Evaluation SmithMartin will evaluate your programme of work using the disciplines and practices formulated by The World Bank and the European Commission. We use and adapt two critical techniques developed by the International Programme for Development Evaluation Training at Carleton University, The Netherlands and the separate, new evaluation methodology devised by the European Commission for socio-economic development. A full explanation of the IPDET methodology and how it can be deployed can be found at the IPDET website. A detailed narrative and schematic for European evaluation can be found at the Evalsed.info website. For an example of evaluation reports written by our team please see the Thames Gateway Development Partnership website. The EQUAL Project in the Thames Gateway area was an ESF Community Fund project, designed to enhance the development of social enterprise activity in the region, through the medium of  third sector organisations. This was a stretching, challenging and innovative project. The Project Evaluation pages feature our work, completed on behalf of the London Borough of Greenwich, the programme accountable body. The European Good Practice section contains a relevant, readable and highly useful suite of research reports on the context  of social enterprise delivery, both in mainland Europe and the UK sectors. Definitely worth a look. (pdf downloads) There are two principle types of evaluation - formative and summative. In constructing a formative evaluation, apart from starting the process at the very beginning of your project or activity, entwining the evaluative process around the project,  it is important to be clear about what the project or activity is trying to achieve. SmithMartin are also able to undertake ex-ante and ex-post evaluations to support your project, as part of the ongoing formative process. SmithMartin see this evaluative process as an integral part of the project management skills we also offer clients.  At the same time, we would wish to discover what the programme of work was capable of. The ways it is actually used, went beyond, or did not achieve, your original plans? As the work rolls out, this is the intelligence and assessment we would feed-back to you. In a summative evaluation, as the programme of work draws to a close, it is possible to find out how good the programme was, how it compared with other types of similar activity? Was it delivered efficiently, did it reach its original aims or targets and what the impact of the work may have been? We tailor every evaluative question and the final report to the individual nature of your programme of work or the needs and contours of your organisation. WWW SmithMartin website SmithMartin have 10 best-practice guides to evaluation.  We would recommend helping you to formulate your evaluation activity at the start of your work programme. Distance travelled is hard to measure if you cannot see where you started from. Evaluation, like all related monitoring and project management, shouldn't overwhelm the work being focussed upon. Planning evaluation carefully is best. Remain flexible - even under pressure. Involve everyone in the team, from every stage of the work, in the evaluation. People like to be asked. Involve service users too. They liked to be asked and their opinions and feelings go to the heart of your work. We recognise this. Use a broad range of evidence in the evaluation. We use interviews with key players and service users. We involve photographic, audio visual and as much creative material as we can, to make the analysis refreshing and project related. Evaluation is about learning not failing. We believe in clear thinking and honesty, mixed with the appropriate sensitivities. Our thoughts and feelings aren't paramount - but we recognise that our experiential reflections must be an integral part of the professional consultative process. Evaluate the evaluation - we ask you what you think, we also question ourselves with vigour. Revision, revision, and revision helps to produce a balanced, quality evaluation on your behalf. We believe in relevance. If you need evaluation services contact us - we will happily discuss any aspect of your needs.   Buy this book, or others like it, from Amazon here. Evaluation Methodolgy Basics by E. Jane Davidson Published by Sage from £27.00 Evaluation Methodology Basics introduces evaluation by focusing on the main kinds of 'big picture' questions that evaluations usually need to answer, and how the nature of such questions are linked to evaluation methodology choices. The author: shows how to identify the right criteria for your evaluation; discusses how to objectively figure out which criteria are more important than the others; and, delves into how to combine a mix of qualitative and quantitative data with 'relevant values' (such as needs) to draw explicitly evaluative conclusions. Amazon.co.uk