Our blog
We believe in sharing the knowledge and learnings we capture through our work with people and organisations across the health and social services sectors.
Our blog consists of thoughtful and practical content and insight across a range of topic areas that aims to better enable people and organisations to plan, design, implement and evaluate their work.
What does program evaluation in the local government context look like?
With visibility comes accountability and scrutiny, and we believe that through regular evaluation, local governments can continuously improve the programs and services they deliver and generate greater impact for their communities We understand that evaluation can be an unfamiliar concept for many. So let’s get started. What type of programs and service can be evaluated in your local government?
When to consider Social Return on Investment (SROI) over a traditional evaluation approach
Social Return on Investment or SROI is an evaluative approach that combines participatory evaluation with aspects of economic analysis. We take a look at what SROI is (and isn’t), how it differs from other evaluation approaches, and some tips on when to consider using it to evaluate your work.
Getting ‘Evaluation Ready’ - making it stick in your organisation
In this final post of our Evaluation Ready series, we explore a few helpful tips to make evaluation a priority within your organisation. Once you know how to put together a basic framework to guide how to do a program evaluation, the next challenge can often be making evaluation a consistent part of the work you and your colleagues do.
Getting ‘Evaluation Ready’ - how to evaluate your program in 5 steps
This simple yet structured process to evaluation can be scaled up or down depending on the size of your program or service. We specialise in supporting both funders, service providers and NGOs to evaluate their programs, whether that be planning and designing an approach, setting up data collection systems and protocols, or undertaking how program reviews lead to impactful results.
Getting ‘Evaluation Ready’ - the basics of program evaluation
A three-part blog post to support organisations plan and undertake an effective evaluation of any program that aims to create positive health, social or environmental change. This initial post introduces basic concepts in evaluation, drivers and benefits, critical evaluation skills and ethical issues when evaluating.
Timing is everything: Primary Health Networks (PHNs) and program evaluation
Central to being an effective commissioner of health services is the ability to use insight to make better investment decisions. Given that the Beacon Strategies team has been involved in a number of evaluation and program reviews in the PHN environment we think it is timely to share a few tips in relation to commissioning effective evaluations and program reviews.