NYA Update: Balancing efficiency with effectiveness in times of funding cuts
Matt Overd
Monday, January 24, 2011
The optimists tell us cuts are an opportunity to become more efficient and effective, and of course it is. It is not that I am a pessimist but, before we get too excited about finding the silver lining, we need to think about how we would actually achieve that.
To be more efficient means delivering more outputs, more young people engaged in more things for the same or less money. To be more effective, however, we must achieve better or more outcomes, make a bigger difference with the same or less money.
There is often a tendency to focus more on outputs than outcomes, as they are easier to measure. To evidence becoming more effective first we need to know what outcomes we are achieving now. But many organisations do not know.
Funders and commissioners are under pressure to prove that they are supporting effective work. Organisations that fail to show their value are more likely to miss out.
The myths of outcomes evaluation include: it is expensive, time consuming and data is difficult to collect. Some conclude that the noise created by other factors make measuring the impact of their activity impossible. It may actually be more appropriate to think about the contribution services make rather than their direct attribution.
A common theme for successful outcomes approaches has emerged: know the outcomes you want to achieve; develop the theory of change that links your activities to the outcomes; plan to measure outcomes; and communicate your achievements in the most appropriate way for the audience.
Reduced resources require decisions that are not necessary during times of plenty. Tensions may emerge between what you are mandated to deliver, the "nice to haves" and what you believe to be most important - universal versus targeted provision perhaps. Identifying your priority outcomes, the few changes you want to see that you will never give up, will help you to judge which activities to prioritise.
Matt Overd is a national programme manager for the National Youth Agency. He can be contacted on matto@nya.org.uk
