Local Evaluation of Children's Services Learning from the Children's ...

tantamount to auditing when originally it had been promoted as a tool fordevelopment. Local evaluators described how this motivated some projects toprovide positive information to help support future funding rather than a morecomprehensive representation of their successes and failures. One evaluatorexplained:I have to say, that at the beginning of the evaluation, it was just going to be aprogramme for the programme itself. But once the evaluation was almostcomplete, it was quite clear to me that it was then going to be used to auditservices, which was inhibiting. Because it puts one in a very difficult positionabout what level of information you put in, because it can be used as a rodagainst services. So that was quite difficult and quite ethically challenging.Conversely, it was suggested by some evaluators that a number of projects haverecognised that evaluation can be a useful tool for demonstrating effectiveness topotential funders. For example, an evaluator of a Wave One partnership suggested:… if they don’t have any evaluation material it makes it very difficult for us tocontinue the service because we can’t see what impact they are having on theyoung people they’re working with. And I think service providers kind ofunderstand that. So they do see a reason why they should be evaluating andalso to kind of show off really to people and develop some best practice in thearea.The same evaluator indicated that more positive relationships had been built withprojects over time through building clear understandings of the purpose andimportance of evaluation:We definitely have a better working relationship than we used to I suppose. Ithink that’s because I’ve been here for a few years now and the Children's Fundhas been going for a long time. And they kind of understand what’s expected ofthem more, they understand why we need to evaluate and why they need toevaluate as well.1.3 Children’s Fund Local Evaluations’ Principles and StandardsThe Children’s Fund Guidance makes a number of statements about the standardslocal evaluators are expected to adopt; these include the usefulness of evaluationsfor developing evidence based understandings of what works and why, as well asbeing ‘formative, open, independent and inclusive’ (CYPU, 2001, p11). This alsoreflects current government thinking on standards that evaluations of public policyshould adopt. A recent Cabinet Office report, for example, states that evaluationshould: contribute to advancing knowledge and understanding; be defensible interms of methods that are appropriate to the evaluation questions being addressed;12Chapter 1