Projects Carried Out by Amber Analysis from 2003 to 2012
1. EVALUATION
Programme, project, outcome and impact evaluations
- Donor: Mencap
- Country: UK
- Beneficiary: Mencap
- Project: Evaluation of a one year national programme for people with learning disabilities entitled The Gateway Active Project.
- Donor: The Barrow Cadbury Trust
- Country: UK
- Beneficiary: free@last
- Project: Evaluation of a programme for young people who are not in employment, education or training.
- Donor: Austrian
Development Agency
- Country: Bosnia
- Beneficiary: Mozaik
Fondacija
- Project: This outcome evaluation of a small grants
programme entitled ‘Integration of Disabled People into the Communities
of Bosnia and Herzegovina’ assessed the social impacts of selected projects
on all levels of the community across Bosnia.
- Donor: Youth
Music
- Country: UK
- Beneficiary: Youth
Music
- Project: Amber Analysis consultants reviewed Youth
Music’s grant-giving monitoring system and data collection methods,
developed a new monitoring and evaluation system, and provided technical assistance
to grantees to help develop their methods of data collection.
- Donor: European
Commission
- Country: European Union countries
- Beneficiary: Equinet
– the European Network of Equality Bodies
- Project: This evaluation assessed the process of
establishing and managing the organisation, reviewed the delivery of its services
at the end of its first year and made recommendations for the future enhancement
of the organisation.
- Donor: Hillingdon
Community Trust
- Country: UK
- Beneficiary: Hillingdon
Community Trust
- Project: The objectives of the evaluation were to
assess the relevance and effectiveness of the Trust’s strategy and grant-making
policies and the impact of the Trust’s funding. The evaluators made
recommendations about the future strategy and sustainability of the Trust
and promotion of its activities, design of its funding programmes, implementation
of its procedures including monitoring and evaluation, and options for increasing
the capacity of its local voluntary sector.
- Donor: USAID
-
Country: UK
- Beneficiary: The
Academy for Educational Development
-
Project: Two outcome evaluations of USAID’s NGO Small Grants
Programme and their Community Partnership Programme were conducted in order
to assess the effectiveness in meeting their identified objectives. Recommendations
were made for increasing the effectiveness of similar small grants programmes.
- Donor: Enfield
Council
- Country: UK
- Beneficiary: Enfield
Children’s Fund
- Project: The Children’s Fund is a national
government-funded programme providing services to children most at risk of
social exclusion. The purpose of this programme evaluation was to assess the
effectiveness of Enfield Children’s Fund and to make recommendations
about future mainstreaming of the projects funded. The evaluation also involved
developing a new monitoring system and training staff members from the funded
projects in collecting outcome evidence.
- Donor: Charles
Stewart Mott Foundation
- Country: Romania
- Beneficiary: Opportunity
Associates, Romania
- Project: The beneficiary had been established
in 1993 with the aim of strengthening the effectiveness of NGOs by providing
a variety of training courses. This evaluation assessed the efficiency and
effectiveness of the organisation’s training initiatives across the
country and made recommendations on the strategic options for its future development.
- Donor: The
Tudor Trust
- Country: Romania
- Beneficiary: The
Estuar Foundation
- Project: The organisation, which provides
services to people with mental health problems, had been operating for over
a decade before the donor, who had provided the major source of financing,
requested a programme evaluation. The review examined the foundation's five
centres, located in different parts of the country, and submitted a report
that offered strategic options for the sustainability of both the organisation
and its individual centres.
- Donor: The
Bureau for Population, Refugees & Migration, USA
- Country: Croatia
- Beneficiary: International
Rescue Committee
- Project: The purpose of this programme evaluation
of IRC's Community Revitalization Programme for refugees in five regions of
Croatia was four-fold. It was to assess:
- the programme's achievements against targeted outputs
- the effectiveness of partnerships between local authorities
and NGOs
- the effectiveness of Community Steering Committees,
which were set up in order to determine where support was needed and
- the potential sustainability of the programme.
- Donor: DfID
- Country: Croatia
- Beneficiary: The
Government Office for NGOs
- Project: The brief specified the delivery
of a programme evaluation of the Croatian Government's grants programme for
NGOs in Croatia. This also included devising benchmarks and criteria for making
grants and developing a system for programme cycle management and a set of
accountability mechanisms.
