Process Evaluation of Ballymun Development Group for Children and Young People: December 2003 - May 2005
Ballymun Development GroupforChildren and Young People:
Final Report on
Process Evaluation
For the period December 2003 to May 2005
By
Kieran McKeown
Kieran McKeown Limited
Social & Economic Research Consultant,
16 Hollybank Road, Drumcondra, Dublin 9, Ireland.
Phone 01-8309506. E-mail:
June 2005
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Chapter One
Origin and Activities
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Composition of the Group
1.3 Meetings of the Group
1.4 Preparing a Ten-Year Strategic Plan
1.5 Working Groups
1.6 Consulting with Children and Young People
1.7 Development of Paid Executive Capacity
1.8 Communications Strategy
1.9 Input of Atlantic
1.10 Summary
Chapter Two
Evaluation of Group Processes
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Interaction Patterns
2.3 The Role of Group Members
2.4 Acting without Personal or Organisational Self-Interest
2.5 Influence of Atlantic
2.6 Summary and Conclusion
Chapter Three
Evaluation of Group Tasks
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Commissioning Consultants to Prepare Ten-Year Strategy
3.3 Setting Up Working Groups
3.4 Commissioning Consultants for Communications Strategy
3.5 Summary and Conclusion
Chapter Four
The Building Blocks of Service Planning:
Guidelines on How to Prepare a Strategic Plan
4.1 Introduction
4.2 The Building Blocks of a Strategy
4.3 Applying the Framework in Practice
4.4 Summary and Conclusion
Chapter Five
Summary and Conclusion
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Key Findings of Evaluation
5.3 Need for Appropriate Conceptual Framework
5.4 Need for Appropriate Institutional Framework
5.5 Need for Appropriate Executive Capacity
5.6 Need for Clarity in Relationship with Atlantic
5.7 Concluding Comment
Appendix to Chapter One
Bibliography
Acknowledgements
This report is about Ballymun Development Group for Children and Young People (BDGCYP). In the course of preparing the report, all group members were interviewed and we gratefully acknowledge them for giving their time and sharing their views. The members of BDGCYP are:
- Nóirín Hayes, Chair of the Development Group, Faculty of Applied Arts, Dublin Institute of Technology
- Declan Dunne, CEO of Ballymun Partnership
- Ciarán Murray, MD of Ballymun Regeneration Limited & Assistant City Manager of Dublin City Council
- Hugh Greaves, Co-Ordinator, Ballymun Local Drugs Task Force
- Bernie Roe, Co-Ordinator, Ballymun RAPID
- Stephen Rourke, Chair, Ballymun RAPID
- Donnacadh Hurley, Manager, Ballymun Regional Youth Resource
- Mary Kenny, Project Manager, Ballymun Primary Healthcare Initiative
- Ian Murphy, Assistant Chief Inspector, Directorate of Regional Services, Department of Education & Science.
The group was formed at the initiative of Atlantic Philanthropies in December 2003 and Tom Costello provided an insightful perspective on its role since that time.
Michael Little is head of Dartington Social Research Unit in England and an adviser to Atlantic on its programme for disadvantaged children and youth in Ireland. He has worked with BDGCYP through offering advice and facilitating some of its meetings. My interview with Michael was helpful and he was generous in offering materials that wouldassist in preparing the evaluation.
Tom Murray of FGS Consulting, who headed the team which prepared a framework document on the strategy for BDGCYP, made some considered and constructive observations about his experience of working with the group.
Ann Matthews, the Project Co-ordinator of BDGCYP since April 2005, was very helpful. She sourced and copied a range of useful materials and helped to check out some facts.
A particular word of thanks is due to Stephen Rourke with whom I liaised throughout the study and offered access to key documents.
As with all studies, it is important to emphasise that responsibility for the report rests entirely with the author.
Introduction
This report was commissioned by the Ballymun Development Group for Children and Young People (BDGCYP). The Terms of Reference state that the objectives of the process evaluation are:
- To document the progress being made by the Development Group and by sub-committees and task groups set up by the Development Group
- To consider the extent to which tasks agreed by the Development Group have been progressed and completed in an effective and efficient manner
- To critically assess the ways in which the Development Group has worked together in the formulation and compilation of the 10 year strategy for children and young people and in other tasks undertaken by the group
- To determine the extent to which the membership of the Development Group comprises the people required to draw up the 10 year strategy and whether it is necessary to add to the membership of the Development Group
- To consider the structure of the Development Group and ways in which this structure might be enhanced in the pursuance of the objectives of the Development Group (i.e. production and implementation of the 10 year strategy)
- To assess the levels of communication(s) and interaction between the Development Group and other key stakeholders (eg. young people, parents, teachers, healthcare workers) and ways in which communication might be improved and enhanced
- To make ongoing recommendations to the Development Group in relation to its structures and operations, especially in the context of the production of the 10 year strategy and the implementation of this strategy between 2005 and 2015.
