What impact have you had?
What outcomes have you delivered?
What difference have you made?
These are questions often asked by politicians, managers, and the
public. Yet answering the, can be extremely difficult in relation to
work concerning improving health or tackling health inequalities.
As a practitioner it is vitally important that we see evaluation and
impact assessment as part of the work we carry out, whether it is
commissioned from others or you do it yourself.
It has been recognised that due to the significant cuts to councils'
budgets over the coming years will add to the importance of evaluating
the impact of the work we produce, with elected members increasingly
asking questions about the value of a project before making funding
decisions.
To aid you with your evaluation and impact assessment a guide has been
produced for Local Government (LG) Improvement and Development (formerly
the IDeA) by Valerie Garrow, Associate Director at the Institute for
Employment Studies.
It has been
developed for practitioners working for councils and public health
organisations who have been give the task of evaluating the impact of a
project or initiative. It will take you through the process of
designing, implementing and disseminating an impact assessment and will
also provide information on the range of tools and help that is
available. It aims to be a practical guide, helping you to design and
conduct effective and appropriate impact assessment.
The Measuring impact in health improvement accessible guide for health practitioners can be accessed by clicking
here.
For more information about measuring impact in health improvement visit the Arts & Health South West website at www.ahsw.org.uk