Developing self-evaluation systems
- Donor: British Red Cross
- Country: UK
- Beneficiary: British Red Cross
- Project: Design and establishment of an outcome monitoring and evaluation system, with methods for evaluating a refugee programme.
- Donor: Comic Relief
- Country: UK and Zambia
- Beneficiary: Target TB
- Project: Design
of a monitoring and evaluation framework underpinned by a Theory of
Change for all programmes across Africa and Asia. Design of an
evaluation training course. Training in Zambia of all partners from
Africa and Asia. Pilot of system. Production of guidelines for
application of the new M&E system.
- Donor: Norwegian Government
- Country: UK and Africa
- Beneficiary: Action on Armed Violence
- Project:
Helping to develop a strategic plan for the Programmes Department.
Design of a monitoring and evaluation framework underpinned by a Theory
of Change for all programmes across Africa. Pilot of system. Production
of guidelines for application of the new M&E system.
- Donor: The
Bureau for Population, Refugees & Migration, USA
- Country: Croatia, Bosnia and Serbia
- Beneficiary: International
Rescue Committee
- Project: This project required Amber Analysis
to perform the following sequential tasks: firstly, the construction of a
questionnaire to identify the evaluation needs of IRC's country offices and
then processing the information yielded; secondly, the formulation of a tailor-made
training programme on self-evaluation for staff from each of the country offices;
and, finally, a review of IRC's self-evaluation report.
Designing grant-making programmes and developing
evaluation policies for donors
- Donor: DfID
- Country: Croatia
- Beneficiary: The
Foundation for the Development of Civil Society, Croatia
- Project: The development and management of a £600,000
programme to establish the Foundation for the Development of Civil Society
in Croatia, which is now responsible for allocating to NGOs money from the
national lottery and European Union grant schemes. Our team of consultants
increased the Foundation's capacity by providing it with advice and training
on appropriate forms of governance, grants management systems and strategic
and financial planning. The beneficiary also received detailed guidance designed
to provide a firm infrastructure for the sustainability of the organisation
and for it to develop effective partnerships between state and civil society
through national and local Compacts.
- Donor:
Charles Stewart Mott Foundation
- Country: South Africa, Eastern Europe
- Beneficiary: Charles
Stewart Mott Foundation
- Project: Having completed its first strategy for
the development of civil society, the donor required the production of a new
strategic plan for its civil society programmes in South Africa, Eastern Europe
and the US. Country offices sent representatives to attend workshops in order
to construct and discuss the new strategy's objectives, the expected outcomes
from funded programmes and methods for monitoring the new plan.
- Donor: The
Home Office
- Country: UK
- Beneficiary: The
Race Equality Unit of the Home Office
- Project: The Unit received advice on the
redesign of their grants programme and the development of a grant assessment
and risk analysis procedure. According to the brief, assessment forms were
designed and a training package was delivered for staff to help them implement
the new procedures.
2. CONSULTANCY
Organisational development and strategic planning
- Donor: UNDP
- Country: 10 countries in Africa
- Beneficiary: Africa 2000
- Project: A needs assessment of Africa 2000 (a network
of community/economic development organisations in ten countries in Africa)
was carried out. This was followed up by a capacity building resource mobilisation
and strategic planning training programme for members of the network. Technical
assistance was then provided in order to develop a new participatory strategic
plan.
- Donor: DfID
- Country: Africa, Asia, Latin America
- Beneficiary: DfID
- Project: The Amber Analysis consultant
is acting as the Learning Adviser for DfID’s £130m Governance
and Transparency Fund. A learning framework and accountability system for
monitoring and learning from the programme has been designed and projects
are being supported in designing their log frames and completing their inception
reports. The Learning Adviser will synthesise findings from grantees’
yearly reports in order to increase the capacity for learning about issues
associated with governance.
- Donor: The
Croatian Government Office for NGOs
- Country: Croatia
- Beneficiary: The
Croatian Government Office for NGOs
- Project: The beneficiary was provided with
a new system to evaluate the decentralised grants programme for NGOs and public
administrators were trained to implement the system. A team of evaluators
was then trained to carry out the evaluations of grantees on behalf of ministries.
