Maximising the impact of your evaluation findings

• **Problem: **Running evaluations within government and public services is essential. However, the challenge lies in ensuring that the findings and recommendations from these evaluations have a real impact on decision-making and policy improvement.
• **Why it matters: Evaluation **findings directly influence the quality of policies, strategies, and services provided to the public. Effective evaluations help ensure that resources are used efficiently and that government actions align with the needs and expectations of citizens.
• **Solution: **To maximise the impact of evaluation findings, key steps include engaging key stakeholders, presenting findings effectively, communicating widely, and developing action plans for accountability and improvement.

Evaluating projects, programmes, or policies within government, or for any public service, is essential. It helps policymakers, parliamentarians, and informed members of the public answer critical questions like, "Are we doing things right?", "Are these the right things to do?" and “How could we improve?”

Identifying and engaging the right people who will use the evaluation findings is crucial for ensuring its relevance and effectiveness. These ‘primary intended users’ are specific individuals within a particular organisation who have the capacity to bring about change based on the evaluation's outcomes, such as altering policies or improving management strategies.

Evaluation also helps public servants to analyse arguments, scrutinise evidence, and assess claims to ensure effective decision-making. However, it's crucial that the findings or recommendations that emerge from an evaluation land with your audience and ultimately make a difference in how policies are made and improved. So, how can you make sure your evaluations have a real impact?

Whether you are a policymaker, a researcher, or an advocate, the insights presented here will offer valuable guidance on how to harness the power of evaluation for the better.

Presenting your findings

Picking the right ways to share evaluation results is essential for making sure people hear about them and grasp why they matter.

It’s likely that you will need to write an evaluation report, but not all reports are created equal! Keeping in mind these top tips will improve your chances of writing an engaging report.

• Executive Summary & Key Takeaways: Public servants are often short on time, provide an executive summary at the beginning of the report that highlights the most important findings. Highlight key takeaways or key messages throughout the report to reinforce important points.
• **Emphasise recommendations: **Make the recommendations stemming from the evaluation accessible and obvious, for those who may not have time to read the entire document.
• **Clear and Concise Language: **Use plain language and avoid jargon to make the report accessible to a wider audience.
• Visual Elements: Incorporate charts, graphs, and data visualisations to illustrate key findings, trends, and statistics. Include relevant images, photographs, and infographics to break up text and make the report visually appealing.
• Quotes and Testimonials: Include quotes or testimonials from stakeholders or those affected by the evaluated programs or policies to add a human touch and convey the real impact.
• Bullet Points and Subheadings: Organise content using bullet points and clear subheadings to improve readability and navigation.
• **User-Centred Approach: **Tailor the report's content and format to the needs and preferences of the target audience, such as policymakers or the general public.
• **Appendices: **Place detailed data, technical information, or lengthy documentation in appendices to keep the main report focused and concise.
• Accessibility: Ensure that the report is accessible to individuals with disabilities, including providing alternative text for images and using accessible document formats.

If you’re looking for report inspiration, explore an example from Equal Measures 2030.

If you’re running an evaluation, you should collaborate closely with the people who will use your evaluation results. Equally, if you’re helping to manage an evaluation with an external evaluator, use these discussions to let them know how you would like your findings presented, what type of information suits best (e.g. text, pictures, numbers, or a mix of everything), and how long you’d like the outputs to be — or how long your audience would be willing to listen or watch if it's a presentation.

It’s important to remember why you're writing up your findings in the first place:

• Is it to keep everyone interested?
• Is it to give feedback to the people collecting data?
• Is it to share initial findings?
• Is it to make recommendations along the way?
• Is it to get feedback on earlier drafts?
• Is it to help with planning and decisions?
• Or is it just to share what you've found with a wider audience?

All these questions can help decide how you should pull your findings together.

Getting the word out

Once the evaluation report is finished, it's crucial to communicate effectively to make the whole process worthwhile. This means sharing the findings widely, taking the right actions, and sharing lessons learnt. Here are some summarised tips to make sure this goes well:

• **Include plans for sharing right from the start: **Planning a communication strategy early in the project will help ensure that sharing the evaluations findings is not an afterthought.
• Share the information widely, both inside and outside your organisation: Spreading the findings broadly ensures that a diverse range of stakeholders, including internal teams and external partners, are informed. This can help to foster broader understanding, support, and potential collaboration.
• Adapt your messages and how you share them for different groups of people: Different audiences have varying needs and preferences for receiving information. Tailoring the message and its delivery (such as presentations, reports, or infographics) to suit different groups should help improve engagement and understanding.
• Highlight the important findings to get people interested: Highlighting key discoveries or insights draws attention and sparks interest. It helps stakeholders quickly grasp the significance of the evaluation and why it matters.
• **Be flexible and take advantage of opportunities to share: **Staying open to unexpected opportunities to disseminate findings, such as conferences, workshops, or media interviews, can significantly extend the reach and impact of your message.
• **Connect this communication with other related efforts to make it more valuable: **Linking the evaluation results with other similar initiatives or studies can provide a more comprehensive understanding and add value to ongoing discussions or research on the topic.
• Plan how to share when things didn't go as planned to learn from it: Sharing not just successes but also challenges and failures is crucial for learning. It encourages a culture of transparency and continuous improvement, and can provide valuable lessons for similar future endeavours.
• Build relationships with other leaders who can use what you've learned in their own work: Networking and building alliances with leaders in related fields can facilitate the exchange of ideas and best practices. It also opens avenues for collaborative efforts and leveraging each other’s experiences.

Recommendations and action plans

If recommendations emerge as a result of the evaluation's findings, involve stakeholders in their development and review processes. This inclusivity not only fosters a broader perspective but also contributes positively to the practical application of the evaluation's findings. When leading an evaluation, make sure to engage and involve the individual or group overseeing the evaluation (such as a manager or evaluation steering committee), in the recommendation development phase. Gaining the support of these individuals or groups is pivotal in ensuring that the evaluation's findings are effectively disseminated and implemented.

Once recommendations have been developed, action plans serve as a tool in helping to ensure evaluation findings and recommendations are followed up. By outlining specific steps, responsibilities, and timelines for addressing recommendations, action plans provide a clear roadmap for translating evaluation insights into tangible improvements. This structured approach ensures that issues are addressed and the evaluation's impact is maximised, ultimately leading to more effective programs and policies. Action plans don’t need to be complex, but they offer a starting point for accountability and an indication of who is responsible.

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