A London Metropolitan University research partnership, Project Oracle, is to be at the heart of a new Cabinet Office funded initiative, it has been announced.
London Met is a leading provider of social policy and evaluation courses and specialises in studying issues facing young people. The recently agreed funding is for a new Centre for Youth Impact (CYI). The Centre will help organisations to measure and increase the impact of their services and will be led by Project Oracle, the National Council for Voluntary Youth Services (NCVYS) and the Social Research Unit at Dartington.
The CYI will provide overarching support for all impact measurement initiatives that are relevant to the youth sector. It will also sign post to existing resources, and provide bespoke, practical help.
The Centre will offer:
- national leadership, being a central point for information and communications, and a forum for discussing how to measure impact in the youth sector
- an online source of impact measurement resources for youth sector organisations, with guidance on how to use them
- support in managing evidence for three ‘early adopters’, to help them improve their own impact measurement work, apply the benefits across the sector and support organisations less familiar with impact measurement
- train-the-trainer workshops
The CYI will work closely with important sector partners such as the National Youth Agency, the Early Intervention Foundation, and Inspiring Impact. This will ensure that the initiative builds on existing resources and meets the diverse needs of youth sector organisations. It will also build on the work of the Catalyst Consortium, ensuring that resources like the Framework of Outcomes for Young People remain accessible and relevant.
The initiative will formally launch at the Creative Collisions conference hosted by leading youth sector organisations on 6 November 2014.
About Project Oracle
Project Oracle is London’s first children and youth evidence hub, funded by the Greater London Authority (GLA), the Mayor’s Office for Police and Crime (MOPAC) and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). Project Oracle is improving the chances for children and young people in the capital by promoting quality evidence of what works, supporting services to improve the delivery of youth programmes and informing the funding process.
About Professor Georgie Parry-Crooke, Director of Project Oracle
Georgie has over 25 years' experience of designing, conducting and managing evaluation as well as teaching graduate level evaluation courses and directing evaluation training.
As co-sirector of Project Oracle Children and Youth Evidence Hub, London, Georgie has found an opportunity to bring together a twofold commitment to ensuring evaluation is of a high quality and that it can be used effectively to bring about better outcomes for young people in the city. Georgie is involved in projects focused on marginalised groups including women, homeless people, people with mental health difficulties and frequently a combination of these life experiences.
About London Met's new Masters programme in Social Policy and Evaluation
London Met's unique Social Policy and Evaluation course offers current and aspiring practitioners in social and public policy arenas the opportunity to acquire high level knowledge and evaluative skills increasingly expected by employers across sectors, organisations and services.
