Education, employment and economic development

Good quality employment is vital to the well-being of the individuals that find work and to society as a whole. Our work in this area has included analyses of the impact of training and employment support to disadvantaged groups as well as the impact of regeneration and community development projects. OUr clients have included Microsoft, the Irish Government and Living Streets.

Education, employment and economic development
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Evaluation framework for the Dublin's North East Inner City regeneration

The NEIC Initiative is a long-term social and economic regeneration programme for Dublin’s North East Inner City area, which was launched in 2016. In 2019, Just Economics were engaged by the Departmen of an Taoiseach  to review the evaluability of the programme and develop an evaluation framework for the programme. This broadly involved:

- Engaging workstreams to understand their scope and purpose

 - Developing theories of change for the various workstreams of the progamme

- Identfifying performance indicators for each workstream

- Presenting options for future evaluation of the initiative

Who we work with

  • Client Logo The Scottish Government
  • Client Logo British Telecoms
  • Client Logo Ucd
  • Client Logo Microsoft
  • Client Logo Cabinet Office
  • Client Logo Amnestry International
  • Client Logo University Of Maynooth
  • Client Logo Focus Ireland
  • Client Logo Womens Budget Group
  • Client Logo Iied
  • Oecd
  • Finnfund
  • Cmf2
  • Taoiseach Office
Kids
Youth Work Ireland: exploring the impact of integrated youth work

Youth Work Ireland (YWI) is the largest youth organization in Ireland. YWI uses an innovative Integrated Youth Service Model with the aim of ensuring that young people receive a high quality, efficient and effective service that treats them as a ‘whole person’. Just Economics was commissioned by YWI to assess the evidence for both integrated youth work in general and the YWI Integrated Youth Service Model specifically. The study will be published in 2019.

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The Pedestrian Pound

This research report presents evidence that investment in better streets and places can deliver commercial returns to businesses and investors, as well as improve consumer’s perceptions of high streets. Four performance indicators for these investments were identified through a review of the existing literature:  impact on existing business performance (footfall and retail); urban regeneration (new business, rental income, employment, social exclusion etc.); improved consumer and business perceptions, and business diversity.

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The value of integrated working

There is an established need for women-oriented services, particularly in relation to violence, abuse and mental health, and an emerging evidence base on the benefits that gender-sensitive services can bring. The  aim of the Coventry women's partnership is to to improve outcomes for vulnerable women locally by providing a more joined-up, needs-led service across five women's organisations. The project was a three-year pilot funded by the Smallwood Trust and coordinated by the Women's Budget Group. Women reported substantial – and statistically significant – improvements in their mental health, physical health, relationships, finances, debt, legal status and housing. Service staff also reported that increased collaboration, more effective referrals and greater knowledge of partner services had improved the quality of services and, as a result, also outcomes for women.  

Children and young people, International development, finance and environment, Technology
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Microsoft YouthSpark Evaluation

YouthSpark is a flagship programme of Microsoft Philanthropies that aims to enable young people around the world to learn digital and computer science skills. Just Economics was commissioned to evaluate the extent to which YouthSpark is achieving its mission and objectives. Using qualitative methods, over 100 stakeholders were engaged and site visits were conducted in the Middle East, Africa, Europe and Asia. The evaluation was commissioned to feed into Microsoft's strategic planning process and to inform its future strategy for YouthSpark.