Program Theory

What is Program Theory?

In the article of Program Theory and Logical Models, Wild Research states that program theory “explains how and why a program is supposed to work….It provides a logical and reasonable description of why the things you do – your program activities – should lead to the intended results or benefits.” (Wild Research, 2009)

According to Glynn Sharpe (2011), Program Theory uses 3 components to describe a program.

· The program activities

· The intended outcomes

· The process through which the intended outcomes are achieved

Scouts Canada aims to help children and/or youth to gain leadership skills and better prepared for success in the world through activities such as outdoor games, music, drama, canoeing, kayaking, biking, rock climbing, hikes, campfires and overnight camps etc.

Scouts Canada's goal is to help develop well-rounded youth to reach to their full potential, better prepared for success in the world. Canadian youth making a meaningful contribution to creating a better world. Scouts Canada has five different programs for children/youth from ages 5-26. They are Beaver Scouts (ages 5-7), Cub Scouts (ages 8-10), Scouts (ages 11-14), Venture Scouts (ages 15-17), Rover Scouts (ages 18-26).

If Scouts attend to all activities, then they will gain leadership skills and better prepared for success in the world.

Evaluation Approach

From my learning of Module 1 and 2, Impact Evaluation assesses program effectiveness in meeting its short-term goals and objectives. For example: discover changes in attitudes, behaviours, environmental factors, or policy. It is important to use impact evaluation to assess Scouts Canada’s short-term objectives and goals of the program when evaluating the program.

These are the evaluation questions to include in the Impact Evaluation:

· How well does Scouts Canada work in a short-term?

· How well does the implementation of Scouts Canada program address the particular needs and priorities of its participants?

· Are Scouts Canada accomplishing the short-term objectives?

· What can changes be attributed to Scouts Canada program?

· What were the particular features of Scouts Canada program and context that made this program to sustainably effective?

· How well does Scouts Canada program advance equity of access, participation, and outcomes for those least well served?

I believe that democratic evaluation approach would be suitable for Scouts Canada program. The democratic evaluation targets audience includes multiple stakeholders, such as policy/decision makers, program leaders and staff. According to Greene (2017), the purpose of democratic evaluation is to assess program meaningfulness and effectiveness for beneficiaries, from their standpoint. It is important for Scouts to feel self-confidence, have a sense of community and gain leadership skills throughout the program. Therefore, it is crucial to assess program meaningfulness and effectiveness for beneficiaries, from their point of view. Another purpose of democratic evaluation is to democratize decision making to advance equity, which means to bring more people to the decision-making process. It is important to hear opinions from all levels in Scouts Canada program therefore democratic evaluation is a good fit with my program context.