- Donor: Herefordshire public bodies
- Country: UK
- Beneficiary: The Alliance Herefordshire
- Project: The Amber Analysis consultant
acts as a panel member for an accreditation quality assurance system for charities
wishing to apply for contracts with public agencies in Herefordshire.
- Donor: The beneficiary
- Country: UK
- Beneficiary: An organisation offering counselling
- Project: The
Kings Fund carried out a review of this organisation and was satisfied
with the services provided by the beneficiary but wanted a custom-designed
mentoring programme for the Chief Executive. Central to the programme was
the transference of skills to enable the CEO to decide on strategies to deal
with organisational change.
- Donor: The beneficiary
- Country: Romania
- Beneficiary: An organisation offering social
welfare services
- Project: Having founded and built up a
successful social welfare agency, its Chief Executive requested a mentoring
programme to help her design an exit strategy so that she could retire from
the organisation.
- Donor: Allavida
- Country: South East European programme
- Beneficiary: Allavida
- Project: Amber Analysis was asked to facilitate
a strategic planning and programme review process with staff from its Head
Office and with field staff engaged in projects in South East Europe. The
report, published subsequent to the review, advocated that the organisation
should focus on producing a strategic plan, which would take into account
the changing social and political environment in which the organisation operates.
Training and capacity building
- Donor: DFID
- Country: South Africa
- Beneficiary: Gender Links
- Project:
A four day Monitoring & Evaluation training course for Gender Links and all of their partners from across the SADC region.
- Donor: DFID
- Country: Africa
- Beneficiary: Tripleline Consulting
- Project: Assessment of 19 grantees of a DFID programme across Africa and Asia. Analysis of learning and production of Outcome Report.
- Donor: CARE
International
- Country: Middle East and Eastern Europe
- Beneficiary: CARE
International's regional programme
- Project: A four-day training programme
in evaluation and in the construction of log-frames, which could be used as
tools for enhancing their efficiency and for targeting resources, was designed
and delivered to the project managers and assessors of country programmes.
- Donor: British
Embassy in Buenos Aires
- Country: Argentina
- Beneficiary: Local NGOs
- Project: The British Embassy had identified
the growth of civil society and the role of NGOs within it as important both
in supporting democratic structures and in providing help to vulnerable groups.
Building on previous training and consultancy programmes, delivered by Libby
Cooper in Argentina over the past five years, this training and consultancy
programme focused on management, transparency and accountability in the Third
Sector.
- Donor: DfID
- Country: Croatia
- Beneficiary: The
Government Office for NGOs in Croatia
- Project: The training of civil servants
in the notion and employment of a good practice policy in grant-making, grant-assessment
and evaluation. This training programme is beng replicated at the local level
as part of the Government's strategy to devolve grant-making responsibilities
to local authorities.
- Donor: British
Embassy in Buenos Aires
- Country: Argentina
- Beneficiary: Local NGOs
- Project: The British Embassy had identified
the growth of civil society and the role of NGOs within it as important both
in supporting democratic structures and in providing help to vulnerable groups.
Building on previous training and consultancy programmes, delivered by Libby
Cooper in Argentina over the past five years, this training and consultancy
programme focused on management, transparency and accountability in the Third
Sector.
Project and grants assessment
- Donor: DFID
- Country: UK, Africa, Asia and Latin America
- Beneficiary: Gender, Education and Development: Beyond Access
- Project:
A mid-term review of a partnership programme between Oxfam and the
Institute of Education, University of London, which was set up to share
knowledge and critically examine strategies for learning between a
variety of stakeholders about gender equitable education. The review
recommended priorities for the final year of implementation.
- Donor: The
Oak Foundation
- Country: UK
- Beneficiary: The
Oak Foundation
- Project: In this case, the donor required
Amber Analysis to carry out external assessments of a variety of grants made
to projects providing support to young people and of its overall grant-making
policy in this field.
- Donor: DfID
- Country: Croatia
- Beneficiary: The
Foundation for the Development of Civil Society, Croatia
- Project: This grant-giving body required
the development of a system of good practice in grant-making, grant-assessment
and evaluation that would be employed nationwide by all central government
Ministries and local authorities.
3. RESEARCH
Social research
- Donor: The Stroke Association
- Country: UK
- Beneficiary: The
Stroke Association
- Project: A longitudinal survey
was carried out to assess the impact of health and social reforms on
the daily lives of people affected by stroke across the UK in order to
inform a national and local media campaign. The survey involved 2,200
respondents and was administered both online and by post.