The methodology involved interviewing each member of BDGCYP and a number of related stakeholders. It also involved reviewing a substantial body of documentation generated by the group such as minutes of meetings, terms of reference for the ten-year strategy, for the working groups and for the communications consultant, the FGS report, the group’s application for funding to Atlantic, memos and papers prepared by members of the group and by Michael Little, etc. These sources of information are the basis on which we have built our analysis and conclusions.
The report comprises five chapters which, collectively, address the requirements in the terms of reference. Chapter One describes the work undertaken by the group with a more detailed chronological account of its main discussions and decisions in the Appendix to Chapter One. Chapter Two offers an evaluation of the group’s internal processes while Chapter Three assesses its effectiveness in achieving the task of preparing a ten-year strategy for children and young people in Ballymun. In Chapter Four we offer a template for preparing a strategic plan since our analysis in Chapters Two and Three suggests that, despite the expertise of individual members in the preparing strategies for their respective organisations, BDGCYP itself seems to lack a clear strategy on how to do strategic planning and the requirements of doing this to a high standard within a tight timeframe. In Chapter Five we summarise the main options facing the group in order to help it to make clear choices about its future programme of work.
Chapter One
Origin and Activities
1.1 Introduction
Ballymun Development Group for Children and Young People(henceforth referred to as BDGCYP) was formed following a meeting of founding members which was organised by Atlantic Philanthropies (henceforth referred to as Atlantic) in December 2003. Atlantic was itself established in 1982 by Charles F. Feeney and operates three funding programmes in the Republic of Ireland: (i) disadvantaged children & youth (ii) reconciliation & human rights and (iii) ageing. Its programme for disadvantaged children and youth is designed to “support compelling community-based programmes for at-risk youth that demonstrate the case for shifting resources in favour of prevention, initially supporting a small number of promising front-line services”[1].
In this chapter we present a brief overview of the origin and activities of BDGCYP in the period from December 2003 till May 2005. Our approach in this chapter is to highlight a number of key themes which have characterised its work; in the Appendix to Chapter One we present a more chronological summary of events and of the main discussions and decisions which took placeat meetings. The chapter is designed to set the scene and we refrain from making any assessment of the different activities undertaken since that will be considered in the subsequent chapters.We begin by describing the composition of the group (Section 1.2), the attendance at meetings (Section 1.3), the preparation of aten-year strategic plan for children and young people (Section 1.4), the use of working groups (Section 1.5),consultation with children and young people (Section 1.6), the development of a paid executive (Section 1.7), the communications strategy (Section 1.8) and the input of Atlantic (Section 1.9). We conclude the chapter with a brief summary and a discussion of the key questions to be addressed in the subsequent chapters (Section 1.10).
1.2 Composition of the Group
Prior to its formation, the seven founding members of BDGCYPattended a meeting convened by Tom Costello, a senior executive in Atlantic, in December 2003. Five of these members were - and are - employed in chief executive positions for organisations in Ballymun: Ballymun Regeneration Limited (Ciarán Murray), Ballymun Partnership (Declan Dunne), Ballymun Local Drugs Task Force (Hugh Graves), Ballymun RAPID[2] (Bernie Roe), Ballymun Regional Youth Resource (Donnacadh Hurley). The two remaining members of BDGCYP are acknowledged experts in their field: one in the area of child development and an academic (Nóirín Hayes), the other in the area of community development and a consultant who is also the chairperson of Ballymun RAPID (Stephen Rourke). The original composition of the group seems to reflect a leaning towards partnership-based or community-based organisations, many of which have substantial overlap in terms of their board membership. It is probably not without significance – or consequences – that the original group did not have representatives from statutory serviceproviders, either local or national, in areas such as education, health, child protection, childcare, income support, justice, etc.
