Families Commission seeking NGO expressions of interest to have services evaluated

The Families Commission/SuPERU (Social Policy and Evaluation Research Unit) is seeking expressions of interest from NGO social service providers to participate in a funded external evaluation of a specific programme or service.

The final date to submit questions is midday 10 November 2014.

The call for expressions of interest and applications close at 3 December 2014, 5pm.

The contestable Evaluation Fund is to support the Ministry of Social Development’s (MSD) Investing in Services for Outcomes (ISO) strategy.

SuPERU will contract external evaluators to engage with the selected NGOs to evaluate the programme and/or services. The fund aims to generate evidence to inform and enhance the delivery and outcomes of NGO services for groups and locations of high priority to MSD.

$700,000 (GST exclusive) will be distributed in one round to evaluate programmes or services provided by two to five NGO social service providers. Fund payments will be made directly to the external evaluators undertaking the evaluations. No funds will be allocated to successful NGO applicants participating in the evaluation of their programme and/or services.

The NGO social service provider Fund applicants will be selected in December 2014. The Families Commission/SuPERU will then scope the evaluations and request proposals (RFPs) for evaluations from the evaluation community in March 2015. The evaluations are expected to commence from May 2015 and be completed by June 2016.

An Advisory Panel, with representatives from the Families Commission/SuPERU, MSD and Victoria University of Wellington, will recommend which and how many NGO social service provider applicants will work with funded external evaluators, and which external evaluators and evaluation designs are best suited to work with successful NGO applicants.

The Fund is being trialled with decisions on its future to be made after a review.