluate?

You can begin planning for evaluation at the application stage of the process. This will help you to start shaping your evaluation and think about what you need to evaluate and when. There are two main stages where you will evaluate your project:

• Interim evaluation. This will take place at the midway point of your project and will enable you to track progress and then adjust and improve aspects of your project as you move forward.
• Final evaluation. This will take place during the last phase of your project and will assess the overall lessons that you have learnt. It can form the basis of your final report and also help you to plan the next steps and new ideas.

It is important to know from the outset what aspects of your project you need or intend to evaluate before your data monitoring routines are fully established. This will help you to keep your evaluation separate from your monitoring process.

What should I evaluate?

There will be two main elements of your project that you will evaluate:

• Output. This is what you have, or are, doing.
• Process. How you achieve and manage your outputs.

You should try and evaluate your project against certain criteria which your project was originally assessed and accepted for funding:

• Innovation
• Transnationality
• Partnership
• Validity
• Dissemination
• Valorisation

Different topics will be important at different times during the project lifecycle. You should also evaluate other areas of the project including:

• Project design and methodology
• Project management
• Feasibility of the project and outputs
• Number and quality of outputs and outcomes

Who should undertake the evaluation?

There are two types of evaluation:

• Self-evaluation, this is an evaluation exercise that you or your partners conduct.
• External evaluation, this is undertaken by someone outside of your project.

When undertaking self-evaluation make sure that the person evaluating is as independent from the management process as possible. This will allow for a clear and objective analysis.

An external evaluation can offer expert services and, at times, a more cost-effective solution than project staff using their time to evaluate. They can also offer a more objective evaluation of your project.

How is an evaluation conducted?

Whether you are conducting self-evaluation or external you will want to consider the same key points:

• Focus of the evaluation
• Project objectives
• Project products
• Project processes
• Target audience

This will put a plan in place and enable you to complete the four main stages of evaluation:

• Define your performance indicators
• Gather your data.
• Analyse the data.
• Report the findings

These will form the content of your interim or final report. While the reports will differ they should both make recommendations and highlight the main lessons that will guide future work and policy decisions.

How we can help

As the National Agency we are here to help you with evaluation and we can provide you with advice and support throughout your project and evaluation.

Your evaluation reports are assessed and the conclusions we find are disseminated as examples of best practice across the participating countries.

We can also help you to promote your reports and findings through our projects around the UK map and our blog.

If you need more help then please call the Leonardo Helpline on 0845 199 2929, or send an email to leonardo@uk.ecorys.com.