E
EVALUATION
This is the second evaluation report in the fourth round of CashBack for Communities funding - 'Round 4' which runs for three years from 2017 to 2020.
The Scottish Government's CashBack for Communities fund redistributes proceeds of crime, by targeting funded activities towards specific groups of young people:
- those in the most deprived areas (highest 20% of SIMD)
- those not engaged in education, training or employment, and
- those at risk of offending, anti-social behaviour or affected by the criminal justice system.
With one more year to run, YouthLink Scotland has surpassed many of the targets anticipated for 2017-2020. Therefore the evaluation of the Youth Work Fund seeks to track data and collate case studies to understand the extent of progress and levels of impact made by youth work organisations benefiting from the 'Youth Work Fund'.
As a national umbrella organisation for youth work providers, YouthLink Scotland supports local panels in each of Scotland's 32 Local Authorities. Panels consider an array of bids at the start of each year, ranging from £336 up to £13.5K (£4.1K ave.). The funding made available to the Youth Work Fund in year 2 was £716K, with a target of 6,666 young people to reach (£2.5m and 20,000 young people over three years). There were 171 bids funded with 75% of bids being awarded, which means organisations generally receive less than they bid for.
According to a recent report on universal youth work in Scotland, youth work has a central role in nurturing personal and social development of Scotland's young people in relation to:
- Confidence
- Skills for life
- Being equal and included
- Friendship
- Feeling safe and well
- Ability to lead and help others
- Getting on with others
The best impacts are reportedly achieved through unique features of youth work practice, that are not readily assimilated in other settings. These are:
- Positive adult long-term relationships
- Providing a space to be be safe and be heard
- Giving praise and encouragement
- Working effectively alongside others
- Practitioners as role models
- Negotiated learning
- Inclusive practice
These features are echoed throughout the findings. Therefore the following report features: a brief overview of the funding context for youth work with highlights from the evaluation; an overview of the evaluation methods; a report on the outcome data gathered by YouthLink Scotland which includes references back to your one; the wellbeing (SHANARRI) results containing responses from a large sample of young people; a discussion of impact taken from initial case study results; links to all five case studies and a conclusion.