CHCORG610B Mange Change in a community sector organisation CHCCS503A Develop, implement and review services and programs to meet client needs Robyn Bosley Head Teacher Community Services Section Campbelltown College

Introduction Your name Name of organisation Target group Number of employees Your role Organisations philosophy

Outcomes and Expectations

In times of change…….. The Certainty ofUncertainty

Community Sector – Current Context “Some of the key features of the human services NGO environment at present include: Increased outsourcing of government services to the sector and associated risk management issues The ‘Building Capacity’ focus of government Increased interest in social capital, civil society and the role of NGOs Weak links between research, policy and practice expertise Increased focus on NGO accountability by government and the private sector Conflation and confusion between accountability and control by government High compliance costs relative to the funding levels of most NGOs Relatively poor wages and conditions A reactive rather than a proactive culture Serious and growing retention and recruitment issues Ongoing impacts of competition and funding policy on sector viability Lack of long term planning and vision within the sector “ (excerpt from NCOSS Sector Development Strategy )

Evaluation in community services Evaluations contribute to transparency and accountability to clients, stakeholders and funders. The use of evaluation within the community sector can not only contribute to quality improvement within services and organisations, but it is also a critical way in which the community sector can inform policy development. Adapted from SACOSS Evaluation principles and Frameworks (2008)

Evaluation Defined Green and Kreuter (1991) have perhaps the broadest definition of evaluation, outlining it as a “comparison of an object of interest against a standard of acceptability”. Weiss (1998) has a more targeted view: “Evaluation is the systematic assessment of the operation and/or the outcomes of a program or a policy, compared to a set of explicit or implicit standards, as a means of contributing to the improvement of the program or policy”.

Evaluation Evaluation can assess organisational practices and enable an identification of assumptions and intentions. The process can therefore open up a myriad possibilities in regard to the development of new goals and objectives of what an organisation wants to achieve. The findings of an evaluation may highlight deficiencies in governance, policy, procedure, processes, service provision and resource management. Alternatively the findings can identify the elements of service delivery or process that are most successful in fulfilling the needs of the community they serve.

RESULTS BASED ACCOUNTABILITY An introduction: Mark Friedman (2005) Trying hard is not good enough

What is RESULTS BASED ACCOUNTABILITY ? RBA is a disciplined way of thinking and taking action that communities can use to improve the lives of children, families and the community as a whole. RBA can also be used by agencies to improve the performance of their programs. RBA can be adapted to fit the unique needs and circumstances of different communities and programs.

Results Accountability is made up of two parts: Population Accountability about the well-being of WHOLE POPULATIONS For Communities – Cities – Counties – States – Nations Performance Accountability about the well-being of CLIENT POPULATIONS For Programs – Agencies – and Service Systems

RESULTS BASED ACCOUNTABILITY – the basics Results (or outcomes): What conditions do we want for children, families and the community as a whole? Indicators: How could we measure these conditions?

Baselines: What does the data show about where we’ve been and where we’re headed? What works (or strategies): What works to improve these conditions? Turning the curve: What does success look like if we change the direction of the baseline for the better.

Performance measures: How do we know if programs are working? RBA uses three common sense performance measures: How much did we do? How well did we do it? Is anyone better off?

The MASH example …. The difference between programs and populations – we must do both Programs must do the best possible job improving the lives of their customers those directly served by the program. For populations we need to create the required partnerships to make progress for the people receiving services or not.

