Since YGAM’s inception we have had a relentless focus on evaluation and securing external accreditations for our work. As you can imagine this gives an opportunity for continual external insight into what we deliver with the sole aim of continues development. 2019 was no different, as well as being recognied for the second year running as a Pearson Assured education provider, we also gained the prestigious City & Guilds Assured quality mark and became a formal City & Guilds approved centre.
In the Summer of 2019, we commissioned the National Council for Voluntary Organisations Charities Evaluation Services (NCVO CES) to undertake a further external evaluation looking at the impact of our work on practitioners and young people, building on our City, University of London academic evaluation two-years ago and evaluation of our operator training with University of East London. NCVO CES is the leading evaluation consultancy for the voluntary sector. In over 27 years, NCVO CES have worked with tens of thousands of voluntary organisations and funders, helping them improve their effectiveness through evaluation, theory of change and strategy support. NCVO CES consider evidence-based evaluation, a coherent strategy and sustainable resources to be essential components in helping organisations fulfil their mission. To view the report, please follow the link as below.
Commenting on the report, Mike Wojcik, YGAM Chair said ‘Working with NCVO CES has been a breath of fresh air. I am continually impressed how YGAM has adopted and evolved its educational offering following every external evaluation or accreditation project we embark upon. We will take the learning from NCVO report to further strengthen and build-upon what is already a popular programme with practitioners as we move to further scale our reach across the UK’.
NCVO CES Consultant said Radmila Evanics said ‘It has been a privilege to work with YGAM on evaluating this innovative programme. Speaking to practitioners and young people has shown us the timeliness of this work and the positive impact the programme is already having. We are pleased that YGAM will use our evaluation findings to inform future development of the education programme and drive continuous improvement. We look forward to seeing the programme continue to grow.’
Kev Clelland, Operation Director from YGAM who leads our programme said ‘This further evaluation serves as a great piece of learning as we deliver the national education programme. We will embed the recommendations from the evaluation, offering the best training and consistent support to practitioners, whilst continuing to regularly monitor and evaluate our progress and impact’.
YGAM’s focus on evaluation and external accreditations will continue in 2020 as we will:
- Work with NCVO CES to commission further, wider reaching impact evaluation for our practitioner workshops in quarter one which will report in 2021, detailing this year’s impact.
- Commit our annual Asdan Customised Accreditation, Pearson Assured and City & Guilds Assured provider quality inspections.
- Commission our first evaluation for our university & student engagement work.
- Commence ISO 9001 Quality Management Standard.
- Commission our first Return On Investment (ROI) study.
- Build upon the GambleAware / Clearview Research Gambling: the young BAME perspective and embed the recommendations from that report in to our work.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD NCVO REPORT
February 2020
