Impact and Improvement Programme
We have a range of online and face-to-face training sessions for anyone looking to embed programme quality and achieve meaningful impact in provision for young people.
The Centre for Youth Impact at YMCA George Williams College has further developed a range of online and face-to-face training sessions for anyone looking to understand and improve the impact and quality of their work with young people.
Our Impact and Improvement Programme is specifically designed for informal and non-formal youth provision within the UK. The training sessions will build your knowledge and skills to:
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design youth provision;
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undertake quality monitoring;
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design appropriate evaluations;
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collect relevant and quality data; and
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identify and embed organisational learning.
All approaches, techniques, and content within our training sessions are tailored to youth provision, with a focus on equity, diversity and inclusion, safeguarding, and ethical practice embedded throughout. All have a strong commitment to ensuring that the views and experiences of young people are central to designing, delivering, and improving your provision, showing alignment with youth work principles and practice.
Our tried and tested sessions have been developed over many years of engagement with practitioners working with young people in a wide variety of settings and contexts. They are relevant to anyone engaged in informal and non-formal provision, and can be helpful to anyone new to understanding or measuring impact and quality improvement, or those looking to refresh their skills.
We offer training sessions through interactive, face-to-face workshops and online webinars. Our experienced and knowledgeable trainers are rooted in the youth sector and able to actively support you to apply learning into your practice and relationships.
For details of specific sessions, see below. If you are interested in commissioning a training session for your organisation or to register interest in our open access sessions, please contact us.
All training has been refreshed in Spring 2023, with support from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
Upcoming training modules
Explore our upcoming modules below. Some of our modules are repeated, therefore please only attend one session.
September 2023
This is a full day session will enable you to understand how to gather evidence from young people and how to tell the story of their experience and journey equitably and ethically.
By the end of the session, you will be able to:
- Understand how and when to involve young people’s feedback into your evaluations
- Discuss the benefits of involving young people in building an evidence base for your theory of change
- Understand the benefits of adult led, co-design and youth led service and evaluation design
- Use Equitable Storytelling
- Understand the characteristics of youth participatory research
- Understand the limitations and challenges of YPR and gaining an overview of how to conduct YPR.
You can find more resources to help you with this area of work in area five of our Resource Hub.
Date and time: 19 September 2023, 10am - 4pm
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SOLD OUT
This day workshop will equip you with a firm understanding of when to use a range of different creative data collection tools and how to analyse the data they produce.
By the end of the day, you will be able to:
- Understand why and when you might use creative data collection tools
- Develop awareness of the breadth of creative data collection tools
- Understand the benefits and limitations of creative data collection tools
- Understand the benefits and limitations in analysis of creative data sets
- Be comfortable taking a measured approach to telling your organisation’s story
- Sharing your impact by telling your organisations story.
You can find more resources to help you with this area of work in area six of our Resource Hub.
Date and time: 29 September 2023, 09:30am - 4:30pm
SESSION ENDED.
October 2023
This short training session will introduce you to a range of different approaches to understanding the assets and needs of the communities your work hopes to support – this is a fundamental first step for any programme or project design. By ‘communities’, we mean both geographical (a place or space) and shared identities or experiences (young people with caring responsibilities, for example).
By the end of this session, you will be able to:
- Understand the meaning of context mapping and other key terms
- Understand the choices to be made when context mapping
- Understand how a context map can be used to inform a theory of change.
You can find more resources to help you with this area of work in area one of our Resource Hub.
Date and time: 23 October 2023, 4pm - 7pm
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SESSION ENDED.
November 2023
This short session will familiarise you with the purpose and uses of a theory of change and how they can be constructed. A theory of change helps you, and other people, to be really clear about what you do with and for young people and the reasons for your design decisions.
By the end of this session, you will be able to:
- Understand what a ‘theory of change’ is, including how they are constructed and used
- Understand how to use a theory of change as a tool for developing your approach to evaluation
- Begin to consider how you might draft a theory of change for one aspect of your provision or for your whole organisation or service.
You can find more resources to help you with this area of work in area two our Resource Hub.
Date and time: 08 November 2023, 1pm - 4pm
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SESSION ENDED.
