What you need to know when designing a new program
If you have been tasked with designing a new program, there are probably a million thoughts and details running through your head. You’re also likely to have competing priorities… it could be that:
If you have been tasked with designing a new program, there are probably a million thoughts and details running through your head. You’re also likely to have competing priorities… it could be that:
Have you ever noticed how hard it can be to articulate to others exactly what your program is for, and how it works? And how hard it can sometimes be to get internal buy-in and support as a result? In this blog, we show you how to develop a watertight program theory and program logic.
But for many of us, the art of program evaluation can seem a bit of a mystery. What is it and what is it for? More importantly, how do I do it well?
Program managers know that focussing on customers and effective stakeholder engagement are key to great policy and program delivery. But there are often organisational barriers to implementing effective participatory processes.
If you're a program manager for a government entity, you may be spending a lot of your time trying to figure out how to assess your program’s performance in accordance with your organisation’s governance, performance and accountability rules or guidelines.
A comprehensive profile of the primary health care workforce in your region is an essential input for effective workforce planning. But compiling the necessary data and keeping it up to date is easier said than done!
Many organisations are facing this, sometimes controversial, question right now. For example, the Federal Department of Human Services is, very publicly, trying to grapple with this question in testing opportunities for outsourcing some or all of its back-of-house processing and payment functions.
Every day, organisations communicate with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders in every aspect of their operations. However, when analysing our clients’ stakeholder engagement approaches, it becomes evident that efforts to engage with stakeholders often occur in an ad-hoc and rather visceral manner.
You can easily avoid a negative performance audit finding through a little bit of preparation and effort. Not only will this save you from a negative audit finding, but there are other spin offs too.
Benchmarking can offer meaningful insights into relative performance and help identify learnings for improvement. So why do so many organisations fail at this important activity?
This tool is intended for: ‘unpacking’ program objectives or outcomes and determining the data requirements for monitoring and evaluation of the program against its outcomes. The tool can be used to focus on just one, or both, of the aims described above.
Poorly designed Program Evaluation questionnaires can lead to wasted time and erode stakeholder confidence. Worse, they can result in faulty data, which can lead to flawed decision-making and have serious impacts on the outcome of a program. This guide will help you appraise your evaluation questionnaires and ensure you’re collecting the right data to truly measure the success of your program.
