The CCYP is committed to supporting the work of individuals and organisations who are striving to improve the wellbeing of children, young people &/or their families. In keeping with our vision, values and objectives, these evaluation activities are informed by the following key principles:

• Capacity building - whereby we aim to improve people's (including our own) knowledge, skills, resources, systems &/or practices in relation to planning, managing &/or evaluating their activities;
• Value adding - whereby we seek to understand, complement and enhance people's current activities;
• Accessibility - whereby we offer varied levels & types of support, as affordably as possible (including some free, CCYP-funded support);
• Inclusiveness - whereby we seek to incorporate feedback from as many key stakeholders as possible;
• Participation - whereby we seek to incorporate feedback directly from children and young people whenever possible;
• Evidence generating - whereby we apply high quality evaluation methods that build on existing relevant literature.

Types of Evaluation Support Activities

The CCYP currently offers the following evaluation support activities:

• CCYP-funded - Brief, basic advice about program planning, evaluation and funding applications for local organisations committed to improving the wellbeing of children, young people &/or their families;
• Recommended Weblinks for Evaluation Project - featuring links to other websites offering free guidelines &/or resources to support quality program planning and evaluation;
• CCYP-funded - Access to our email list and fortnightly Events Updates, featuring information about professional development opportunities available locally or nationally; and
• Fee-Paying - Full range of program planning and evaluation Consultancy Services for organisations committed to improving the wellbeing of children, young people &/or their families.

We are also developing the following additional evaluation support activities, which will soon be available through our website:

• CCYP Guide to Program Planning & Evaluation - a basic, user-friendly overview about the key stages of program planning, management and evaluation, including some helpful tips, example tools and templates; and
• Professional Development Opportunities - including seminars &/or workshops to introduce people to our evaluation flowcharts, tools & templates.

Rationale for CCYP's Evaluation Support Activities

The CCYP commitment to evaluation support activities is based on extensive national and international research, which has demonstrated the wide-ranging and life-long benefits of high quality child and family services, especially those targeting early childhood. Such services improve individual's developmental, educational, psychosocial, health and wellbeing outcomes throughout their lifecourses - ultimately, leading to wide-ranging community-level benefits.

Updated: 03 March 2010