Evaluating our work

When we and our partners evaluate our work, we identify, reflect upon and judge the worth of what has been achieved in a community through our intervention. This helps us to demonstrate that we are using the resources that are given to us wisely. And it equips us to learn lessons for future projects, so that we can be continually improving and increasing the worth of the work that we do. Evaluating our work is vital for both accountability and learning.

Evaluations

Every project supported and delivered by Tearfund and our partners is subject to an evaluation. We consult beneficiaries of the project, as well as other stakeholders, in order to assess the following:

• effectiveness – to what extent it achieved its aims
• efficiency – how well time and money were used
• relevance – to what extent it met the actual needs of beneficiaries
• impact – including any unintended consequences
• sustainability – how the impact can continue when funding ends

Search for evaluations of Tearfund’s work

The Light Wheel

Tearfund’s Light Wheel tool helps us to describe the holistic change we want to see through our work in a practical way. We believe that transformation in each of the Light Wheel’s nine aspects of well-being is the basis for a full and flourishing life.

Using the Light Wheel’s participatory data collection tools we can measure change in holistic well-being over time and evaluate the contribution of our work to bringing about whole-life transformation.

Find our Light Wheel tools and translations 

Impact reporting

Each year, we analyse a representative sample of Tearfund’s project evaluations. We then synthesise the key learning and evidence of impact from these evaluations, creating materials that are shared among our staff and partners, and with our supporters. This helps us to ensure that we learn from each other. 

View our impact and learning materials

The QuIP method

The Qualitative Impact Assessment Protocol (QuIP) is an innovative and robust method for conducting research into the impact of development interventions. The QuIP was developed at the University of Bath, and is now curated by Bath Social & Development Research Ltd (BSDR). We have commissioned QuIP research in three countries – Uganda, Sierra Leone, and Bolivia – to identify how church and community mobilisation has impacted the lives, livelihoods and well-being of intended beneficiaries in those contexts. The QuIP puts our beneficiaries’ voices at the heart of an independent ‘reality check’ of the value of our work with and through local churches.

Explore our QuIP research reports