Monitoring & Evaluation

• Why monitor and evaluate?
• The 6 month project review
• Walk Glasgow evaluation Case Study
• Other ways of monitoring your project
• Walking for Health research summaries
• Useful links

Why Monitor and Evaluate your project?

Monitoring and evaluation is essential for all projects. It is an important part of project planning and delivery. It can help you to:

• Learn from your work
• Deliver the best possible service
• Report back to partners and funders

It is a condition of grant that our funded community walking projects use the Walkers Database. As of January 2012 we have made the process of entering walker data much more streamlined and easy. The process is outlined in the scheme coordinator letter, but essentially, if you return the Walker Contact Details form 1 and New Walker Activity Form 2 to us at Paths for All, the walker information will be entered onto the database, and scheme coordinators having full access. The follow up of walkers which is done 6 months after they join a scheme will also be carried out by PFA.  This will be done by using a postal Follow up Activity Form 3.

The 6 month project review

We've been working with Evaluation Support Scotland and we have made some changes to the way in which we ask you to submit project reports. We are hopeful that this new process will allow you as Scheme Coordinators to keep tabs on how your project is going, and will allow us to review projects across the country. The new report is to be filled in every 6 months, with a final report due at the end of your funding period. Please get in touch with your Development Officer to discuss this report. There is also a guidance note which explains the report.

Walk Glasgow evaluation Case Study

Walk Glasgow was established in January 2009 and is a partnership project funded by Paths for All, NHS Greater Glasgow, Glasgow City Council and Glasgow Life. The aim of the project is to implement the walking recommendations within the Glasgow Physical Activity Strategy with an overall project vision to;

'Develop and promote walking opportunities across Glasgow, targeting groups least likely to take regular exercise, in order to increase physical activity levels and improve the health and wellbeing of city residents'.

During 2010, the second year of the project, The Walk Glasgow Coordinator, Heather Macleod undertook a review of their monitoring and evaluation strategy. Heather worked with Graeme Reekie from Evaluation Support Scotland and then with her steering group, to set outcomes, work out what the outcome indicators were, and finally to conduct an evaluation consultation with stakeholders including walkers and walk leaders. The following report outlines their findings and you can also view the evaluation framework. Heather developed a couple of tools to use with her walk leaders and with her walkers. Heather has given us permission to share these resources with the wider Scottish walking for health network. The walk leader survey was carried out as an email survey monkey. For further advice on setting up a survey monkey with your scheme, please contact Laurene Mackenzie at Paths for All.

Heather Macleod can be contacted at heather.macleod@glasgowlife.org.uk

 
Other ways of monitoring your project

Paths for All has produced a set of postcards which can be ordered from our walking for health merchandise section. These are a fun way of getting back data from your walkers or walk leaders. Walk About Stirling produced a Walker Evaluation toolkit for walk leaders who want to gather in data from walkers.

Walking for Health research summaries

Over the years Paths for All has been involved with a number of partners, projects and stakeholders to carry out research projects. Many of these are applied research projects, and have a practical application.  You can find this summary within the Monitoring and Evaluation downloads section here.

Useful links

Evaluation Support Scotland is a key site for support with monitoring and evaluation in Scotland. Contains links to guides, toolkits and training.

The Charities Evaluation Service contains a number of useful guides to evaluation.

The Scottish Physical Activity Research Collaboration (SPARColl), being led by Strathclyde University, is focusing on research into walking to provide more robust evidence for making policy to promote physical activity.

The SROI (Social Return on Investment) Network provides an approach to understanding and managing the impacts of a project, organisation or policy. It is based on stakeholders and puts financial value on the important impacts identified by stakeholders that do not have market values.

Greenspace Scotland also provides some useful tools such as Health Impact Assessment guidance and logic modeling guidance.