Education, employment and economic development

1200Px Parnell Street Dublin Ireland Panoramio

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

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.

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.

Emmaus

Emmaus Communities offer homeless people companionship, a place to live and work, and an opportunity to integrate back into mainstream society. For those that need and want it, the Emmaus community also offers Companions – as residents are known – a permanent home. Just Economics was commissioned to conduct an SROI analysis of the impact of Emmaus communities across the UK, and explore the success of the approach in ending homelessness in the UK.

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

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.

An economic appraisal of the Youngballymun initiative

Just Economics and the National University of Ireland, Maynooth were commissioned to carry out an area-based impact assessment of the Youngballymun project. Just Economics developed an economic model to estimate the return on investment to the State from the intervention.

An SROI of Fifteen London

Started by the Jamie Oliver Foundation, Fifteen London is a social enterprise that trains disadvantaged young people in culinary skills with the aim of improving their employment outcomes. This SROI analysis by Just Economics estimates the social and economic impact of outcomes for young people, including improved health, well-being and future employment prospects.

Technology in health services in Africa

Just Economics supported BT to measure the impact of its investments in health and education projects in Sub-Saharan Africa. As part of this, Just Economics was commissioned by BT to carry out a social impact analysis of the Electronic Medical Record (EMR) systems installed in seven medical centres run by the international children’s charity SOS Children’s Villages (and funded by BT) in sub-Saharan Africa.