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| Primary purpose Summary Potential benefits Who can use the tool? What resources are needed? Development, ownership and support Third sector examples Further sources of information Prove It! Prove It! was developed by nef in partnership with Groundwork UK and Barclays PLC to provide a method for measuring the effect of community regeneration projects on the quality of life of local people. This tool was originally conceived as a handbook to help those managing neighbourhood renewal projects look beyond the physical and environmental changes that had taken place (e.g. the number of trees planted; amenities created) and be able to highlight the positive outcomes of regeneration that can often go unnoticed. Prove It! is best suited:
Prove it! seeks to make data collection itself part of the process of regeneration, with local people involved in a project’s evaluation as well as its delivery. Prove it! was designed to be manageable and possible to use within the limited resources that small-to-medium–scale projects have available to them to ensure that evaluation becomes part of the culture of an organisation, rather than a burden. The evaluation process itself can contribute positively to the desired outcomes of the project. As a way to assimilate some of the principles of effective impact evaluation practice into a project’s day-to-day running, a Prove it! Toolkit was developed in 2004 and updated in 2009. This is made up of a series of MS Word and Excel files containing instructions for running participative workshops, designing simple questionnaires and inputting data that allow a thorough and robust exploration of a project’s impact. The aim is to make it easier for organisations to take those first steps towards undertaking effective impact measurement. The Prove it! (2000) handbook describes the process of involving communities in agreeing on the most important issues, deciding on indicators and collecting data. It also provides the rationale for this type of participative evaluation and community engagement. The complementary version of Prove it! represented by the elements of the Prove it! Toolkit (2004) described below, brings together much of this into a series of documents describing activities and illustrating templates and spreadsheets which simplify the most important stages for those who may not have the time and resources to undertake the more in-depth approach. The Prove it! Toolkit incorporates three main tools:
In addition there are notes, guidance and templates provided to assist project managers in planning the evaluation process and presenting findings. The Prove It! handbook describes the process of involving communities in agreeing on the most important issues, deciding on indicators and collecting data. It also provides the rationale for this type of participative evaluation and community engagement. The kit described below condenses much of this into a series of documents describing activities and illustrating templates, including spreadsheets, which simplify the important steps for those who may not have the time and resources to undertake the more in-depth version.
Potential limitations
Any third sector organisation working on projects and initiatives involving a local community can use Prove it! It can meet the needs of regeneration and community development organisations including Development Trusts. It works best with smaller projects and less well for large projects or those with no community involvement. Prove It! may also be useful for project officers from agencies, local government and other decision makers who are likely to commission evaluations of specific initiatives and use the results to inform policy decisions. Leadership Prove it! requires leadership from someone who will plan and manage its use from start to finish. This role should naturally fall to a project’s manager or someone within the organisation who can be the ‘evaluation champion’. Because evaluation is necessarily a long-term, ongoing process, the champion needs to be able to take responsibility for keeping track of the evaluation with enough information on file so that someone else can continue the process if they have to move on. Of the three sections of the Prove it! Toolkit described above, the poster evaluation exercise is the only part that recommends the involvement of an outside facilitator to lead the session. This provides an opportunity for someone not directly involved in the project to review whether the findings from the evaluation make sense. Proficiencies or skills No specialist skills are required to use the tool, but it is helpful if the evaluation champion has previous formal or informal experience in collecting and presenting data for monitoring and evaluation, and an understanding of the processes and the problems associated with interviewing. Knowledge of or a background in involving people in participatory processes would also be useful in deciding how to facilitate the participative elements of the tool. Staff time Prove it! has been designed to be integral to a project as opposed to something that is undertaken after it has been completed. To avoid any extra burden to their workloads this must take place as part of existing project activities. Because of the emphasis on self-appraisal (without necessarily relying on outside consultants) many of the data collection activities need to be undertaken by staff within the project. It is vital that at the start of a project (and therefore at the start of its evaluation) the evaluation champion agrees with staff, volunteers or partners the extent to which they will be involved in the evaluation process. An evaluation planning template is included in the materials to help guide this discussion. There is no hard and fast rule as to how much time to spend on evaluation, but best practice suggests using 10 per cent of the initiative’s or project’s budget or time. Sufficient staff time is needed to manage the involvement of a project’s beneficiaries in various aspects of the evaluation process, for example in the distribution and collection of questionnaires, or in undertaking a storyboard and poster evaluation session. The original Prove it! handbook (2000) describes in more detail how to involve local people in shaping and taking part in other aspects of an evaluation. Courses, support, and information The Prove It! handbook provides useful support and information. nef may be able to provide limited telephone and email support if staff are available. The handbook can also be used by evaluators or outside consultants to guide an assisted process. Development, ownership and support The Prove it! (2000) handbook has been designed to provide information, support and guidance.for undertaking a participatory evaluation. Likewise the Toolkit is a stand alone set of documents that can be used as the template for an outcomes evaluation. However, if training or additional assistance is required, this can be obtained from nef by emailing enquiries@nef-consulting.co.uk Some organisations that have used Prove It!:
Further sources of information The complete Prove it! Toolkit can be downloaded here for free. The handbook, Prove it! Measuring the effect of neighbourhood renewal on local people, can be downloaded for free from the Prove It! website. The handbook also includes appendices with further information on indicators, surveys and social capital, of which there is also a rich and varied literature in the public domain.
* All quotes are taken from ‘Prove it! Its development and its potential for evaluating community-based regeneration projects’, nef, published 2004. |
“Prove It! turns up different answers, exploration of softer outcomes and a chance for discussion.” “It assists – it’s not a burden. It isn’t dry either – it helps you to be imaginative about the project.” “Prove It! Works best with projects that have a clear aim, a clear start and a clear finish. Harder with bigger projects.” It’s good for longer-term projects because we can track progress over time” |