In April 2004, BDGCYP decided to expand the group to include representatives from both the Department of Education & Science and the Department of Health & Children. As a result, Frank Wyse, Chief Inspector with the Department of Education & Science joined the group and attended its first meeting on 12 July 2004. Mary Kenny, Project Manager of the Ballymun Primary Health Care Initiative, also joined the group at that timeattended its first meeting although, strictly speaking, she does not represent the Department of Health & Children. At subsequent meetings, the Department of Education & Science has been represented by Ian Murphy, Assistant Chief Inspector in the Directorate for Regional Services.
1.3 Meetings of the Group
There is a record of 24meetingsof BDGCYP in the period between December 2003 andApril 2005. A list of these meetings, and the persons who attended them, is presented in Table 1.1. This reveals a high overall attendance at the group’s meetings with most of the original seven members of BDGCYP missing only one or two meetings; one member (Nóirín Hayes) attended all meetings. The table also shows a significant level of attendance by Tom Costello and Michael Little on behalf of Atlantic. It is clear from this that BDGCYP has received a substantial commitment from its members and, in the absence of a paid executive for the first 15 months of the group, this resulted in a significant work-load falling to individual members, especially the chairperson.
Table 1.1 Attendance at Meetings of BDGCYP, December 2003 – March 2005
Date / Members of BDGCYP / AtlanticNH / DD / SR / BR / DH / HG / CM / MK / IM / TC / ML / FGS
19 Dec 03 / / / / / / / / NA / NA /
22 Jan 04 / / / / / / / / NA / NA
26 Feb 04 / / / / / / NA / NA
29-30 Mar 04 / / / / / / / / NA / NA /
7 Apr 04 / / / / / / / / NA / NA
27 Apr 04 / / / / / / NA / NA
19 May 04 / / / / / / / NA / NA
23 Jun 04 / / / / / / / / NA / NA
12 Jul 04 / / / / / / / /
26 Jul 04 / / / / / / /
30 Jul 04 / / / / / / /
31 Aug 04 / / / / / / / / /
22 Sept 04 / / / / /
21 Oct 04 / / / / / / / / / /
2 Nov 04 / / / / / / /
1-2 Dec 04 / / / / / / / / / /
21 Dec 04 / / / / / / /
14 Jan 05 / / / / / / / /
25 Jan 05 / / / / / / / / / / /
7 Feb 05 / / / / / / /
17 Feb 05 / / / / / / / / /
8 Mar 05 / / / / / /
18 Mar 05 / / / / / /
18 Apr 05 / / / / / / / /
Total / 24 / 23 / 23 / 19 / 21 / 22 / 14 / 11 / 6 / 7 / 3 / 4
% of Total / 100 / 96 / 96 / 79 / 88 / 92 / 58 / 69 / 38 / NA / NA / NA
Guide to abbreviations: NH = Nóirín Hayes; DD = Declan Dunne; SR = Stephen Rourke; BR = Bernie Roe; DH = Donnacadh Hurley; HG = Hugh Graves; CM = Ciarán Murray; MK = Mary Kenny; IM - Ian Murphy; Frank Wyse is a member of the group but Ian Murphy attends on his behalf; TC = Tom Costello; ML = Michael Little; FGS = FGS Consulting. NA = Not Applicable.
1.4 Preparing a Ten-Year Strategic Plan
During its first three months in 2004, the group developed a clarity on the need to prepare a ten-year strategic plan for children and young people in Ballymun and to seek financial support from Atlantic to cover the costs involved. At a two-day meeting in Tulfarris, CountyWicklow on 29-30 March 2004, it was decided that the task of preparing a ten-year strategy would be carried out by external consultants and the terms of reference of this work were finalised over the next three meetings, in April and May 2004. In July 2004, BDGCYP awarded the contract to FGS to prepare a 10 year strategic plan for children and young people in Ballymun, to be completed before the end of 2004. This work was jointly funded by Ballymun Partnership and Ballymun Regeneration Limited, each contributing €30K.
Work on the 10-year strategy was carried out by FGS between September and December 2004 who also facilitated three meetings on six working groups. Progress on the strategy was slowed by the departure of two key members of the FGS team. The first draft of the FGS report outlining ‘the overall framework for the strategy’[3] was submitted in mid-February 2005. This was discussed by BDGCYP at its meeting on 17 February 2005, the minutes of which record that ‘there was agreement that while the document needed to be refined, there was a substantial amount of material there that we could work with’. FGS submitted their final report in April 2005 and the group decided that an editorial sub-group should be formed to produce a 12-15 page summary report for more general dissemination.
