| Session Title: Evaluating Community-Based Early Child Development Programs: Two Participatory Approaches |
| Multipaper Session 577 to be held in the Quartz Room Section A on Friday, Nov 7, 10:55 AM to 11:40 AM |
| Sponsored by the Collaborative, Participatory & Empowerment Evaluation TIG |
| Chair(s): |
| Marla Steinberg, Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research, msteinberg@msfhr.org |
| Abstract: This multi-paper session will present two approaches to evaluating a national multi-site early child development program. The Community Action Program for Children (CAPC) was developed in 1992 and is designed to reach the most vulnerable families with children aged 0-6 years and expecting mothers. CAPC uses a population health approach and is based on the principles of community development. These principles were incorporated into the two evaluation designs. The first paper will describe the evaluation framework that evolved from the British Columbia regional CAPC evaluation. The second paper will address the evaluation approach developed by Ontario which attempted to find a balance between collecting standardized data consistently across the province and allowing funded projects flexibility to examine the outcomes important to them. Both papers will highlight the need for continuous and on-going training of funded organizations and an adequately resourced evaluation infrastructure that can also support knowledge transfer and exchange. |
| The British Columbia Regional Community Action Program for Children Outcome Evaluation: A User-Friendly Health Promotion Evaluation Framework |
| Marla Steinberg, Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research, msteinberg@msfhr.org |
| This paper will describe the evaluation methodology developed in British Columbia to evaluate a nationally sponsored but regionally implemented early child development (ECD) program, the Community Action Program for Children (CAPC). The framework for evaluating the diverse multi-site ECD programs includes common logic models, core data collection tools, data entry and analysis spreadsheets, and a report template. The framework incorporates the World Health Organization principles for the evaluation of community-based health promotion programs and evaluation capacity building. The results of the evaluation enables funded organizations to improve programming and enables the funder to demonstrate accountability. The development and implementation of the evaluation framework required a stable, well resourced evaluation support function with dedicated staff and resources. |
| The Ontario Regional Community Action Program for Children Outcome Evaluation: Finding a Balance between Consistency and Flexibility in Evaluation |
| Nicole Kenton, Public Health Agency of Canada, nicole_kenton@phac-aspc.gc.ca |
| This paper will examine the process behind the development of a large-scale government initiated evaluation of the Community Action Program for Children (CAPC) in Ontario. The evaluation framework developed aimed to find a balance between allowing flexibility at a project level and consistent outcome measurement at a government level. The framework for evaluating these projects includes, a participatory process to develop individual logic models, the development of an Evaluation Toolkit which aimed to help projects conduct program evaluations and ensure projects applied similar standards in the quality of measures used to assess outcomes, and the selection of core measures to ensure comparability across projects and allow for a region-wide picture. The framework incorporated a capacity-building perspective and a collaborative process which involved funded projects in decision-making. The challenges of under-taking this evaluation and lessons learned for future evaluations will be shared. |