Cashback Portfolio day presentation - October 2012

Editor's Notes

1. 10 am Introductions What you asked for last time? 10.30 am Evaluation – a Logic Model? 11.30 am Refreshments 11.45 am Evaluation – Data requirements 12.30 pm Lunch 1.30 pm Communications – its good to talk 3.10 pm Questions and Answers 3.30 pm Depart
2. Celia’s slides Understanding Impact / Evaluation This will be the morning session kindly being operated by Cathy Sharp and Mark Bitel of Research for Real – who the majority of you have now met Communications In relation to actions from the last portfolio day and needs expresses by many of the partners in the room - this will be the afternoon session Sustainability – for another day – aktouugh both Evualationa dn Profikle raising contribuet to this
3. Celia’s Slide 11 weeks to the day since the last/first portfolio day! Time flies when you are having fun! at that meeting you requested we deliver for you on a number of items pamphlet completed – completed
4. These are headline demonstrating what the day will entail – we will hear more about each sector as we go on
5. Not as heavily investigated as yet as more detail on this area needs to be collated by all, and to effectively look to the future you need to understand what you business MAY be doing in the future – hence understanding demand and strength of your services BY EFFECTIVE EVALUATION Leads to – introduction to Cathy and Mark – the sessions that will take us through this morning Celia – can you do an introduction as to who they are and why they are involved please.
6. Our task has been diagnostic – to take the temperature about where CashBack partners are at now with their monitoring and evaluation activities. This was commissioned with a view to informing the overall CashBack programme evaluation. This needs to be built from the ‘bottom-up’ – by ensuring that all projects have good monitoring data and quality case studies that address agreed outcomes. We want to see much greater valuing of evaluation. We recognise the existence of the CHRE framework. We wish to take a pragmatic and simple view to avoid investing time into activities with little practical value and risk re-producing earlier guidance.
7. We should not expect everyone to be doing the same thing or retro-fitting agreed activities into an inappropriate outcome framework. Any guidance must remain aware of ‘outlier’ projects that may not easily fit into the generic picture. Many delivery agents have never had a conversation with the previous CashBack team about outcomes. A pressing need is for projects to agree clear outcomes for their work with Inspiring Scotland.
8. In the search for programmatic coherence we did test out with you the idea of an overall ‘logic model’. We’re interested in knowing your views about the overall ‘issue statement’ and programme goals. Each CB partner should be able to see their work within that overall purpose. We think the current text version of the logic model is sufficient for the current purposes. Logic models are most useful in the planning stage of interventions and it may be worth developing one for the next stage of CashBack. We are not in the planning stage now. Let’s acknowledge that projects some have logic models and some have used these to help their thinking about delivery. Others have logic models that are not followed through into delivery, subsequent evaluation plans or data sources. Investing time in developing bespoke individual logic models runs the risk that we would be no further forward in practical terms.
9. Rather we propose a better option is to develop an Outcomes Framework Will look at this idea in more detail after the break
10. It might be useful to develop a bank of questions to help address missing outcome data. These could be used in a number of ways, and would help to bring some alignment and consistency of data between similar activities that are being delivered to achieve similar outcomes.   Developing such a ‘bank’ should be done in collaboration with the Cashback family so that they assist in drafting, testing and revision. There is a need for better qualitative data that is outcome focused . Much of what exists is seen as primarily for marketing/publicity purposes. Better qualitative data can also help to understand attribution better.   A ‘formula’ for writing outcome focused case studies would assist projects to structure a variety of case studies. This might also address frequently asked questions about case studies?
11. At present, evaluation is often too closely aligned with ‘marketing’ or publicity/good news. Some projects have expressed doubt about data quality because of reluctance to be seen to be critical in case funding is threatened. A stronger focus on learning and the value of evaluation for continuous improvement is needed to enable discussions about what’s not working well (as well as what is) and get better regular feedback from project participants.   The role of external evaluation needs to be discussed, including timing, purposes, readiness and funding. The 5% rule needs review given the variation in scale and funding of projects within the overall programme.   We would like to suggest that the CHRE framework should be seen as advisory.
12. eg. formal memberships organisations should collect deeper level of equalities data that is sensible for the context and their purpose.
13. Rachel and Eilidh’s area Rachel – to lead off. . . .
14. Reflect on why evaluation is important – it covers more than the reports to SG! Business development – meeting clients needs, getting services right, stopping services that aren’t working – remodelling and adjusting as to what needs are demonstrated Raising funds – most funders seek logic models – but also evidence of how you work to gather funding – from BIG to CiN, from Local Authorities to Trusts – outcome analysis is becoming more the ‘norm’ – so don’t miss the boat A good story is compelling good evidence is compelling so why not evaluate effectively? if the stories are good – tell more? More people might be interested? More people may access you through wider means? its so much cheaper than the days of paid adverts! Stress this element Remind what key Comms issues came out from the last portfolio day – the issues raised are – following slide
15. The CashBack for Communities programme partners have to-date been very successful in communicating with the target audience of young people across Scotland about the range of activities available to them in their area. They have generated a wide and diverse range of good news stories over five years of the programme and 99% of media coverage generated to-date is positive. Getting the wider message out to the general public and other relevant stakeholders about what CB for Communities does, the success it is having and the impact is it making on local communities across Scotland has also been good, but is an area to be further developed and one we seek to support. To raise awareness and promote greater understanding of the range and depth of work CashBack funds, we have indentified the follow areas to focus support: Raise the visual profile of CB as a collective. Improve partners ability to demonstrate the impact of CB activities. Improve the dissemination of the collaborative impact of CB at a national level. Support CB partners to be more co-ordinated and strategic in their communication Identify key stakeholders relevant to CB Three main areas Improve the co-ordination and planning of CB programme Increase visibility of CB activities Increase the collaborative impact of CB
16. Who is Who – given out earlier as a tool to network with, to review, to see where there is synergies and benefits of working together Portfolio day – regular events when you and your team can come along to the day – putting names to faces always helps Comms Group Started based on feedback from last portfolio day For all partners, great to have member of communications team Plan to have one meeting a quarter, for some reflection, some training if needed, forward planning but also to help build the collective CashBack story. What’s it for? planning ahead clear messaging support / involvement from Scottish Government
17. My impressions of PR are that you are always moving around, dealing with new people and always on the go.
18. In PR there is lots of finding information, then typing it and then adding to your information, then typing it and then sorting out your story then typing it and eventually finalising your story, then typing it. In conclusion there is lots of typing.
19. When working in PR you have to be able to communicate well with people, talk people into anything and talk yourself out of anything.