Evaluation for youth social action
How to learn from youth-led work without reducing it to narrow metrics or unsupported outcome claims.
This guide is practical and source-led. It is designed to help people ask better questions, not to make unsupported promises.
A better question
Instead of asking only whether a project worked, ask what changed, for whom, in what context, and what the programme plausibly contributed.
Useful lenses
- Theory of Change for assumptions
- Logic Model for programme components
- Outcome Harvesting for emergent change
- Most Significant Change for values and stories
- youth voice methods for interpreting findings
Evidence discipline
Separate outputs, outcomes, contribution and attribution. Use stories ethically, ask young people what matters, and record uncertainty as learning rather than failure.