Monitoring & Evaluation Toolkit
A toolkit to engage young people through sport and physical activity
The Active Essex Foundation in collaboration with StreetGames and Loughborough University are working together to support Community Sports Providers/Local Trusted Organisations (LTOs) to collect and evidence how physical activity and sport is an effective tool for engaging young people to divert them away from criminal behaviours and towards a positive lifestyle with positive outcomes.
Our aim has been to create in partnership with Community Sports Providers/ LTO’s, Youth Criminal Justice agencies and other partners a strong evidence base of proven blueprints and approaches that increase positive life outcomes for vulnerable young people that can be replicated at scale across Southend, Essex and Thurrock and also support a national collection of data.
In order to try and find a way to gather key data and outcomes that can be compared against local and national provisions, demonstrate the effectiveness of sports interventions and how it can influencing youth crime reduction, we have developed a M & E toolkit.
Although we know there is no single, ‘magic’ best way of doing things, we have a number of tips and tools that can help and links to online resources by others. We’ve packaged some of these together to create what we are calling the M&E toolkit’, to help Community Sports Providers/LTOs undertake M&E and demonstrate the impact of their work.
Following feedback about our Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning (MEL) processes from the organisations we work with, we've made some changes.
From April 2025, AEF will be transitioning to a new MEL process with just two mandatory elements (a quarterly provider survey and pen portraits) and optional extra elements if you would like to capture more evidence about the impacts of the work that you do. All the information you need is in the MEL Guide for Organisations.
Please email [email protected] if you have any questions or need support.
The M&E toolkit includes:
- Attendance and engagement collection tool
- Young person beginning and end surveys
- Case study and pen portrait templates
- General information and guidance
The information included within the M&E toolkit is not designed to be exhaustive and we are not suggesting that you must use some or all of these resources, unless directly funded by Active Essex Foundation, Active Essex or one of our partners. It is important that the M&E you undertake is ‘right’ for your project and the communities you serve, we hope that some of the information and resources provided will help you in this area of work.
Why is Monitoring & Evaluation Important?
Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) is an essential part of good project management:
- It helps to provide feedback and shout about and celebrate progress with everyone involved
- It helps to capture learning, identify good practice and support continuous improvement
- It helps to show the value and impact of your project to partners, the wider community, funders and others
- It is a key component for supporting sustainability as it can strengthen your case for continued, new and/or increased levels of funding.
It is also important for reviewing progress internally and helping to shape future offers by identifying:
- Which activities and sessions are working well
- Where changes / improvements may be needed
- Gaps in provision.
Help with the Toolkit
To support you with our new evaluation resources we have created a series of explainer videos that will help you in navigating the toolkit and our requirements please find these by clicking:
Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning for Referrals explainer
Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning - Optional Extras
Download resources here
Key Links
Data Protection Statement
The information you provide is confidential and subject to the requirements of the Data Protection Act 2018.
This personal data will be held and processed by Active Essex (Sport and Physical Activity Partnership) for the purpose(s) of providing and monitoring the effectiveness of the Essex Youth Crime & Sport Project and comply with any statutory duty in relation with public health placed on the local authorities, including service communication purposes.
The personal details you provide may also be shared with third parties for the purposes of undertaking research, for the provision of appropriate services, as part of any statutory duties requiring such disclosure and to protect the public funds the Council collects and administers on the basis that they treat the information as confidential. Any data may be used to prevent fraud or the misuse of resources.
For further information of our privacy notice, please visit: https://www.essex.gov.uk/privacy-community. You can also contact us on 03457 430430 if you have additional questions.