Back by popular demand!

Online Workshop with Julian King, 20 & 27 March 2024

EVALUATION & VALUE FOR MONEY - Two half-day sessions, 9:30am-12:30pm NZST

Please note that registration is limited to 30 participants

Cost: This is a paid event organised by the Aotearoa New Zealand Evaluation Association (ANZEA). All prices are in NZD. ANZEA Members: $295+GST,  Non-Members: $375+GST

If you would like to join ANZEA prior to registering for the event, please go to anzea.org.nz

Please note: This workshop is offered as two 3-hour sessions, to be held on consecutive weeks. Registration covers both sessions with the expectation of attendance on both dates for completion of the workshop.

Overview
It is important for good resource allocation, accountability, learning and improvement that policies, programs and other initiatives undergo rigorous evaluations of value for money (VfM). Many evaluators, however, lack training and experience in this area. This workshop offers a set of techniques to address that gap. Combining strengths of evaluation and economics, the approach builds on theory and practice that will already be familiar to many evaluators, though there are also evaluators and commissioners to whom these techniques may be new.

This workshop provides practical guidance, underpinned by a sound theoretical framework, for evaluating VfM. It focuses on unpacking a process of explicit evaluative reasoning (using rubrics) and the use of mixed methods (qualitative, quantitative, and economic).

A sequence of steps will be shared which help evaluators and commissioners develop and use context-specific definitions of good performance and VfM (i.e. VfM rubrics). These definitions provide a system for ensuring the evaluation: is aligned with the design and context of the policy, program or initiative; collects and analyses appropriate evidence; draws sound conclusions; and answers VfM questions. Exercises and examples will be shared throughout the workshop.

The workshop includes a brief overview of economic methods of evaluation (e.g. cost-benefit analysis) including considerations for determining when to use them in a VfM assessment, and when to combine them with other evidence and values.

This workshop doesn’t provide detailed instruction in the design and implementation of economic evaluations, for which there are many courses already on offer.

The workshop is offered as two 3-hour sessions, to be held on consecutive weeks. Participants must sign up to attend both sessions.

Participants will learn how to:

• Frame an evaluative question about VfM
• Develop rubrics, comprising criteria (aspects of performance) and standards (levels of performance), to provide a transparent basis for making sound judgements about VfM
• Combine multiple sources of evidence to support nuanced evaluative judgements
• Incorporate economic evaluation within a VfM framework, where feasible and appropriate
• Interpret the evidence, using criteria and standards, to make sound evaluative judgements
• Present a clear and robust performance story, guided by the criteria and standards.

About Julian King

Julian King is the Director of Julian King & Associates Ltd and a member of the Kinnect Group. He specialises in evaluation and value for money. Julian’s PhD research developed the ‘Value for Investment’ approach that will be shared in this workshop. The approach is used globally to evaluate complex and hard-to-measure programs and policy reforms.
Oxford Policy Management is a significant early adopter of the approach, as described in this open-source guide to VfM assessment: https://www.julianking.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/OPM-approach-to-assessing-value-for-money.pdf. The approach has also been picked up by government agencies, consulting firms and NGOs around the world and is taught as part of the University of Melbourne’s online Master of Evaluation degree. Julian received the 2021 Australian Evaluation Society Evaluation Systems Award, recognising the adoption and use of the approach as a “flexible and collaborative approach that can be applied to all domains and program types”. https://www.aes.asn.au/awards-winner-spotlight/1003899-evaluation-systems-award-recipient-2021.
Julian has delivered workshops on this approach for evaluation societies and private sector organisations in Australia, New Zealand, Europe, USA, Africa, Asia, and UK.

Workshop flyer

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