Evaluation
youngballymun aims to provide an culture where research and evaluation is undertaken not only to demonstrate the success, or otherwise, of the strategy and the individual services therein, but to support the cycle of ‘supposition-action-evidence-revision’ that characterizes good science and good management.
youngballymun understand evaluation in its broadest sense as being the systematic acquisition and assessment of information to provide useful feedback about a particular service, programme, policy, activity, need etc. Thus, we emphasize the information-processing and feedback function of evaluation and acknowledge that while some types of evaluations will assess the ‘worth’ or ‘merit’ of a programme/service, others, such as implementation analyses or formative evaluations will not necessarily have this focus.
youngballymun believes that the overall goal of evaluation is to provide useful feedback to a variety of audiences, including the community, client-groups, staff, funders, policy makers and other relevant stakeholders. However we also believe that a goal of evaluation should be to influence decision-making or policy formulation through the provision of empirically-driven feedback. To this end, youngballymun promotes a research and evaluation culture that is honest, and truth-seeking, stressing accountability and scientific credibility. In addition we would encourage open commentary and debate regarding the results of our evaluation work.
youngballymun appointed Gemma Cox as Research & Evaluation Manager in July 2009 to contribute to the advancement of our programme of evaluation. Her role includes contributing to the development of an evaluation strategy for the six new ‘community-facing’ services, to project manage the contracted evaluations, to provide technical support, and to promote evaluation principles within the community.
In addition, youngballymun has a set of inter-related advisory and support structures to facilitate this evaluation culture including an Expert Advisory Committee, an Evaluation Sub-Committee of the youngballymun Board, and The Centre for Effective Services.
The evaluation of the strategy and individual services therein is overseen by the Expert Advisory Committee (EAC), which provides independent advice, valued support and critical oversight to help ensure an integrated and dynamic evaluation process. The EAC is chaired by John Sweeney, Senior Social Policy Analyst, NESC and a Board Member of youngballymun. Members are drawn from a pool of national and international expertise in research and evaluation in service provision to children and young people and include; Mark Dynarski – Vice President and Director of Mathematica’s Centre for Improving Research Evidence, Marjorie Smith, Professor of the Psychology of the Family, and Co-Director of the Thomas Coram Research Unit, University of London and Eilis Hennessey Senior Lecturer from the School of Psychology, UCD. The youngballymun staff members are Gemma Cox and Eleanor Mc Clorey. The Office of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs and The Atlantic Philanthropies are in attendance at EAC meetings; Elizabeth Canavan and Albert O' Donoghue from the OMCYA and Gail Birkbeck, Jane Forman and Tom Costello from the AP.
Evaluation of Jigsaw-youngballymun
The evaluation of Jigsaw youngballymun is part of a national evaluation of a service development initiative by Headstrong- The National Centre for Youth Mental Health. Headstrong is an Irish charitable organisation supported by both philanthropic and government funds. Jigsaw was designed with the express purpose of transforming Ireland’s systems of care and support for young people ages 12-25. It derives from a developmental-ecological framework that acknowledges both proximal and distal factors that influence how young people think, feel, interact, and behave. Jigsaw’s core premise is that young people are embedded in multiple and intersecting systems (e.g., family, peers, school, services, neighbourhood), but that these systems did not necessarily connect and function in ways that supported their journey toward adulthood. The evaluation is being led by Prof. Bob Illback the Director of Planning and Evaluation Research for Headstrong.
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