Impact and Improvement Hub
Providing you with the resources, tools, and tips to support you in evaluating your work with young people to get (even) better at what you do. The Resource Hub brings it all together.
Journeying to Impact and Quality
Meaningful impact is closely linked to the quality of our provision. By systematically gaining knowledge about the strengths of our work with young people, areas of improvement, and which components of our practice are ‘must haves’ for meaningful impact and which are not, we can put our limited time, energy and resources where they will create the most significant positive change for individuals and communities. This will support us to design meaningful quality improvement steps.
How to use the Hub
Our resource hubs are digital resources to support your practice. The resources are collated from different organisations, sectors and countries giving you a sense of the breadth of the field. They are designed to facilitate your self-directed study of impact measurement and continuous improvement. The resources also support the learning you might do on our Impact and Improvement sessions or programme, extending the learning further and deepening your application of theory to practice.
Evaluating impact is a journey of continuous learning and quality improvement for every organisation. While no one size fits all, the good news is you can start this work at any time.
The resources in this Hub are structured around eight questions to promote reflection and curiosity. You don’t have to work through the questions in order, but we do recommend you engage with all of them; they are all equally important.
You can dive into the theory or get practical advice via tools, tips, and training for each question.
It will take time – particularly in the beginning - to think about these questions: but it is mainly time that is required, not necessarily external consultancy, expertise or funding.
So, whether you're just starting out, or looking to advance your existing impact, evaluation, and learning culture, you’ll find resources to support you on your journey.
Ready to dive in? Check out this short video to get a detailed overview about this Hub and the tools and resources that it contains.
1. Why do we do what we do?
Understand your context, key stakeholders, and the needs/wants and assets of the young people you support.
2. What exactly are we doing?
Logically design your provision to meet the needs and assets identified. Think about how to communicate your provision clearly.
3. Are we doing it consistently well?
Ensure you are consistently delivering high quality programmes to maximise the outcomes young people gain.
4. Are we true to our intentions?
Monitor fidelity or ‘faithfulness’ to your theory of change, and what you set out to offer to young people.
5. What do young people think about what we do?
Work out how to get quality feedback from young people who engage with your organisation and its work.
6. Are we achieving our aims?
Understand how to evaluate your impact and progress towards your (and young people’s) goals.
7. Are we a learning organisation?
Embed the learning from your ongoing evaluation activity into your organisational strategy.
8. How safe and ethical is our evaluation?
Check you have met all the legal requirements to safeguard young people in your evaluation activities.
Needs Analysis
Curious about the design of the Research Hub? The College conducted a sector needs analysis to understand what support is needed to embed impact evaluation in the youth sector. This Resource Hub directly addresses the needs highlighted. The report may be a useful resource to stimulate impact conversations in your organisation or region
