Specification for the Evaluation of CLIC, the National Information and Advice Service for Young Peop

Descriptions

The aim of the evaluation is to inform the future delivery of a National Information and Advice Service for Young People 11-25 in Wales, within the context of reduced funding. The contract will commence in December 2011 and finish in September 2012, with the main report due at the end of July 2012. Although CLIC provides a universal service it is supported, in part, by ESF funding via the Reach the Heights Programme. The value of the contract currently stands at £2,863,544. It is unlikely that a future information and advice project will be eligible to attract further ESF funding and therefore the funds available for a future Wales-wide information and advice service are likely to be based on the current programme budget. CLIC purpose, aim and objectivesCLIC supports the delivery of the Welsh Government commitment to provide information and advice for young people aged 11-25 as part of the Extending Entitlement agenda. The project aims to provides high quality information and advice to young people across Wales in accessible formats as and when they need it (relating to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, in particular to Articles 13 and 17 of UNCRC as well as to the Convention as a whole) which is essential in helping them to be in a position to make informed choices about their lives e.g. health, relationships, education, career. It provides important support as outlined in the Extending Entitlement 2002 guidance on Youth and Learner Support Services under Section 123 of Learning and Skills Act 2000 i.e. services that assist young people's continued engagement in education, employment training and the lives of their communities. CLIC has the following specific objectives:1.Produce, update and provide information for young people aged 11-252.Work with and support partners in the development and production of local information and linking local information sources to the national project and make information available3.Involve and work with young people in all aspects of CLIC4.Implement the use of new technology5.Effectively co-ordinate all CLIC activities via a central hub. CLIC contributes to realising Welsh Government policy objectives associated with Youth Support Services and the Families First programme. CLIC also supports local authorities in fulfilling their obligation to develop and deliver Youth Support Services. CLIC Delivery Approach and ImplementationTwo key changes were introduced under the current delivery contract, which have been delivered in two stages. During the first stage, the providers focused on changing the delivery model of the national CLIC site from a static, text based model to a social media model. The national site was launched in December 2008 and became operational in 2009. During the second stage, the contractor focused on working with local authorities and their partners to develop local sites. The CLIC central team has engaged with local partners, mainly Children’s and Young People’s Partnerships (CYPPs) to support the development and commitment to the ongoing support of local sites. The CLIC central team provides the national information content for each of the local sites, the template structure for the local site and support to develop the site. Linking local sites to the national site enables users to access and share information on a national, regional and/ or local basis. Local authorities have adopted different development and management strategies. Some local sites are developed and managed by organisations independent of the local authority, others are developed and managed by the local authority and CYPP. The initial plan was to roll out the twenty two local sites over a two-year period (September 2008-August 2010). To date, a total nine local sites have become operational, with a further six in development due to become operational during 2011. CLIC aims to ensure all young people can access, and contribute to, information. This includes, for example, support to enable young people to take part in youth-led editorial groups. The national and local youth editorial groups are made up of small groups of young people which meet regularly, usually once a month, to discuss the content of their local CLIC site. They also contribute content to the site and are offered guidance in doing so from the local CLIC editors. To facilitate access for all young people, CLIC identify and work with specific groups of young people to ensure relevant information is providing in accessible formats. CLIC also provides opportunities for positive outcomes for young people. Young people taking part in activities have the opportunity to develop practical skills such as creative writing, editing and film making and social skills such as communication, interaction and motivation. Approximately 155 young people have gained accredited qualifications (Progress Report, July 2011).CLIC have developed CAN accreditation, piloted lesson plans for inclusion in the Welsh Baccalaureate and have developed PSE lesson plans. The aim of this project is inform the future delivery of a national information and advice service for young people aged 11-25 within the context of reduced funding. The successful contractor is expected to take into account the costs of delivering the existing service when assessing the effectiveness of the existing delivery model and when making recommendations for future delivery. The objectives of the research are to: a.assess the robustness of the existing research design and to identify any gaps in the data which has been collected to dateb.assess the effectiveness of the use of resources and current support to local sitesc.assess the effectiveness of the CLIC delivery modeld.assess the effectiveness of CLIC in achieving its objectives and contributing to Welsh Government policy objectives and priorities e.make recommendations on the future delivery of CLIC within the context of reduced fundingf.assess the extent to which the recommendations are supported by young people aged 11-25, professionals working with young people and partners at the local level, such as CYPPs. Reporting The successful contractor will be expected to report throughout the lifetime of the contract. This will include providing papers/ emerging findings, a scoping report, interim report and final report. Scoping report The successful contractor will be expected to deliver a scoping report four weeks after the inception meeting. During the scoping stage the researchers will be expected to assess the usefulness of the data collected by ARAD and Promo to inform the evaluation and will explore solutions to any issues associated with access to participants. Interim findingsA paper will be delivered in March/ April 2012 and present the findings from the initial stages of the research. Final report The draft final report will be delivered in May/ June 2012, with the final agreed report being delivered at the end of July 2012To accomodate the timeframe for this research, the successful contractor will be able to defer draft reporting on objective a - the robustness of the existing research design and data collection - until August 2012, with a final agreed report being delivered in September 2012. The successful contractor will be expected to attend an inception meeting on Tuesday 20th December.