This practical half-day session will walk you through all the stages of developing a theory of change. At the end of this session, you will leave with a draft theory of change for a project or service. If you are not familiar with theories of change, you may wish to do our introductory session before joining this practical workshop.
By the end of the session, you will:
- Refresh your understanding of Theory of Change models and how to use them
- Draft a theory of change for your project or organisation.
You can find more resources to help you with this area of work in area two our Resource Hub.
Date and time: 23 November 2023, 10am - 2pm
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SESSION ENDED
December 2023
The College understands the importance of socio-emotional skills as the fundamental building block of all human development. As such, they are fundamental to our Outcomes Framework. This half-day session will enable you to understand socio-emotional skills, the importance and role of quality practice in building socio-emotional skills, and how to measure both quality and skill development using our suite of tools.
By the end of this session, you will:
- Understand what socio-emotional skills are
- Understand the importance of quality environments to promote socio-emotional learning
- Understand how to measure both the quality of environment and the development of socio-emotional skills over time.
You can find more resources to help you with this area of work in area two our Resource Hub.
Date and time: 08 December 2023, 10am - 2pm
Find out more and sign up here.
January 2024
Monitoring and evaluation are a fundamental aspect of delivering provision for young people. This day session will equip you with a basic understanding of how to plan and undertake monitoring and evaluation in order to evidence impact.
By the end of the day, you will:
- Understand terms related to monitoring and evaluation
- Have a basic knowledge of how to measure change
- Have a basic knowledge of how to conduct an evaluation
- Understand why fidelity monitoring is important and how it relates to evaluation and innovation.
You can find more resources to help you with this area of work in area four of our Resource Hub.
Date and time: 10 January 2024, 09:30am - 3pm
Find out more and sign up here.
Formative evaluation refers to the learning aspect of Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) and allows organisations to modify projects and activities along the way in order to improve outcomes and impact. It is distinct from summative evaluation, which is about looking back once an activity or project has finished. This short session is designed for people with some understanding of monitoring and evaluation who want to use their evaluation work to learn and adapt the work of their organisation.
By the end of the session, you will:
- Understand what formative evaluation is
- Understand how monitoring and evaluation inform organisational learning
- Use this knowledge to make changes as needed in your organisation.
You can find more resources to help you with this area of work in area six of our Resource Hub.
Date and time: 17 January 2024, 10:30am - 1:00pm
Find out more and apply here.
This session is designed for people with some understanding of monitoring and evaluation who want to learn more about the different types of data they might use and how to choose between them.
By the end of the session, you will:
- Understand the strengths and limitations of the different data and data collection tools used in monitoring and evaluation
- Have considered which data and tools may be meaningful in your context
- Be confident in the rationale behind the choices you make
- Understand the importance of quality data
- Be comfortable taking a measured approach to telling your organisation’s story.
You can find more resources to help you with this area of work in area four of our Resource Hub.
Date and time: 24 January 2024, 09:30am - 4:00pm
Find out more and apply here.
February 2024
This day workshop will equip you with a firm understanding of when to use a range of different creative data collection tools and how to analyse the data they produce.
By the end of the day, you will be able to:
- Understand why and when you might use creative data collection tools
- Develop awareness of the breadth of creative data collection tools
- Understand the benefits and limitations of creative data collection tools
- Understand the benefits and limitations in analysis of creative data sets
- Be comfortable taking a measured approach to telling your organisation’s story
- Sharing your impact by telling your organisations story.
You can find more resources to help you with this area of work in area six of our Resource Hub.
Date and time: 07 February 2024, 09:30am - 4:30pm
Sign up and find out more here.
Understanding impact across a range of services or organisations can be a challenge. Equally, understanding the impact all youth provision has in a place or area seems daunting, as they may each have different theories of change and evaluation plans. This short session will help you to think through ways to demonstrate collective impact through shared measurement.
By the end of this session, you will be able to:
- Understand what shared measurement can look like
- Understand where your organisation could contribute to shared measurement in the youth sector currently and moving forward.
You can find more resources to help you with this area of work in area seven of our Resource Hub.
Date and time: 21 February 2024, 10am - 1:30pm
Find out more and sign up here.
