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Access Alliance 2023 – 2024 Annual Planning and Evaluation Report 

Access Alliance 2023 – 2024 Annual Planning and Evaluation Report - collage of participants from various programs at Access Alliance


Project Overview 

At Access Alliance one of our goals is to build and sustain a healthy evidence-informed and evaluation-focused organization. We conduct evidence-informed planning through rigorous evaluation processes to demonstrate accountability at multiple levels and improve the quality of our programs and services. Working with program teams we gather evidence from diverse sources using tools that are accessible, equitable, and client-centred. 

Our evaluations support teams to design and plan their activities to sustain or improve the quality and accountability of our programs. We do this work and use this document to design evidence-informed/policy guidelines. The evaluation framework serves three key functions:  

  • Demonstrates accountability to clients, Board of Directors, funders, and community partners 
  • Acts as a planning tool for programs and services from 2024 onward 
  • Improves quality through participatory approaches and shared planning implications 

Our Approach 

Our Program Planning and Evaluation Policy ensures accountability, learning, and quality of our program planning and evaluation practices.  The policy represents the foundation of all planning and evaluation activities of the agency. We have our annual corporate activities such as the Client Experience Survey, in-depth evaluations of each program that occurs every 3-5 years, and ‘On-the-Ground’ evaluations that staff implement to continuously assess the program activities for improvements.   

Key elements of our evaluation practice: 

  • The evaluation team creates an evaluation plan, which includes a logic model, an evaluation framework (targets, tools, indicators, etc.), and a knowledge mobilization plan. 
  • Program staff and stakeholders such as clients and community partners are engaged in all steps in the planning and implementation of the evaluation. This is critical to produce meaningful, tangible planning implications. 
  • Evaluation processes are consistent with universal ethical standards and best practices that ensure informed voluntary consent, protect client privacy and confidentiality, and avoid potential harm. 

Our approach follows validated evaluation standards. Our quality control measures focus on: 

  • Credibility (i.e. believability of the evaluation findings) 
  • Fittingness (i.e. findings are meaningful or applicable to another group or context) 
  • Auditability (i.e. documentation of the researcher’s decision-making process so it can be reproduced and checked if required) 

For our Board of Directors this document informs strategic-level decision-making. At the operational level, this report is a reflection and planning tool for managers, program staff, and decision-makers. Additionally, staff capacity around  types of evaluation activities is supported and enhanced through the development of this report. Importantly, through these evaluation processes we gather feedback from clients for identifying practices to maintain and sustain or make improvements.   

Organized by department, each evaluation report has high-level report findings, followed by their planned implementation of evaluation recommendations. The report covers evaluations conducted between April 2023 to March 2024. 

Some evaluation highlights: 

  • The Non-Insured Walk-In Clinic saw a 25% rise in unique clients and 21% increase in encounters from the previous year, reducing ER visits by approximately 1,000 patients annually. 
  • 91% of EarlyON participants reported improved skills in engaging with their children. 
  • 100% of Mind-Body Healing Trauma Program participants reported improved mental health, new coping strategies, and better stress management skills. 
  • 78% of Seniors in our cardio program participants noted mental health benefits. 
  • 75% reported better understanding of skills and barriers in our Entrepreneurship Program. They also increased social connections, forming new friendships or acquaintances. 
  • 90.9% are satisfied with our Dietitian advice on healthy eating and weight. management, but 68.2% experience food insecurity and need access to more affordable food. 
  • Hijabs and Helmets Participants overwhelmingly agreed that the program enhanced their cycling skills, safety implications, and knowledge of available health and wellness resources. 
  • 87.9% of clients would recommend our Free Income Tax Clinics to family and friends. 

What We Found/What We Learned 

In the document you will find each evaluation overview organized by these key fields: 

  • Program Brief 
  • Evaluation Objective 
  • Key Evaluation Highlights 
  • Recommendations 
  • Implementation Plan (for on-the-ground evaluations) 

In-Depth Program Evaluations are detailed evaluations that occur every 3-5 years. They are conducted by our evaluation team, in collaboration with program teams. In 2023 – 2024 in-depth program evaluations were conducted on: 

On-the-Ground Evaluations are conducted by program teams, supported by our evaluation team. These are annual evaluations for all programs, which include real-time collection of client feedback. 

In 2023 – 2024 on-the-ground program/service evaluations were conducted on: 

 

PE-Annual-Report-2023-2024Download

For more information contact research@accessalliance.ca