Summary of the Evaluation of the Social Development Partnerships Program
From: Employment and Social Development Canada
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Evaluation of the Social Development Partnerships Program
The Program works in partnership with not-for-profit organizations to help improve life outcomes for vulnerable populations in Canada. It has a $20 million annual budget with two distinct components: Children and Families, and Disability.
Key Findings
- The Program helped guide the 37 funded organizations toward leveraging investments from non-federal organizations, including from provincial governments and the private sector. Collectively, they self-reported having leveraged over $10 million worth of cash and in-kind contributions over the periods 2012 to 2013 and 2016 to 2017 period.
- New funding approaches introduced in 2011 to 2012 improved the capacity of organizations to deliver their projects. These ranged from improving service delivery to educating communities on barriers to social inclusion.
- The third-party delivery model is well-positioned to improve the reach of federal funding to smaller not-for-profit organizations, and to strengthen their capacity.
- There are indications that the Program may be contributing to the long-term well-being and social inclusion of vulnerable populations in Canada. For example, the funded organizations reported that their projects:
- resulted in a greater sense of well-being among participating individuals
- increased awareness within communities on barriers to social inclusion
- Most organizations faced financial challenges delivering their projects beyond the funding period without continued federal support.
Recommendations
- Ensure that Program officials and funding recipients have a common understanding of the Program’s objectives, expected results and the key concepts (for example, social inclusion, partnerships, sustainability), to enable better performance measurement.
- Improve monitoring and reporting templates (for example, progress and final reports), as well as data collection tools (for example, surveys), to capture detailed information on how the Program is impacting its intended beneficiaries.
The full Evaluation of the Social Development Partnerships Program is now available.