Pulling together the strands: Evaluation of regeneration initiatives as applied to New Deal for Communities

Charlestown and Lower Kersal New Deal for Communities partnership in Salford has put in place a local evaluation framework which centres on the longitudinal evaluation of individual projects, reviewed by a sub-committee of the Partnership Board. This seeks to complement broader national evaluation work and to ensure that learning and evaluation can be embedded into programme management and review. Pulling together the strands of evaluation, however, relies heavily on locally available information, evaluation skills and a sound framework to achieve meaningful results. Evaluation in this context attempts to answer the complex question: 'Did this project really make a difference, if so how, and what can we learn from it to make more of a difference and share information with others in order to ensure that the benefits are sustained for the future? This, the paper argues, can be achieved through locally based, longitudinal evaluation, which is embedded within the programme management itself. This paper investigates the evaluation techniques which are available and have been tested by the NDC partnership in order to discover, measure and assess the outcomes and impact of regeneration projects, and the learning which can be shared from them.