SECOND EDITION - Assessing Value for Money: the Oxford Policy Management Approach

The purpose is to strengthen the reliability of data, validity of the findings and recommendations, and to broaden and deepen our understanding of the processes through which program outcomes and impacts are achieved, and how these are affected by the context within which the program is implemented. [...] The use of criteria and standards to guide evaluative judgements must be tailored to the scope and scale of the programmes, as well as to available resources and timeframes for conducting VfM evaluations. [...] The reasoning process remains the same, while the scope of the criteria and the content and comprehensiveness of the evidence can be varied, remaining transparent and open to ongoing revision. [...] By following the sequence shown in Steps 1–4 (starting with a ToC before moving on to the development of criteria and standards and the selection of metrics and methods), we can ensure that the values embedded in the criteria and standards reflect the programme theory and that the metrics in turn reflect the content of the criteria and standards. [...] The purpose of this process is to reach a shared understanding about what the findings mean and the level of VfM to which the evidence points (the ‘so what?’) and to reflect on any actions that should be taken to improve performance and VfM (the ‘now what?’).