- Donor: Essex, Southend and Thurrock Infrastructure Consortium
- Country: UK
- Beneficiary: Essex, Southend and Thurrock Infrastructure Consortium
- Project: A review of the state of
the third sector in Essex was conducted, with a particular focus on the
research interests of third sector organisations as well as partnership
working between the third and statutory sectors.
- Donor: The
Barrow Cadbury Trust
- Country: UK
- Beneficiary: The
Barrow Cadbury Trust
- Project: A review was conducted of 14 women’s
initiatives funded by The Barrow Cadbury Trust. This was followed by research
into gender issues and public policies that impact upon the lives of women,
which, together with the findings from the review, helped the consultants
to develop a strategy for the organisation’s future gender funding programme.
- Donor: Newham
Council
- Country: UK
- Beneficiary:
Newham Council
- Project: Two needs assessments were conducted with
parents, children and organisations throughout the borough of Newham to assess
childcare sufficiency and the development of play areas as part of the Playbuilder
funding programme.
- Donor: DfID
- Country: Ukraine
- Beneficiary: Ministry of Social Services
- Project: Research was carried out on the policies
and practices of government and NGOs in order to help restructure the delivery
of social services by NGOs.
- Donor: Capacitybuilders
UK
- Country: UK
- Beneficiary: The National Network of
Volunteer Involving Agencies
- Project: Research into overcoming barriers
to volunteering, particularly with regard to involving volunteers from BME
groups, refugees and asylum seekers, people with disabilities, ex-offenders
and other socially excluded groups.
- Donor: The
Princess of Wales Memorial Fund
- Country: UK
- Beneficiary: The
Princess of Wales Memorial Fund
- Project: Research was carried out to
advise the Fund on opportunities for grant-making in the areas of young
refugees and asylum seekers, young people with learning difficulties, mental
health and young people, bereavement and young people, outcome funding and
evaluation.
- Donor: DFID
- Country: Romania
- Beneficiary: The
World Bank's Social Development Fund, Romania
- Project: This was a piece of research,
whose overall objective was to examine the capacity-building needs of the
Fund's staff and associates. It was achieved by investigating the constraints
to the implementation of programmes and by assessing the extent to which
capacity building and training can lead to increased efficiency and effectiveness.
The research concluded by making a series of recommendations on the type
of training programme required by a number of the Fund's agents and stakeholders
in order to accomplish its mission of alleviating poverty and building social
capital in the poorest rural communities in Romania.
- Donor: Camden
Council
- Country: UK
- Beneficiary: Camden
Council
- Project: Research into the housing needs
of nineteen minority ethnic communities in Camden, including the analysis
of a quantitative and qualitative survey. The purpose of this research was
to contribute to Camden Council's housing strategy which is concerned to
address shortfalls in the housing provision for black and minority ethnic
residents by redirecting more financial resources to their needs.
- Donor: New
Philanthropy Capital
- Country: UK
- Beneficiary: New
Philanthropy Capital
- Project: Amber Analysis was approached
by this new organisation to assist it in establishing a new grant-giving initiative
in the UK. The outcome was two separate research projects. The first examined
the monitoring systems and the charity classifications used by other grant-making
bodies and the types of criteria to be considered when constructing a grant-making
policy. The second specified the analytical tools necessary for assessing
and monitoring grants, creating report formats, governance procedures and
organisational systems.
-
- Donor: Éminence
Grise
- Country: UK
- Beneficiary: Friends
of the Elderly
- Project: Research into the changing nature
of care provision for older people for the purpose of determining the organisation’s
strategy for the next ten years. This involved conducting literature reviews,
designing questionnaires and interview schedules for different audiences,
analysing interview data, and providing advice about questionnaire analysis.
Devising means for assessing levels of
social capital
- Donor: DfID
- Country: Croatia
- Beneficiary: The
Foundation for the Development of Civil Society, Croatia
- Project: As part of our programme to
help establish the Foundation, we undertook a study, which adapted the World
Bank's assumptions and methodology, designed to assess the level of social
capital in two of the country's regions. The research entailed community
profiling, the statistical analysis of official social and economic data,
the commissioning of an independent household survey and the creation of
focus groups with NGOs.
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