Evaluating for Social Impact: Reflections from our Head of Evaluation Dr Maria Kordowicz
I have been fortunate to head research, evaluation and learning at TSIP since early 2021. During this time, I have gathered the reflections of my passionate colleagues and learned about the unique skillsets and values that we bring to our evaluation work.
This now culminates in us redefining our evaluation service offering in line with our expertise, as well as the needs of our existing and future clients. It is with pride that I launch our new co-produced research, evaluation and learning statement of intent:
‘By enabling evaluative thinking to flourish, we address place-based equity and drive social impact. We achieve this through a research, evaluation and learning package tailored to the needs of the seldom heard.’
At TSIP, we therefore employ research, evaluation and learning methods which are participatory, engaging and bring seldom heard voices to the forefront of organisational and societal change. We recognise the importance of ‘place’ - be it a geographical location or a virtual community, our contexts are key drivers in how we experience the world.
Importantly, we ensure that we work in collaboration with our clients and appropriately remunerate community participants in recognition of their time and expertise. We recognise the importance of evaluation in driving evidence-based change, and therefore translate findings into tangible recommendations, which we support our clients in implementing. We facilitate co-design to not only make suggestions, but to make solution-focused decisions and go back to our evaluation participants and stakeholders, through creative community-led communications and dissemination.
Photo of Dr Maria Kordowicz
My own twenty year journey as a researcher, evaluator, manager and educator has also brought to working for the innovative person-centred organisation that is TSIP. I have become aware of the role that evaluation can play in shaping people, communities and organisations over the past 15 years or so, since I began implementing evaluation research in the NHS to evaluate the performance of the quality improvement programmes and services I was responsible for. I have been lucky enough to lead research and evaluation teams, to design a range of evaluation approaches, and to oversee the implementation of evidence-based recommendations stemming from the work.
Having worked in academia, public and charity sectors, as well as supporting commercial organisations with their evaluation needs, over the years my input has morphed into senior consultancy, and I now sit on several health and social care research and evaluation boards nationally. I am a Chartered Psychologist, Coach and a Health Services Researcher by profession. I was also lucky to support seven evaluation teams funded by The Health Foundation as evaluation advisor just prior to joining TSIP’s Senior Leadership Team, which gave me an unprecedented insight into not only a range of theoretical frameworks and novel evaluation approaches, but also the relational dynamics surrounding evaluating complex ecosystems.
At TSIP, our team is well versed in navigating multiple stakeholder projects, always advocating for those who are seldom heard. My colleagues are specialists in participatory evaluation methods, ensuring that our evaluation approach is co-designed with those whose programmes are being evaluated and with our funders. Crucially, I have heard how much our team wants to make a difference. To us, evaluation opens up a world of new possibility, where findings can be translated into real world social impact - improving the lives of those sharing their lived experience to generate new insights. We forge long-term partnerships to design, deliver and/or advise on:
Research: including question formulation, and curating the methods, often with a creative culturally-relevant qualitative focus to ‘get under the skin’ of the issues we research.
Evaluation: we conduct formative & summative evaluations (during and at programme end), recognising the significance of both process & impact. We help our clients understand what success looks like for them and the communities they serve.
Learning: we do this through facilitation, design and training. To us, learning is so much more than just distributing information. Learning can change lives.
Since joining TSIP, I have had the pleasure of overseeing several impactful evaluation projects as Programme Director. Our work helps gain an unprecedented insight into workplaces and communities and a range of social issues facing us in the COVID-19 landscape and beyond. We are lucky to work with a wide-ranging client base, including businesses, learned societies, funding bodies and charitable organisations, all united in their desire to improve the lives of their beneficiaries. I have coached and trained community researchers and community learners working at the heart of our evaluation projects in a range of research and evaluation methods. I have also supervised our social impact internship, with our three interns joining us over the Summer months to receive evaluation training and then to lead an internal evaluation of TSIP’s social impact to teach us about what we do well and where we can continue to grow as a social impact agency. It was a joy to work with three innovative and passionate individuals, who I am sure will go far in their careers.
As a trainee person-centred and experiential psychotherapist, I can see the alignment of values and skills with TSIP’s work - placing human flourishing firmly at the centre of our work by deeply understanding what can make a difference to the lives of the underrepresented. I am excited about TSIP’s future as I build my team of evaluators and look forward to leveraging my own expertise and that of the team and our partners to continue to bring about social impact. To discuss your evaluation needs please get in touch with me.