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Strategy & evaluation
Strategy
We undertake a full Strategic Review every five years over four board meetings. The board concludes that review by agreeing a high level Strategic Framework for the forthcoming five year period. Each year we undertake an Annual Strategic Review and draw up priorities for each of our areas of work for the coming year. Currently these are:
- Using all our assets in service of our mission;
- Being a fit for purpose organisation; Criminal Justice; Migration; Economic Justice; Fair by Design Campaign; Connect Fund – all underpinned by a communications strategy.
- During the year we report progress to the board quarterly on our programmes. Because of the way in which we work and the nature of our programmes (long term, patient and iterative) this reporting and consequent strategy-making is largely about the changing context of the work and the external influences on it. It is only rarely about starting with a ‘blank canvas’.
Evaluation
The Trust and our funded partners deploy a range of evaluation mechanisms. Requirements for evaluation should be proportionate and useful to the organisation and potentially to others also. It should never be solely for reporting. We do not have a standardised approach and evaluation is discussed with all partners at the outset of a piece of work and its format is bespoke. For developing a new evidence base we can invest in academic evaluations and even, occasionally, in random control trials. For many pieces of work a ‘third eye’ is very useful; a third party looking at what has been achieved and what went less well is illuminating and avoids the charge of ‘marking your own homework’! For many other things more simple tools are sufficient. Internal reviews, stakeholder feedback and narrative reporting all have their place.
