Process evaluation is a crucial component of the implementation phase that assesses a project's success in achieving predetermined objectives. More so, process evaluations improve the chances of establishing if the project meets its goals or adheres to the initial design provisions. It is not practical to measure every aspect of a project, especially in expansive ones that extend beyond local, state, or national boundaries. In this case, process evaluation becomes a framework for conducting routine assessments of resources, outputs as well as the impact on the target population. This assignment will revolve around the evaluation of the Emergency Food and Shelter Program, a project that caters to the homeless in the US.
Description of the Key Program Elements
Emergency Food and Shelter Program targets homeless individuals in the US to provide shelter, food, and other essential services. In particular, the project focuses on war veterans, unemployed individuals, and substance users and addicts. Apart from offering this population their basic needs, the program facilitator is responsible for creating a supportive environment for caregivers. More so, facilitators explore issues or topics relevant to the target population and educate them on various coping strategies (Maas & Specht, 2011). This program has drawn various stakeholders who include homeless individuals, religious institutions, welfare organizations, and donors. The programs’ scope is long-term, considering that the issue of homeless in the US is prone to be exacerbated by rising rates of unemployment.
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Description of the Strategies that the Program Uses to Produce Change
The program stakeholders are always adopting different approaches to improve the quality of life for the homeless targeted by the program. One of the program's strategies is lobbying for additional funds to meet the social, economic, mental, and healthcare needs of the beneficiaries. Lewer et al. (2020) establish that more people may be rendered homeless during this time of the COVID-19 pandemic, meaning that the available resources may be overstretched. Apart from lobbying for more funds, the program incorporates support group initiatives to help the beneficiaries cope with their challenges. The program managers engage in process evaluation for assessing whether there is an improvement in the target population's welfare and wellbeing as well as monitor the usage of resources.
A Description of the Needs of the Target Population
The program targets underprivileged people in the US, including drug addicts, war veterans, and unemployed individuals, most of whom are homeless. A needs assessment in this proportion of the population indicated that they lack community and family support, meaning that they cannot cope with hardships (Van Straaten et al., 2018). More so, it is evident that this population faces significant financial challenges that make it hard for them to afford decent housing, meals, and other essential services. The situation is exacerbated by the fact that the available funding does not meet their needs exhaustively since there is a rise in the number of needy people. Limited resources further hamper the desire to improve emotional, health and economic outcomes in the form of staff, equipment, facilities, and stationery.
Importance of Process Evaluation in the Program
The program hopes to alleviate the challenges that the target population faces through improving the economic and social well-being. A process evaluation would be crucial since it will determine if the program has achieved this objective. Gabor et al. (2013) note that process evaluation is a guideline that helps project managers and implementers to improve the overall efficiency and effectiveness of programs. In this case, the implementers could establish loopholes that may hamper the program's mission and find ways of addressing them. Process evaluation allows for informed decision-making in funding, resource allocation, stakeholder engagement, and handling of conflict. In this way, process evaluation becomes a yardstick for establishing what has been done and how well it has achieved the desired results.
A Plan for Building Relationships with the Staff and Management
The program implementers and management understand that they cannot achieve short or long-term goals without the staff's input. The program staff range from caregivers, social workers, and mental healthcare providers who offer the beneficiaries social support services. Stoyanova & Iliev (2017) note that program management is required to create a supportive work environment that promotes staff development and engagement. In a bid to achieve this objective, the management needs to create and maintain open communication pathways that encourage feedback. Moreover, there is a need to adopt a collaborative approach that allows the staff to be part of the decision-making process (Styanova & Iliev, 2017). Staff who feel that they have a take at the running of organizations are more likely to align themselves with organizational goals and missions and improve outcomes. In the same manner, a good relationship between the staff and management enhances optimization of resources, thus reducing delays and wastage in service delivery.
Broad Questions to be Answered by the Process Evaluation
The process evaluation on Emergency Food and Shelter Program hopes to answer various questions ranging from its effectiveness in achieving objectives to recommendations. One of these questions is ‘Has the program achieved its intention of receiving more funding to cater for the target population?’ This question is fundamental since it helps to determine its sustainability and its ability to solve the problems of the current and future beneficiaries. The other question that will form the basis for the process evaluation would be ‘’How effective has the program been’. These questions hope to establish a general overview of the program's positive impacts to determine if it is feasible or not. The answers to these questions provide crucial insights that help to determine short and long-term strategies that will be adopted.
Specific Questions to be Answered by the Process Evaluation
The process evaluation will revolve around specific questions that focus on particular aspects of the program, including funding and resource usage. One of the questions that will guide this evaluation would be ‘What are some of the social work programs that need improvement?’ This question is crucial since it helps evaluate the success of this program by focusing on areas that indicate positive or negative outcomes. From here, the evaluators can adjust their approaches to ensure that social workers are able to improve the beneficiaries' outcomes. The other question in the evaluation is ‘How many people are benefiting from this program?’ This question allows the program implementers to establish if they are reaching the targeted number of people or not.
A plan for Gathering and Analyzing the Information
Process evaluation of the program cannot be complete without gathering and analyzing information to establish trends and efficiency levels. Bell (2017) notes that evaluators could adopt a semi-structured approach to gathering information since it prompts participants to engage in conversations that the facilitator may not have perceived as necessary. A semi-structured approach to data collection is heralded for paving the way for collecting qualitative data, which can be used to assess participants’ attitudes and preferences (Bell, 2017). Apart from a semi-structured approach, the evaluators may use focus groups to get qualitative data or surveys, which help determine the participants’ satisfaction with the help they get from social support groups (Bell, 2017). The information-gathering would be crucial as it helps in identifying areas that require improvement to achieve both short and long-term goals.
References
Bell, L. (2017). Research methods for social workers . Macmillan International Higher Education.
Gabor, P., Grinnell, R., & Unrau, Y. (2013). Program evaluation. E ncyclopedia of Social Work, 28 (3), 75-82. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199975839.013.311
Lewer, D., Braithwaite, I., Bullock, M., Eyre, M. T., White, P. J., Aldridge, R. W., & Hayward, A. C. (2020). COVID-19 among people experiencing homelessness in England: A modeling study. The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, 8 (12), 1181-1191. doi: 10.1016/S2213-2600(20)30396-9
Maas, M. L., & Specht, J. P. (2011). Caregiver support groups: Led by peers, professionals, or both. Education and Support Programs for Caregivers, 73-84. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-8031-1_6
Stoyanova, T., & Iliev, I. (2017). Employee engagement factor for organizational excellence. International Journal of Business and Economic Sciences Applied Research, 10 (1), 23-29. DOI: 10.25103/ijbesar.101.03
Van Straaten, B., Rodenburg, G., Van der Laan, J., Boersma, S. N., Wolf, J. R., & Van de Mheen, D. (2018). Changes in social exclusion indicators and psychological distress among homeless people over a 2.5-year period . Social Indicators Research, 135 (1), 291-311. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-016-1486-z
