IMPACT Europe – Radicalisation Awareness Network Prison and Probation Services Evaluation Workshop

On 26 April 2017, IMPACT Europe and the Radicalisation Awareness Network (RAN) re-convened practitioners from European prison and probation services (P&P) who had taken part in a previous capacity building event in November 2016. The purpose of this follow-up workshop, held in Utrecht, was that of taking stock of progress made by participants in the implementation of their evaluations of initiatives aimed at preventing and tackling violent radicalisation and extremism (P/CVE) in a P&P setting, and of sharing learning from any opportunities or obstacles experienced.

Over the course of the day, participants emphasised the importance of developing a clear Theory of Change for the programmes and initiatives being evaluated, as well as that of having access to expert guidance and training on evaluation, as key enablers of progress made. Commonly encountered challenges cited by participants included resource constraints, a lack of support for P/CVE initiatives, and difficulty in building momentum for an evaluation project in a context of changing leadership and shifting priorities.

Participants discussed potential strategies for overcoming these challenges, sharing lessons learned and, as the conversation turned towards next steps, exploring issues related to data collection and analysis, as well as to developing a receptive audience for evaluation findings.

[Image shared by Joris Louwes via Flickr; CC BY 2.0]