Guidelines for Evaluating Community Crime Prevention Projects
INTRODUCTION
WHO THE GUIDELINES ARE FOR
- people managing small, community-based crime prevention projects
- anyone else involved in crime prevention projects, including staff, participants, community groups and funding agencies.
HOW TO USE THESE GUIDELINES
Read this brief introduction
It will give you an overview of how evaluation fits into crime prevention projects.
Read text that looks like this to find out what to do
Read text that looks like this if you want detailed explanations. You can read through these Guidelines very quickly, just pause on this type of text if you want more explanations or details.
Look at the title page of each of the 7 evaluation stages
Each title page summarises what you do in that stage.
Use these Guidelines to plan and manage the evaluation of your project
Each of the 7 stages takes you step-by-step through the evaluation process. It also provides you with planning sheets and additional resources you can use for evaluating your project. You should make copies of the planning sheets for each project.
WHAT IS EVALUATION?
Evaluation is that part of a project where you stand back and take stock. It is where you:
- monitor what you are doing
- measure what you have done
- find out what was effective and what was not.
It is not an add-on feature of well-funded projects. It is a necessary part of all projects. Evaluation is at its best when it is fully integrated into all project stages.
It is there to help you:
- learn from your mistakes
- pass on the benefits of your experience to others
- account for the money and resources you have used.
Evaluation is about asking the right questions at the right time.
WHEN TO PLAN THE EVALUATION
- Plan the evaluation at the same time as the project itself is being planned-right at the start.
This allows you to decide when the project will need feedback on how it is going and when it will have money to make any changes necessary. - If you are managing a project that does not have an evaluation scheduled in the project plan, review what sort of information people might need during the remainder of the project's lifetime.
- Use the description of the types of evaluation to decide on the evaluation most suitable to your project.
Even if it is too late to make changes to your own project, it is still valuable to evaluate ongoing or completed projects. Evaluation will tell stakeholders in the project how successful the project was and provide valuable information to other people planning community crime prevention projects.
TYPES OF EVALUATION
This section explains the different types of evaluation.
An evaluation for development or proactive evaluation is undertaken when people are aware there is a problem but they do not know its extent. Typical questions are:
- what is the level of crime in the community?
- what are community concerns and perceptions about this crime?
- who wants to see a crime prevention project set up?
A design or clarificative evaluation helps you decide on the best way to organise the project.
Typical questions are:
- what is the most effective way to respond to these particular crimes?
- what have other communities with similar problems done?
- how effective have comparable projects been?
- what sort of outcomes can the community realistically expect?
- what sort of resources, funds and skills will be required?
- what management will be needed, particularly for longer projects?
A process or interactive evaluation examines the project's implementation and whether it was delivered in the way it was intended. Typical questions are:
- was the project implemented as planned?
- what led to any variations of the implementation plan?
- what consequences are likely from changes, and are they serious?
- what does the project need to do in response to any changes?
This can occur at any point of the project.
An evaluation for management or monitoring evaluation focuses on how adequate the project's management, planning and finance procedures are and how they might be improved. An impact evaluation is done to find out what effect the project had. Typical questions are:
- how was the project implemented?
- were there any changes in the crime levels?
- were there any unexpected effects?
- does the project need to be modified?
PEOPLE AND GROUPS IN THE EVALUATION
In these Guidelines each person or group involved in evaluation is always called the name highlighted in bold below.
The Guidelines assume the project will have a Project Committee responsible for overall direction and management of the project, and a Project Manager responsible for day-to-day running of the project.
The Project Committee will usually be made up of representatives of:
- people affected by crime, such as traders, ratepayers or residents
- those that provide services aimed at preventing or reducing crime, such as local councils, schools, and community groups
- community organisations that help those affected by crime, such as churches, youth refuges, women's refuges, and support groups
- professionals and experts such as counsellors, youth workers, doctors, planners and social workers
- police.
Larger projects will sometimes employ support staff to help the Project Manager. Where the project pays staff or a Project Manager, this will usually be done through a host organisation (sometimes called the lead agency), such as a local council or an incorporated community group. Staff will usually be employed under the host organisation's conditions of employment. If the project receives funding, this is usually paid to the host organisation.
The project will be evaluated by an Evaluator-someone inside the project (an internal evaluator) or a consultant recruited from outside the project (an external evaluator).
There are two broad groups of people who will be involved or affected by the project, although they
may not be directly involved in its day-to-day work. They are:
- stakeholders -people and groups directly involved in planning and running the project, or affected by the crimes the project aims to prevent. They should be represented on the Project Committee.
- interested parties -people who know about the project, may be interested in it, but are not directly involved. Interested parties are usually not directly involved in implementing the Evaluator's recommendations.