Monitoring and Evaluation of Child and Youth Policies and Outcomes in Ireland

6. Reporting and dissemination of findings

A robust results-based M&E system cannot be complete without the results of M&E activities being made available to their intended users. M&E findings need to be communicated and disseminated to key stakeholders, as making performance evidence public is an important element in ensuring their impact and increasing the use of findings for evidence‑based policy making (OECD, 2020[28]).

Policy makers should therefore plan how the results obtained from the M&E functions can be used to communicate the progress and changes generated by the intervention. Ideally, a comprehensive communication and dissemination strategy should be established and cover the following questions, among others: i) who will receive the evidence generated?; ii) in which format?; and iii) when will this information be made available?.

Dissemination of findings gained through the M&E functions can take many different forms. From the traditional regular frequency written reports, to real-time “dashboards”, or repository websites, for example. Despite the particular format, Kusek and Rist (2004[9]) provide some general recommendations to make dissemination of findings effective and engaging:

• Evidence should be presented in a short and attractive manner. Evidence should be presented in a simple, clear, and easily understandable format. Only the most important data should be presented, and if necessary, separate appendixes or reports can be produced to convey additional and more detailed information.

• Evidence should be relevant to the target audience. In case that there are multiple audiences, the same evidence should be packaged in different formats according to the preferences of each audience.

• At least a minimum of background information should be provided to establish the context in which the findings have been generated.

• Comparisons of performance data over time are critical. Providing findings for a specific quarter or year may be useful for certain stakeholders, but time comparisons are essential to distinguish trends and determine whether progress has occurred and has been sustained.

• Key decision makers may be interested in recommendations, in addition to findings. Some stakeholders may considerably value indications of potential actions required in response to the key M&E findings. They may also be interested in alternative options and subsequent implications with respect to acting on performance findings.

• Both findings and recommendations should be organised following the logic of the results chain and the indicators of the results framework. For example, an online dashboard that disaggregates results according to the different levels of the results chain could facilitate tracking the progress made by the intervention (Figure 5).

Figure 5. Example of an online dashboard with results disaggregation following the results chain

Source: Authors’ own resources.

6.1. Building on BOBF

As many other OECD countries, in the past few years, Ireland has been working on developing a legal framework that encourages data openness and transparency in the public sector. A key example of this enabling environment is the Public Service Data Strategy 2019‑23 (Department of Public Expenditure NDP Delivery and Reform, 2019[29]), which sets out a detailed vision, along with a set of actions, on how the country can improve their use of data to support a more joined-up, efficient and effective government. Similarly, with the objective of increasing the amount of public sector data available for re‑use, ensuring fair competition and easy access to public sector information, and enhancing cross-border innovation based on data, the Open Data Directive (EU) 2019/1 024 was transposed into Irish law in 2021 (Government of Ireland, 2023[30]).

Evidence gained through the monitoring of BOBF was disseminated via a mid-term review for the period 2014‑17 (DCEDIY, 2018[2]) and annual reports for each year of implementation (DCEDIY, 2022[8]). The mid-term review of BOBF focused on the status of the framework and the progress made on its implementation up to date, while offering lessons to inform the next phase of the implementation process. The report covered, among others: i) a review of the process and implementation structure of BOBF; ii) a review of awareness and engagement of stakeholders with the policy framework; iii) a review of outcomes to date; and iv) an identification of learning and innovative practices. While the mid-term review had a larger emphasis on the implementation of the framework, the BOBF annual implementation reports mainly focused on the progress experienced by the outcome indicators throughout the lifespan of the policy framework.

In addition to these written reports, alternative dissemination strategies have been developed in the past years. A good example of these initiatives is the Outcomes for Children National Data and Information Hub (O4C), a joint initiative established in 2016 between Tusla and the Department of Children and Youth Affairs through the “What Works initiative” with the objective of providing a national standardised technical solution for mapping outcomes and indicators for children and young people (Tusla, 2023[31]). The O4C Hub is a nationally centralised platform that hosts an agreed set of national outcome indicators sourced from a variety of published data that had been identified to reflect alignment with the five national outcomes of BOBF. The O4C Hub has been implemented in the initial phase (finalised in 2019) and is currently under further development with the objective of updating the existing indicators, making data more accessible, and increasing the means for data collection and usage.