This short session will familiarise you with the purpose and uses of a theory of change and how they can be constructed. A theory of change helps you, and other people, to be really clear about what you do with and for young people and the reasons for your design decisions.
By the end of this session, you will be able to:
- Understand what a ‘theory of change’ is, including how they are constructed and used
- Understand how to use a theory of change as a tool for developing your approach to evaluation
- Begin to consider how you might draft a theory of change for one aspect of your provision or for your whole organisation or service.
You can find more resources to help you with this area of work in area two our Resource Hub.
Date and time: Thursday 8 February 2024, 9:30am - 12:30pm
Sign up and find out more here.
Monitoring and evaluation are a fundamental aspect of delivering provision for young people. This day session will equip you with a basic understanding of how to plan and undertake monitoring and evaluation in order to evidence impact.
By the end of the day, you will:
- Understand terms related to monitoring and evaluation
- Have a basic knowledge of how to measure change
- Have a basic knowledge of how to conduct an evaluation
- Understand why fidelity monitoring is important and how it relates to evaluation and innovation.
You can find more resources to help you with this area of work in area four of our Resource Hub.
Date and time: 23 February 2024, 09:30am - 3:00pm
Find out more and sign up here.
March 2024
This practical half-day session will walk you through all the stages of developing a theory of change. At the end of this session, you will leave with a draft theory of change for a project or service. If you are not familiar with theories of change, you may wish to do our introductory session before joining this practical workshop.
By the end of the session, you will:
- Refresh your understanding of Theory of Change models and how to use them
- Draft a theory of change for your project or organisation.
You can find more resources to help you with this area of work in area two our Resource Hub.
Date and time: 20 March 2024, 09:30am - 1:30pm
Find out more and sign up here.
The College understands the importance of socio-emotional skills as the fundamental building block of all human development. As such, they are fundamental to our Outcomes Framework. This half-day session will enable you to understand socio-emotional skills, the importance and role of quality practice in building socio-emotional skills, and how to measure both quality and skill development using our suite of tools.
By the end of this session, you will:
- Understand what socio-emotional skills are
- Understand the importance of quality environments to promote socio-emotional learning
- Understand how to measure both the quality of environment and the development of socio-emotional skills over time.
You can find more resources to help you with this area of work in area two our Resource Hub.
Date and time: 22 March 2024, 09:30am - 1:30pm
Find out more and sign up here.
Formative evaluation refers to the learning aspect of Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) and allows organisations to modify projects and activities along the way in order to improve outcomes and impact. It is distinct from summative evaluation, which is about looking back once an activity or project has finished. This short session is designed for people with some understanding of monitoring and evaluation who want to use their evaluation work to learn and adapt the work of their organisation.
By the end of the session, you will:
- Understand what formative evaluation is
- Understand how monitoring and evaluation inform organisational learning
- Use this knowledge to make changes as needed in your organisation.
You can find more resources to help you with this area of work in area six of our Resource Hub.
Date and time: 08 March 2024, 9:30am - 12:30pm
Find out more and sign up here.
This session is designed for people with some understanding of monitoring and evaluation who want to learn more about the different types of data they might use and how to choose between them.
By the end of the session, you will:
- Understand the strengths and limitations of the different data and data collection tools used in monitoring and evaluation
- Have considered which data and tools may be meaningful in your context
- Be confident in the rationale behind the choices you make
- Understand the importance of quality data
- Be comfortable taking a measured approach to telling your organisation’s story.
You can find more resources to help you with this area of work in area four of our Resource Hub.
Date and time: 13 March 2024, 9:30am - 4:00pm
Find out more and sign up here.
April
This is a full day session will enable you to understand how to gather evidence from young people and how to tell the story of their experience and journey equitably and ethically.
By the end of the session, you will be able to:
- Understand how and when to involve young people’s feedback into your evaluations
- Discuss the benefits of involving young people in building an evidence base for your theory of change
- Understand the benefits of adult led, co-design and youth led service and evaluation design
- Use Equitable Storytelling
- Understand the characteristics of youth participatory research
- Understand the limitations and challenges of YPR and gaining an overview of how to conduct YPR.
You can find more resources to help you with this area of work in area five of our Resource Hub.
Date and time: 4 April 2024, 09:30am - 3:30pm
Find out more and sign up here.