Concept programme 2018 Monitoring and Evaluation Report - Written by Rachel Escott
Concept programme 2018 Monitoring and Evaluation Report
Written by Rachel Escott
“The Concept programme run by Pedestrian is an example of a youth engagement programme developed and run with care, sensitivity and a concentration on delivering value for the young people participating”
Rachel Escott – Executive Summary
We were impressed with the in-depth report written by our External Evaluator Rachel Escott. The report focuses on the 2018 delivery Concept and refers to adaptations and improvements made in response to the external interim evaluation and the in house assessment from the 2017 programme. It is in total 55 pages long so we thought we would share some of the highlights and the full report can be downloaded from www.pedestrian.info/learning-resources/
Highlights:
Rachel highlights how Concept supported young people with their creativity and creative expression. Young people were asked what they had learned - in relation to creativity, these included learning to write more complex lyrics, different ways of singing or learning to hear other types of music, e.g. on the radio, differently, with more layers. Most said they were going to carry on making more music, including producing it through digital technology as they felt that was an aspect that had been opened up to them.
The project also did well at developing the workforce, with experienced workshop leaders and interns working together to deliver the music work. Rachel said “Concept has made good strides in identifying good staff practices, and modelling and training staff in them. This has largely supported the quality of delivery of the project, as well as supporting individual staff members to grow their own practice and expand their work opportunities.”
Areas for future development:
Rachel discusses the need for continued development of partnership working, highlighting both positives and areas for development.
“One of the key partner organisations, The Core at Corby, reported on the benefits of involvement “Being part of Concept with Pedestrian has enabled The Core to engage with several young people that had not engaged with us before. Running a music project has widened our reach considerably, engaging those that would not wish to engage with more traditional theatre-based activities such as youth theatre.”
She goes on to say that “This is an area that could benefit from further interrogation, both on the range of organisations partnered with, and to establish more concretely the motivations and intended outcomes of those organisations to ensure the partners also achieve their objectives.
Rachel recommends that we ‘conduct a focussed evaluation project on this aspect, properly resourced, as partnership working will only become increasingly important in today’s funding environment so it is valuable that all organisations’ aims and needs are understood.”
