Program Evaluation Toolkit for Harm Reduction Organizations
Identifying your audience, or the individuals/organizations who should be made aware of your evaluation results, is a helpful starting place when determining the best method to share your evaluation results. For example, a member of staff who is intimately familiar with your harm reduction program (internal audience) may need information delivered in a straightforward way to be able to make use of it, whereas a community member (external audience) might benefit from knowing why this work should matter to them.
Table (5.2). Internal Audience vs External Audience
| INTERNAL AUDIENCE | EXTERNAL AUDIENCE |
|---|---|
| Typically consists of the individuals who make up the organization’s staff and volunteers. Occasionally this group may also include members of your evaluation team. | Consists of the individuals who are not formally a part of the organization, inclusive of funders, program participants, partners, and the broader community. Often these are stakeholders who are directly involved in program impact, including community groups and funders. |
A program that has just launched may have a completely different audience than a program that is wrapping up. As you begin to think about who your audience is, it might be helpful to frame it within the context of your program’s implementation stage. Let’s revisit some of our scenarios from earlier in the toolkit in Module 2 to explore this further.
Implementation Stage: Beginning of Program Implementation
Harm reduction programs that choose to complete an evaluation within the earlier stages of their program implementation typically conduct a process evaluation. The data that emerges from this type of evaluation focuses on the specifics of how your program activities have been carried out. This includes the extent to which activities were completed as planned and any barriers or challenges that the program has faced to date.
Typically, the audience best suited to receive this type of data is an internal audience. These individuals are typically responsible for monitoring or implementing the program and would most benefit from the detailed and specific insights that would come from a process evaluation. Because they are internal, the presentation of this information can be informal and still effective.
We are still trying to figure out how all 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.
Implementation Stage: Midway or at the End of Program Implementation
It is common for harm reduction programs to conduct an evaluation either midway or toward the end of their program implementation. These types of evaluations can be process evaluations, outcome evaluations, impact evaluations or a combination of the three. The program evaluation data that is usually produced through evaluations done at this stage can range from being focused on activity or operations (process), whether the program has accomplished its goal (outcome), or the extent to which change among clients has occurred (impact).
The audiences best suited to receive these types of evaluations are both internal and external. The key here is determining which data is appropriate to share with the general public and/or your funder, and which data should remain internal to be utilized by staff for program improvement. The evaluation results from this implementation stage can be used to strengthen the program delivery, share best practices, or make the case to community and funders alike.
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.
