Question One
A large city is revamping its public housing program. It has begun demolishing large, older, outdated housing projects and relocating the residents to dispersed locations throughout the city where low-income housing is interspersed with more expensive housing units. The city is provided a wide array of services to the families being relocated and would like to conduct an evaluation to ascertain the effectiveness of the services and their delivery. Plan and outline the steps you would take to conduct an evaluability assessment for this activity. Describe some of the problems one might expect to encounter and approaches to overcoming these problems.
Answer
An evaluability assessment refers to a process that is systematic and is aimed at identifying whether a certain program is in a state that can cause it to be evaluated. The assessment also depicts whether the evaluation that is to be carried out is feasible, justifiable and if the evaluation once carried out will lead to the obtainment of useful information. In this scenario, we are to carry out an evaluability assessment on the production of services by the city and their delivery in an effort to determine whether the service providence and the delivery can be evaluated. Furthermore, it is done to know if the production of services is justifiable, feasible and will most likely lead to useful information. This assessment will also prepare the program such that it will lead to a generation of all the necessaries in terms of conditions that require to be evaluated.
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This assessment will be conducted prior to the evaluation. it will provide recommendations on how best the service production can be improved. The evaluability assessment will deploy methods arising from qualitative data collection which include; data reviews, secondary analysis of data and interviews. This will however depend mostly on the timing of the assessment.
The steps that one would carry out in an evaluability assessment include the following: determining the users involved within the evaluation that will provide information, clarifying the program from different perspectives including the program manager, policy makers and other stakeholders who are directly involved in provision of services to the people. The next step involves exploring the extent of whether the program as goals is capable of being within the standards of reality. In this step, issues dealing with the goals of the programs and whether they are either plausible or measurable will be addressed. Thereafter, agreements on any changes that are required in terms of the activities associated with the program or in terms of the program goals will be made. After this, different evaluation designs that can be applied after the evaluation assessment is completed will be considered. The final step involves agreeing on the priorities of the evaluation and how the information obtained from the evaluation will be used (Newcomer, Hatry, & Wholey, 2015).
Moreover, there is an evaluability assessment checklist that involves three major steps which are; the design of the program, the availability of information and the conduciveness of the context. This checklist requires to be ticked against the information stated against the box. The problems expected to be associated with this assessment include; the lack of capacity to provide evaluation data, there will be a lack of resources available to perform the evaluation this involves the absence of trained staff of financial resources.
Question Three
You have been asked by Homes against Homelessness, a nonprofit organization that operates programs assisting people without homes, to conduct an evaluation for presentation to philanthropists who have donated to—or might donate to—the nonprofit. Being an expert in the program evaluation field, you suggest to the nonprofit that a logic model could provide a demonstration of what the nonprofit does and how it impacts the community. Explain to the nonprofit the steps taken to create a logic model. Include an explanation of how each step of logic model provides insight and purpose for each part of the organization. Create a possible logic model for the organization based on activities such as providing shelter, food, clothing, job training, and childcare to those without homes.
Answer
A logic model is also called a logical framework or a theory of change that is used by funders, sponsors or donors to evaluate whether a program is effective or not. They are also used in planning and implementing a certain plan. In this scenario the non-profit organization known as Homes against Homelessness is expected to present their logic model to philanthropists with the intent of getting donations. The philanthropists will use this in an effort to determine the effectiveness of the non-profit.
The steps that are used in making a logic model are as follows; first and foremost the purpose of the non-profit is expected to be states. This is what motivates the need for change and is dependent on the problems that the non-profit is targeting. In this scenario, the purpose is to give shelter to the homeless individuals in the society. The next step involves stating the context. This is the new policies and programs and how they will be in line with the original programs and the issues currently affecting the operation of the non-profit. These issues could be socio-economic or political. Thereafter, the inputs or the resources are considered. These refer to the elements required to carry out the program outlined by the initiative. The inputs also can deal with the constraint such as the limitations associated with the barriers. The other step is the activities that the program is expected to undertake. The next step is the formulation of the outputs. This refers to the establishment that depicts that the activities happened such as how many people were housed by the initiative. The final step is stating the effects or outcomes as a result of the activities carried out by the Homes for the homeless (McLaughlin & Jordan, 1999).
The key steps for making a logic model include the following. First, the non-profit, which in this case is the Homes for the Homelessness, is expected to form a dynamic team that can be used to make the model. The aspect of making a logic model has to come from a team approach, as this is considered very useful. This dynamic team will comprise of key characters in the organization such that it will be easier, thorough and more effective when obtaining a clear understanding of the non-profit’s goals, commitments and assets. This is very crucial in coming up with a proper logic model. This team can be known as the logic model design team and is expected to be filled with people who are dedicated and who are purposing towards achieving the goals set out by the organization. They should be able to develop and grow in an effort to contribute to the logic model.
The next step is to disseminate the factual status before the meetings happen. This means that every team member in the logic model design team is expected to have determined and be well versed with the information about the program before the meetings with the philanthropists occur. The team leader should not assume that every member of the team knows and/or has similar information. The importance of this determination is because it is crucial that once the team members meet it creates a field where different voices can be heard and different opinions can be voiced. The third step involves creating a method that will enable the group to maintain god notes. This means that there should be a thorough and proper record of the meetings that have been conducted in an effort of making the logic model. This record is important as once an idea I developed it is immediately recorded such that if anyone wants to refer back to that idea it can be traced, these ideas help in formulating a logic model that is not dull but yet highly effective. The note taking is also crucial in such a way that it ensures that the progress of the logic model making is effective and efficient and therefore no time is wasted.
In the fourth step, a proper time frame is created. This time frame is used for ensuring that the process of making the logic model is completed in a timely manner. The reason behind this is that this process cannot be concluded in a few hours, there has to be a lot of time set aside for the development of the logic model. The organization should try to perform short term meetings with the project team in a period of a number of weeks practically four weeks. The considerations that should be made before making this timeframe include: the organizational culture and the time constraints that the members of the project team face.
Logic model
Program: Homes Against Homelessness Logic Model (uses text boxes: add/change boxes and arrows as needed)
Situation:
Outcomes
Short Medium Long
Outputs
Activities Participation
Inputs
Financial resources
Situations/ priorities
The goal of the initiative is to house see all individuals that are rendered homeless
individuals
Individuals and households level
Rev. 7/09
Assumptions
External Factors
200 people were housed
The impact of this initiative is that individuals have become better housing
Agency partners
Policy makers
Communities and institutions level
Planning processes
people
materials
References
McLaughlin, J. A., & Jordan, G. B. (1999). Logic models: a tool for telling your programs performance story. Evaluation and program planning, 22(1) , 65-72.
Newcomer, K. E., Hatry, H. P., & Wholey, J. S. (2015). Handbook of practical program evaluation. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
