ceni training and
support services - case examples
Craigavon and Banbridge Community Health &
Social Services Trust
Blossom Sure Start Project, Portadown
Capacity building within Craigavon
and Banbridge Community Health & Social Services Trust
ceni was commissioned to develop and deliver a
capacity building programme to managers and staff from Craigavon
and Banbridge Community Health and Social Services Trust. This work
emerged from the growing importance within health and social services
of policy initiatives such as clinical governance and evidence-based
practice. Within this context, ceni’s programme
was designed to increase understanding of concepts and processes
involved in self-evaluation and assist Trust staff to implement
it into everyday working practice.
The programme, which was delivered over a period of nine months,
involved initial awareness-raising followed by group training and
individual facilitation sessions for projects from a range of professional
disciplines across various Programmes of Care. Participants were
supported through the stages of the self-evaluation, from planning
to collecting and analysing information, to reporting on findings.
The programme gained accreditation by the Institute of Leadership
and Management under the Endorsed Awards.
Speaking at the launch of the publication, Mr
Glen Houston, Chief Executive of the Trust, highlighted the importance
of this work in the light of emerging government policies and initiatives
such as Clinical and Social Care Governance, which place monitoring
and evaluation at the heart of health and social services practice.
He commented:
“It is vital that we take time
to step back and critically evaluate everything that we do. Our
partnership with Community Evaluation Northern Ireland makes it
possible to offer staff the training they require to do this in
a systematic and robust manner.”
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Making all the pieces fit! Blossom
Sure Start Programme - training and support in self-evaluation
Sure Start is a government-led initiative established in 1999
to tackle child poverty and social exclusion across the UK. The
programme is targeted at children under four years and their families
and seeks to:
- Improve social and emotional development;
- Improve health;
- Improve children’s ability to learn;
- Strengthen families and communities.
Introduced to Northern Ireland in 2000, the Sure Start initiative
is delivered through over 20 local programmes operating in various
identified areas of deprivation across Northern Ireland.
Given the innovative nature of the Sure Start initiative, evaluation
has been identified as a key priority at a national, regional and
local level. A series of guidelines and various mechanisms have
been established at each level in an effort to track progress and
highlight learning from the individual programmes. ceni
was commissioned by the Blossom Sure Start programme to assist managers
and staff to develop and implement their own self-evaluation systems.
This involved a number of stages and levels of working:
The Programme Co-ordinator was assisted to develop
an over-arching evaluation framework which encompassed the various
sets of indicators issued by the Sure Start Initiative, but also
included identifying outcomes and targets specific to Blossom’s
own priorities and developing appropriate systems for data collection
from various stakeholders. An introductory session for the Management
Committee explored the strategic role of evaluation within
the context of Blossom Sure Start. Training sessions to Staff
Members enhanced knowledge and developed skills in self-evaluation,
with a particular focus at the initial stage on the programme’s
internal self-monitoring and reporting needs.
Further follow-up training and support was provided
to support Staff to imbed self-evaluation within each service area;
including health visiting, speech and language therapy, creative
arts, play development, Homestart, family support and the DELTA
Programme. This involved working collectively and in smaller teams
reviewing and refining existing monitoring systems, facilitating
the process of critical analysis of data and the documentation and
dissemination of learning. The work extended over a 4-month period
and culminated in a seminar event when each team presented its findings
to fellow colleagues and the Blossom Sure Start Management committee.
Participants Comments:
-Sessions provided a useful opportunity
to discuss evaluation in detail with all staff . Mairead
Abraham – Partnership Coordinator
-Training provided a logical step-by-step
approach to evaluation.
-Useful to see evaluation as being more
that just ‘numbers’ – seeing it as a worthwhile
practice to improve services.
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