The Impact of Community Work - by Karen McArdle & Sue Briggs & Kirsty Forrester & Ed Garrett & Catherine McKay (Paperback)

About the Book

This book provides practical guidance for professionals and pre-qualifying students on how to gather and generate evidence of the impact of projects in the community. It includes case studies from a range of community settings and is full of easy to implement ideas, tools and examples of methods to demonstrate the impact of work in the community.

Book Synopsis

This book provides essential guidance for professionals and pre-qualifying students on how to gather and generate evidence of the impact of projects in the community. Including case studies from diverse community settings, it provides easy to implement, practical ideas and examples of methods to demonstrate the impact of community work. Considering not only evaluation, but also the complex processes of evidence gathering, it will help all those involved with work in the community to demonstrate the impact and value of their work. The book provides: - guidance for how to present different findings to different audiences; - methods for effectively demonstrating the value of your work; - how to demonstrate the scale, quality and significance of impact.

Review Quotes

"This book addresses a complex topic in an accessible way. By doing this, it makes a significant contribution to the conversation about positive change within communities and the community services." Australian Social Work

"The Impact of Community Work: How to Gather Evidence is an impressive integration of theory and practice guiding community workers through the rationale, methods, and ethics for assessing community-based programs... an essential reference book for anyone engaged in community work." Educational Action Research

"A vital text for anyone working with, for and in community settings. The text draws together theory and practice in an accessible format ensuring that everyone - students, practitioners and academics - can evidence the impact of important community-based work. The book will also support leaders, funders and policy makers to understand the particular nature of evidence generated in community settings and as such, is a vital contribution to the field." Kaz Stewart, University of Cumbria

About the Author

Karen McArdle has worked in the community development field for over 30 years and taught evaluation to professionals across multiple community contexts. Kirsty Forrester has worked extensively as a community learning and development worker in local authority, third sector, social work and health settings. Catherine McKay has worked for 37 years in Community Learning and Development at local and national policy levels across Scotland. Ed Garrett combines an academic background in research and teaching with over fifteen years' experience as a community development worker in the voluntary sector. Sue Briggs is a local authority development officer with experience of managing quality improvement approaches, professional development and community learning development practice.