Is there a role for evaluation in Virus Lockdown?
You are busy making radical changes to your service and keeping yourself safe. Is this really a time to worry about measurement?
In fact, evaluation – simple evaluation – is crucial. As we all deliver services virtually, help more or new beneficiaries, or meet new needs arising from the pandemic we all need to check we are doing the right things and reaching the people who need us.
We need to find successes to celebrate to keep us positive in tough times. And we should record learning now that we can use in future.
Plus, while the helpful message from most funders is flexibility and support, we will still need to report at some point.
So ESS’s top message – Find quick and easy ways to record:
- What you do
- Who with or for
- The difference you are making
- What you’re learning
Now more than ever keep evaluation simple! The free tools on our website might help. Our change record might help you record the changes you are making to your services, or the changes in beneficiaries’ needs. Our capturing casual moments sheet might help you jot down a few words beneficiaries give you at the end of a phone call. Our support guides and webinars might give you ideas. Please adapt any of our tools to meet your own needs.
ESS is developing more tools, for example about evaluating online support and to help with reflective practice. We have a new method sheet about using contact forms to gather evidence during a call and a new case study about measuring the impact of a remote service. We’ll keep you up to date in our e-bulletins.
We are also keen to help the third sector as a whole capture learning about flexibility and co-operation that we can use in the post-pandemic world.
So please get in touch if you need practical help or have ideas about how ESS can support you and the sector. We are physically distant but still here to help.
Please email us info@evaluationsupportscotland.org.uk or tweet us @EvalSupScot #IsolationEvaluation
Thank you and stay safe.