“we need a system of thought and action that allows population well being and the performance of agencies to be treated separately but connected” Freidman We often use population measures and use them as performance measure for their agency

Results Accountability is made up of two parts: Population Accountability about the well-being of WHOLE POPULATIONS For Communities – Cities – Counties – States – Nations Performance Accountability about the well-being of CLIENT POPULATIONS For Programs – Agencies – and Service Systems

DEFINITIONS Result or outcome A condition of well-being for children, adults, families or communities Children born healthy, Children ready for school, Safe communities, Clean Environment, Prosperous Economy Indictor or benchmark A measure which helps quantify the achievement of a result Rate of low-birth weight babies, Percent ready at K entry, crime rate, air quality index, unemployment rate Performance measure A measure of how well a program, agency or service system is working 1.How much did we do? 2. How well did we do it? 3. Is anyone better off ? = Customer Results 3 types : Performance Population

From Ends to Means From Talk to Action RESULT or OUTCOME INDICATOR or BENCHMARK Strategies PERFORMANCE MEASURE Customer result = Ends Service delivery = Means ENDS MEANS

Programs and Agencies managers have Two responsibilities Program management responsibility (service performance) Community leadership responsibility (partnerships at population level)

IS IT A RESULT, INDICATOR OR PERFORMANCE MEASURE? _____ 1. Safe Community _____ 2. Crime Rate _____ 3. Average Police Dept response time _____ 4. An educated workforce _____ 5. Adult literacy rate _____ 6. People have living wage jobs and income _____ 7. % of people with living wage jobs and income _____ 8. % of participants in job training who get living wage jobs 1. R 2. I 3. PM 4. R 5. I 6. R 7. I 8. PM

Leaking roof – RBA thinking process (results thinking in everyday life) Experience Measure Story behind the baseline (causes) Partners: What works Action plan forecast Turned curve

Leaking roof – RBA thinking process (results thinking in everyday life) Experience Water on the floor Measure Inches of water in the bucket Story behind the baseline (causes) Old roof missing tiles Partners: roofer, friend What works replace tiles, get new roof, move Action plan roofer will replace ties next week forecast Turned curve

Working on the means not the ends Data is never the purpose of the work What happens when there is no water in the bucket and the roof is still not fixed. The purpose of the work is a fixed roof the amount of water in the bucket Baseline chart on the wall The story behind the baseline should always precede thinking about actions Collaboration – is not the purpose of the work but a means to bring people together for action

The false gods of distraction System reform and service integration – the idea of the front and back room. Ideally we would like a front room where our client get what they need based on what they need (not all created categories ). In the back room we will categorise people to clam every dollar. ALL WE HAVE IS THE BACK ROOM. The question of What do you need? becomes What can we pay for? The funding system largely drives the service system. This is where system reform and service integration is helpful. Centralisation and decentralisation – regorganisation is not always helpful These are only helpful when they improve performance of our services and conditions of well being for our communities

Turn the curve table: passion and discipline Results accountability thinking is the discipline that made these passionate people successful.

Population accountability Population Results Experience – temporary substitute for data (Action plans) experience is the bridge between results and indicators Indictors- step by step process Baselines – each indicator needs a baseline – 2 parts historic and future. Baselines allow us to define success as turning the curve

Story behind the baselines – info and research – stories both positive and negative (partners and diversity) teen pregnancy Research provides a discipline way of pursuing unanswered questions about cause. – incorrect assumptions about causes. Eg homelessness Needs assessment - results and indicators first. This is a tool too help understand causes and craft solutions. Limitation to needs assessment – lack of services = need for more services – We need both service and non service solutions Partners - inclusion is a process not an end point – who is needed at the table? – wearing two hats – fiscal people What works - what works to do better? – pointer to action

Strategy and Action plan Priority setting is always based on criteria 4 criteria to simplify this process: Specific – everyone has safe housing vs build 10 units of low income housing Leverage - how much difference will the proposed action make on results, indicators and turning the curve Values – are these consistent with our values? Reach- is it feasible and affordable? No cost and low cost Rating - high, medium and low for the four criteria Budget – Powerful visions are a magnets for resources

Talk to action process as a whole RBA takes the definition of success using simple language and measurable terms and uses the definition to drive action plans and budgets

How to choose a population result? We want children who are…… We want families who are….. We want to live in a nation, state etc. that is ….

Population Accountability Problem!! Avoid referencing services in results statements Results: All children receive high quality childcare Indicator:% of children who receive high quality child care Story: not enough quality childcare What works: more high quality childcare

Choosing the best indictor to represent results? Communication power Representative power Data power