1.5 Working Groups
In the course of considering how to prepare a 10-year strategic plan, the group recognised that a consultative process was required with local stakeholders, using what have been variously termed ‘sub-strategy working groups’, ‘thematic expert groups’, ‘thematic groups’ or ‘working groups’. The composition and remit of these groups was discussed over a six month period between April and September 2004. It was agreed that six working groups would be formed around the following themes: (i) health (ii) education (iii) family (vi) environment (vi) social development and (vi) childcare. Significantly, there was no thematic group on income support and related issues of indebtedness and financial management.
The terms of reference for the working groups indicate that their tasks would include proposing ‘a range of achievable actions and associated direct and indirect outcomes’; identify ‘relationships between the actions identified and government policy’; provide ‘guidance on the implementation, measurement and resourcing of the actions’; outline ways of ‘progressing the actions identified and suggest realistic targets’[4].
1.6 Consulting with Children and Young People
It is recognised by BDGCYP that children and young people need to be consulted in the preparation of the ten-year strategy. In May 2005, the terms of reference for preparing a ten-year strategy state that this will require ‘accessing the views of parents, children, young people’. In January 2005, the group decidedto prepare a discussion document on the topic in light of the‘urgency that we organise consultation with children as a priority’. The need to consult children and young people was discussed again in February 2005. The format and timing of this consultation has still to be worked out.
1.7 Development ofPaid Executive Capacity
The group generated a substantial amount of work for its members – but particularly its chairperson – through meetings of the group as well as meetings with other interested parties, the drafting of documents (such as memos, emails, terms of reference),the recruitment of consultants, etc. Given the absence of any paid executive capacity, all this work was carried out voluntarily by the members of the group during its first year. In February 2005, BDGCYP decided that three of its members (Nóirín Hayes, Stephen Rourke and Donnacadh Hurley) would be paid one day a week to work exclusively on the business of the group. The group’s paid executive capacity was further enhanced by the appointment of a Project Coordinator who started work in April 2005. As a result of these developments, the groupnow has its own administrative resource and a significantly increased developmental capacity.
1.8 Communications Strategy
Since August 2004, BDGCYP has considered the need for a communications strategy in order to build support for the 10-year strategy for children and young people. At the suggestion of Tom Costello, this would target a range of audiences including politicians and high-level decision-influencers. The invitation to tender states that the aim of the consultancy will be to establish ‘goodwill and mutual understanding with the key audiences critical to our success’; create ‘consistency in our communications’; develop ‘productive relationships with key stakeholders’; establish ‘name recognition and a positive association around the plan’; and create ‘visibility for the Development Group and the overall strategy’. Following a tendering process, a communications consultant – Martin Mackin of Q4 - was engaged in March 2005.
1.9 Input of Atlantic
As already indicated, Atlantic organised the first meeting of what subsequently became the seven founding members of BDGCYP. At that meeting, held in Atlantic’s offices on 19 December 2003, there was a wide-ranging discussion on how the prospects for children and young people in Ballymun - which currently fall significantly below the norm for other Irish children and young people - could be enhanced thorough improving the design and integration of services, particularly in light of the opportunities offered by the area’s physical regeneration which has been underway since 1998. Atlantic’s approach, as articulated at the meeting, is to support initiatives which can lever additional funding as part of the overall investment going into Ballymun. The overall aim is to create an impact which is substantial, sustainable and effective – as demonstrated through rigorous evaluation –in order to radicallyalter the situation in Ballymun. It is also expected that such an impact would influence national approaches to services for children and young peoplein other disadvantaged communities, particularly through encouraging greater investment in prevention and early intervention.
Since its first meeting, Atlantichas made a number of inputs to the group through the work of Tom Costello and Michael Little. In addition to attending seven of the group’s meetings, Tom Costello also had meetings and communications with the chairperson and other members of the group and, since July 2004, has received copies of all meetings of the group. In August 2004, he encouraged the group to consider formulating a communications strategy which would involve using a PR consultant to generate support from other key stakeholders, both locally and nationally, for the ten-year strategy. In September 2004, the group prepared an application for financial support to Atlantic and, following feed-back from Tom Costello, this was finalised in November 2004 leading to an offer of funding in December 2004 worth €158K. This funding was to cover the cost of: (i) operations and administration, including employing a Project Co-ordinator (ii) communications strategy (iii) researchand (iv) evaluation. In January 2005 Tom Costello met with Frank Wyse and Ian Murphy in the Department of Education & Science to indicate that Atlantic’s support for the 10-year strategy would be contingent on financial and other support from other relevant Government Departments and Agencies.