Assessing the impact of project or program activities is becoming an increasingly discussed topic. Donors are no longer only interested in what even have taken place, but above all what results have been achieved and what their impact is, whether actual or expected. This article was created to complement the “Youth employment evaluation toolkit” and expands its theoretical part with specific examples of evaluating the impact of youth projects in Slovak realities. During its preparation, various Slovak organizations were approached, especially those working on youth development and building youngsters‘ competencies in order to support their employment and entrepreneurship.
It is clear from the article that the most used ways of data collection are methods that are not time and money consuming and do not require professional skills. It is mainly a questionnaire sent to the target group at various moments of projects‘ or programs‘ implementation. The collection of personal stories is also used, whether in the form of case studies or best practices. The standard in all organizations is to monitor the number of trainings provided, as well as the number of their participants, both supported by photo documentation.
When monitoring impacts, it is important to realize, that while the data collected can be in any quantity or quality, the most important is to demonstrate causality between a particular educational program and the subsequent change in the behavior or values of young people.
You can find the whole study in Slovak language here:
