Program Evaluation Toolkit for Harm Reduction Organizations
Now that we have made the case for evaluation, let’s dive into making sure you have all of the resources and capacities in place to carry forward an program evaluation process that aligns with your harm reduction program.
As we prepare to launch our own program evaluation, one of the fundamental questions we should ask ourselves is, why are we doing this? In the last module (Making the Case for Program Evaluation) we learned that there are many benefits to evaluation. Now, it’s time to nail down what our motivations are for engaging in this process, as well as what we want to accomplish as a result.
Table (2.1). I am evaluating my program to… (select all that apply)
| YES | NO | QUESTION |
|---|---|---|
| Identify the strengths and successes of my harm reduction program. | ||
| Acquire a better understanding of challenges, or what is not working, and where my program needs to pivot to address problem areas. | ||
| Learn about areas where my harm reduction program can grow and/or expand. | ||
| Share program updates and highlights with my funder. | ||
| Share best practices and program highlights with peer organizations and community partners. | ||
| Generate evidence of the effectiveness of harm reduction services to contribute to policy and advocacy efforts. | ||
| Make the case for why my harm reduction program should continue to be funded and/or seek out additional funding. | ||
| Other: |
Having a clear understanding of our "why" helps to ensure that we are structuring our process appropriately and engaging the right resources that will help us along the way.
Now that we have our why, let’s talk about the "when." When exactly is the best time to start preparing for an evaluation? The short answer is, it’s never too late (or too early) to prepare for your evaluation. In fact, preparation can take place at any stage of your harm reduction program’s implementation.
Let’s go through a few common scenarios and considerations.
“We are still trying to figure out how all of the pieces fit together for our harm reduction program and are doing our best to meet deadlines. When we start to get into a groove, we will likely find that we will have to make changes and come up with a new plan. Isn’t it too early?”
It’s never too early! Preparing for your evaluation at this stage and including it as a part of your overall program planning can help ensure you are allocating adequate resources, training opportunities, and the time needed to support your evaluation process.
“Our harm reduction program has been up and running for a while, and we are constantly hearing from our clients and our partners that our work is making a difference in people’s lives. We know that we are effective, and we know what we are doing works. Is this really needed?”
Congratulations on having a long-standing harm reduction program that is making such an important difference in your community! While your personal knowledge of your program’s impact in the community is invaluable, preparing for an evaluation at this stage can help to cultivate buy-in among staff and community on the benefits of program evaluation, as well as reinforce your program’s value and aid in securing additional funding.
The funding for one component of our harm reduction work is coming to an end, and, given all of the moving pieces, we realize
now that we weren’t able to devote as much time to the program evaluation as we originally planned. Are we too late?
Many people find themselves in this very position, and, while this isn’t the ideal time to begin preparing for an evaluation, it is still very doable. The benefits to preparing for an evaluation at this stage are the insights you can gain from having to scale your evaluation to match your timeline and your existing resources.
In this module, we will cover several things to consider when preparing for a program evaluation effort. Specifically, we will cover the importance of:
