aes24 International Evaluation Conference

Authors: Claire Grealy (Rooftop Social ),Duncan Rintoul (Rooftop Social, AU),Virginia Poggio (Paul Ramsay Foundation, AU),Luciana Campello (NSW Department of Communities and Justice, AU),Kirsty Burow (NSW Department of Communities and Justice, AU),Jacqueline Webb (National Association for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (NAPCAN), AU)

The evaluation of grant programs has long frustrated grantees and perplexed fund managers.
Evaluators often arrive at the end, and may find a strong narrative about the funded activity (assuming the project staff are still in place) but less of the documentation and data that demonstrates the impact or learning, or shows the link between each project to the fund objectives.

Fund managers have often had to be content with the limited results available to them, sometimes as basic as acquittals on activity and expenditure. This limits funders' ability to capture learning, feed into new fund designs, mount budget bids, or tell a compelling story about the work grant holders are doing.

This panel brings together a cross-section of key players and beneficiaries from a variety of contexts:
* a state government fund manager in the human services sector
* an evaluation lead from a large national philanthropic organisation
* an experienced project manager from a national NGO that receives grants from various sources
* two evaluation specialists who have deep experience working in this space, developing and delivering this kind of support.

Drawing on case studies from practice, this panel will share some innovative approaches from their work, which bring the right mix of expectation and support to the design stage of grant-based projects, from the time of submitting an EOI through to the point of evaluation readiness.

The fruit that hangs off this tree includes:
* strengthening the 'evaluability' of each project and the overall fund
* testing each project's assumptions and ambitions
* deep conversations between grant makes and grant holders about outcome alignment
* building the evaluative thinking and capability of project teams and organisations, activating the 'ripple effect' as participants share their newfound commitment and skills with their colleagues.
"You couldn't drag me to program logic workshop before this. And now look at me - I took that process you did with us and yesterday I ran it with my team on another project."

Authors: Laura Faulker (NSW Treasury)

This paper presents the key findings from research and engagement on how cost-benefit analysis (CBA) has been applied to First Nations initiatives to date. CBA is an important tool used by governments to help prioritise budget funding decisions. It assesses the potential impacts of an initiative - economic, social, environmental, and cultural - to determine whether it will deliver value for money.

The paper explores the methods in which the value of First Nations cultures has been incorporated into CBAs, along with the associated challenges and opportunities to improve current practice. The findings have informed the development of an investment framework for the design and evaluation of initiatives that affect First Nations people and communities. The framework focuses on the key principles for embedding First Nations perspectives and ensuring culturally informed evaluative thinking.

Authors: Victoria Pilbeam (WWF-Australia)

Across social and environmental movements, we are often reticent to talk about failure. But as innovation and learning gain greater emphasis across the sector, Not-for Profits are finding new ways to share and learn from their failures (eg: Engineers Without Borders failure reports, Save the Children Fail Fest, etc.). In this presentation, I will share both insights from the available research and reflect on my own journey developing failure programming at WWF-Australia. This presentation will provide practical guidance to evaluators and organisations navigating the challenging terrain of learning from failure.

Authors: Rachel Wilks (Grosvenor), Kristy Hornby (Grosvenor)

As we learn the practice of evaluation, we often have experienced evaluators around us. They provide us guidance and guardrails within which to learn and grow our capabilities - but what happens when we no longer have this support? How do we stop ourselves from getting lost?

This session will provide tips and tricks for evaluators going out into the world on their own. Attendees will leave with practical advice and strategies to help keep them on track while they build their autonomy.

Authors: Kizzy Gandy

Surveys are an excellent data collection tool when they reach their target response rate, but low response rates hinder the generalisability and reliability of the findings.

This Ignite presentation will discuss techniques Verian evaluators have applied to increase survey response rates while also assessing the efficacy and efficiency of these techniques. We will also explore other evidence-based strategies for boosting response rates and the value of drawing on other data sources if your response rates are still low.

Authors: Susie Fletcher (Australian Healthcare Associates)

Auslan is a visual, signed language that was developed by and for the Australian Deaf community. People who use Auslan as their primary or preferred language are not necessarily fluent in English. Our team was engaged to review access to interpreter services for Auslan users, a population group that is often underrepresented in evaluation. In this presentation we will highlight some of the issues evaluators need to consider when working with this marginalised community, and share practical skills and techniques for making their evaluations more accessible.

Authors: Kristy Hornby (Grosvenor)

There is a lot of interest in rapid M&E planning and rapid evaluations at present; partially borne out of rapid contexts in a COVID-19 policy context; and partially borne out of constricting appetites for time and money spent on evaluations. It is unlikely this trend will reverse in the short-term, so what do we do about it to acquit our responsibilities as evaluators, ethically and appropriately, in a rapid context? This session sets out a step by step approach to conducting a rapid evaluation, inviting attendees to follow along with their own program in mind, to come away from the session with a pathway for conducting their own rapid evaluation. The session uses a fictional case study as the construct to move the rapid evaluation approach forward, describing throughout the session how you can use literature reviews, qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis techniques, and report writing approaches innovatively to save you time while not compromising rigour.

We contend it is possible to do a rapid evaluation ethically and appropriately, but the backbone of doing so is good planning and execution. This session shares practical tips and approaches for doing so through each key phase of an evaluation, so attendees are well-equipped for their next rapid evaluation.

To consolidate the learning, attendees will be provided a framework to come away from the session with a high level plan of how to conduct their own rapid evaluation, to increase their chance of success.

Authors: Skye Trudgett (Kowa), Rachel Kerry (CAGES Foundation, AU)

The philanthropic sector has long grappled with power imbalances inherent in funding relationships, particularly in the context of support for First Nations communities. This panel session explores a groundbreaking Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) approach that inverts traditional power structures, placing First Nations communities in the driver's seat to assess the adherence of a leading philanthropic organisation to their stated values and principles.

Drawing from the collaborative efforts of one foundation and its MEL partner, this session showcases a MEL model that exemplifies shared power and mutual accountability. The panel will consist of thought leaders from the philanthropic sector, First Nations community representatives, and MEL experts who have been at the forefront of developing and implementing this innovative approach.

Through a facilitated discussion, panellists will delve into the process of co-creating a MEL framework that empowers communities to evaluate the performance of philanthropists against a set of mutually agreed-upon criteria. This approach ensures that philanthropic actions align with community expectations, cultural protocols, and contribute to genuine and sustainable impact.

Attendees will gain insights into the challenges and successes of operationalising this community-centric MEL method. The session aims to inspire other philanthropic entities to reflect on their practices and adopt similar approaches that truly shift power to First Nations communities.