Evaluation with children and youth

Resources

Guides

• Listening to smaller voices: using an innovative participatory tool for children affected by HIV and AIDS to assess a life skills programme

  This paper details the evaluation of a Life Skills programme implemented by Family Health International (FHI 360), India. The evaluator and author, Sonal Zaveri, describes the evaluation process used to determine how the programme had changed (or not) the lives of children who were infected, orphaned, affected or vulnerable to HIV

• Monitoring and evaluating with children

  This guide, written by Grazyna Bonati for Plan Togo, provides guidance on including children in the monitoring and evaluation of development programs.

• Child-to-child: A practical guide empowering children as active citizens

  This guide, written by Sara Gibbs, Gillian Mann and Nicola Mathers, outlines the Child-to-Child (CtC) approach to health and community development that is led by children. It describes the step-by-step process for implementing CtC and includes a range of tools and techniques for evaluation.

• The evaluator's cookbook: Participatory evaluation exercises - a resource for work with children and young people

  The Evaluator’s Cookbook aims to bring together a range of participatory approaches, methods and exercises used with children and young people.

• Values for co-production between young people and organisations

  In this resource, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation's Involving Young People Collective shares 10 values for co-production between young people and organisations.

Frameworks

• A framework for monitoring and evaluating children's participation

  This guide, developed by Gerison Lansdown for Save the Children, outlines a framework for measuring the creation of a participatory environment for children, and then, measuring the impact of children's participation throug

Tools

• A kit of tools for participatory research and evaluation with children, young people and adults

  This tool kit, developed by Save the Children Norway, provides a range of methods and tools that can be used by groups who work with children to encourage participation in research and evaluation. While developed for conflict, post conflict and peace building situations, these child friendly tools can be applied and adapted to any context.

• Evaluating participation work: Toolkit

  This resource contains practical templates and plans to support youth engagement within research and evaluation projects.

Examples

• Transforming a lizard into a cow: Child-led evaluation of the building skills for life programme in Zimbabwe

  In Cambodia, Zimbabwe and Kenya: This series of three reports presents the results of three child-led evaluations of a multi-sectoral programme seeking to empower adolescent girls and address the challenges they face accessing quality education. The reports describe the process by which children beneficiaries of the programme selected evaluation questions, collected and analysed data in order to deliver an assessment of the programme’s results, effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability, relevance and equity.

Further Resources

• Child-to-Child

  Child-to-Child is an international network which works to promote children’s participation in health and education. Their website has a range of resources, many of which can be freely downloaded.

• Child Rights International Network (CRIN)

   CRIN is an international children’s rights network campaigning for a change in the way children are viewed by government and society. Their website includes links to a range of resources and events related to child advocacy and rights.​

• Plan International

  An international development organisation which aims to promote and protect the rights of children around the world.  Their website provides a range of freely downloadable guides focused on working with children.

• Save the Children

  An international organisation which works to improve the lives of children through improved health, education and security.   Their website provides a range of freely downloadable resources which include issue briefs, research and guides.

Blogs

• Evaluation led by children

  This is a discussion originally posted in the Gender and Evaluation communityled by Rituu B Nanda regarding Laura Hughston's report which presents a child-led evaluation of a multi-sectoral programme in Cambodia seeking to empower ad

• Week 17: A Q&A on working with children in evaluation

  In February, BetterEvaluation hosted a webinar on working with children in evaluation.