Participatory evaluation of a work-readiness program for refugees and people seeking asylum
2022
The challenge
A small NGO supporting refugees and people seeking asylum - particularly women and children who have experienced trauma - developed an education and work-readiness program to help participants build skills and experience to support independence, resilience, and positive future pathways.
After several years of implementation, the organisation commissioned an evaluation to understand how well the program was working and explore how it complemented other areas of support, including financial assistance and sport-based activities.
How we helped
We applied a utilisation-focused, mixed methods evaluation approach, aiming to generate findings that would directly inform organisational learning and decision-making. We co-developed evaluation criteria and performance standards in consultation with staff and refugee community advisors, and were informed by relevant literature. We also drew on an adapted outcomes harvesting methodology to explore and understand how the program contributed to change in participants’ lives.
The evaluation was guided by participatory and trauma-informed principles. Staff were actively involved in designing the evaluation, analysing data, and validating findings through workshops at multiple stages. As well as ensuring the findings were grounded in the reality of program delivery, our participatory approach helped to nurture and support strengthened evaluation capacity throughout the organisation
To uphold the principle of “nothing about us without us”, we worked with refugee community advisors to identify meaningful evaluation priorities from a community perspective and to ensure the evaluation process respected participants’ lived experiences. Data collection involved current and former program participants, organisation staff and volunteers, external informants, and independent substantiators.
Looking forward
The evaluation provided clear insight into the program’s contributions to individual and community change.
We created several case studies to illustrate the program’s real-life impact and support communication with funders and stakeholders. The evaluation also delivered actionable recommendations to strengthen program design and coherence, improve documentation of outcomes, and deepen integration across support areas.
Importantly, by embedding participation and community voice throughout, the evaluation built organisational learning and supported more reflective and responsive practice.