Our skills in action
Case Study: Program evaluation in community services
Programs to support the community need to be able to demonstrate their impact - what difference they are making in the lives of the people they are meant to help. It's important for program staff to set clear goals and targets and measure the program's performance against these targets. Staff also need to understand what's working well and what isn't, so program delivery can improve.

Renée worked with staff from Community Gro in Townsville and CatholicCare Toowoomba on a range of community programs, including:
  • Which Way - a program for Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander youth.
  • BLESS - Building Links and Empowering South Sudanese.
  • TRAMS - Toowoomba Refugee and Migrant Support.
  • Outside School Hours Care service at Annandale State School.

  • Renée worked with staff to develop an evaluation framework for each program:
  • 1. Program logic diagram to show the short- and long-term goals for each program, and how everyday activities would achieve those goals.
  • 2. Evaluation plan to collect performance information, measure progress against goals from the program logic, and identify areas for improvement.
  • 3. Tools to collect performance information that were practical and easy for staff to use, e.g. surveys and spreadsheets. Tools were based on existing systems and processes wherever possible, to minimise workload for staff and improve efficiency.
  • 4. Reporting on progress to those who needed to know, e.g. funding bodies, delivery partners, the wider community.
  • Renée also interviewed CatholicCare's delivery partners and compiled an independent report. This helped CatholicCare understand how well their partnerships were operating and where they could improve. Evaluation is helping Community Gro and CatholicCare to demonstrate their achievements to their funding bodies and stakeholders, and identify areas for improvement. This increases their chances of getting future funding and improves their relationships with stakeholders and the wider community. "At Community Gro, it is important to us to continually strive towards the highest quality service delivery and embed continuous improvement throughout our organisation. Renée worked with us to develop a clear and efficient evaluation plan to inform continuous improvement. Renée helped us to identify existing processes that could be used, rather than create additional work. This is working well to embed evaluation throughout our service." - Susan Perry, CEO, Community Gro
  • "Working through a not-for-profit, I particularly appreciated Renée's ability to scale her involvement with our evaluation processes to match our budget constraints. She has made the evaluation process clear and easy to follow for staff and for stakeholders. Thanks Renee!"
  • - Jayne Thorpe, Business Innovation & Development Coordinator, CatholicCare Toowoomba
  • "The evaluation plan [Renée developed] is great, easy to read and understand. The evaluation questions are relevant. Renée makes it seem so easy, when it's all broken down in an evaluation plan." - Kerry Guy, Coordinator, Community Gro
The BLESS program run by CatholicCare Toowoomba (Building Links and Empowering South Sudanese) Photo credit: CatholicCare
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