Monitoring and Evaluation
It is crucial to us that we ensure that every pound, shilling or Leone we receive is put to the best use in bringing about change in the lives of people in prison. We strive to be a reflective organisation and an organisation that is responsive to the needs of those we serve. It is therefore crucial to us to regularly monitor and evaluate our impact.
Monitoring and evaluation activities
Monitoring takes place in a variety of ways. With regard to infrastructure projects, monitoring takes place through regular visits to our health and education facilities by our staff and advisors to ensure that they are being used as per the memorandum of understanding which is signed before any infrastructure project is embarked upon.
Advisors, who are experienced professionals in their fields, regularly visit our projects to ensure that they are being conducted in an effective way, to support and guide our staff and to help us to find ways of improving.
Inmates involved in our projects participate in group discussions and or complete questionnaires before becoming involved in many of our activities. This allows us to gain an understanding of their needs and expectations and to ensure that we are meeting these.
We meet with the officer in charge of each prison we work in at least six times a year. These meetings, which also often include other senior members of staff, allow us to gain feedback on the work we are doing and to ensure that the services we are providing are effectively meeting the needs of our beneficiaries. We also regularly meet with the most senior prison staff at the headquarters level, to understand the prison service’s needs and to ensure that we are working in partnership to meet these.
In the same way that we believe that our monitoring and evaluation principles can help us to be more effective and accountable, the following principles, from our ethos, govern the way we do our work:
Building a learning organisation
We foster partnerships with the recipients, beneficiaries of our work and others working in the criminal justice system, thus ensuring that APP is responsive to beneficiaries’ needs in line with the notion of ‘putting people first’. APP does not recreate the wheel, it works hand in hand with those already working in the field in order that resources may be best distributed for maximum effectiveness.
Consultation
Consultation is a powerful tool which enriches and shapes our policies. It includes: stakeholder surverys; interviews with individual stakeholders; consulting groups and holding meetings with senior prison officials.
Setting service standards
The principle requires setting benchmarks to constantly measure the impact that we are having on the lives of our beneficiaries. Stakeholders should be involved in the development of our benchmarks.
Required are standards that are precise and measurable so that users can judge for themselves whether or not they are receiving what was promised. Some standards will cover processes, such as the length of time taken to respond to inmates’ letters.
Increasing access
The ethos of APP aims to rectify some of the inequalities in the distribution of existing services. Access to information and services empowers stakeholders and creates value- for- money, quality services. It reduces unnecessary expenditure and increases accountability to donors.
Ensuring courtesy
This goes beyond a polite smile, ‘please’ and ‘thank you’. It requires our staff and volunteers to empathise with our beneficiaries and treat them with as much consideration, respect and dignity as they would like for themselves.
Openness and transparency
A key aspect of openness and transparency is that stakeholders should know more about the way APP operates, how well they use the resources they consume, who is in charge. It is anticipated that stakeholders will take advantage of this principle and make suggestions for improvement of service delivery mechanisms, and even to make APP employees accountable and responsible by raising queries with them.
APP is committed to continuous, honest and transparent communication with its stakeholders. This involves communication of services, information and problems, which may hamper or delay the efficient delivery of services to promised standards. If applied properly, the principle will help de-mystify the negative perceptions that stakeholders sometimes have about the attitude of NGOs and also the public attitude towards prisoners.
Redress
APP staff are encouraged to welcome complaints as an opportunity to improve service, and to deal with complaints so that weaknesses can be remedied quickly for the good of our beneficiaries.
Value for money
APP will strive to utilize as many free services and volunteers as possible, and to ensure that every pound received from donors is accounted for and used to bring about the greatest change in the lives of its beneficiaries.
We will always select employees who share our values. We will strive to meet individual needs because our success depends on the satisfaction, effort and commitment of each employee. Our leaders will constantly support and energize all employees to continuously go further in order to improve the lives of our beneficiaries. This will be accomplished by creating an environment of genuine care, trust, respect, fairness and teamwork through training, education, empowerment, participation, rewards and career opportunitities.
Respect for people
We value each person’s intrinsic worth and uniqueness. We acknowledge everyone’s contribution and honour his/her opinions. Our work environment is open, honest, supportive and fulfilling. Our company is built on trust.
Responsibility for actions and results. Determination. Courage
‘Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us…’
We keep promises. Each person is empowered to make the organisation succeed and is 100 per cent accountable for his/her actions. We challenge the status quo, promote continuous improvement, and reward excellence. We lead by example and do not avoid difficult decisions. We invest in our people and operations for future growth in our ability to bring about change in prisons. We work safely, comply with laws, and are a good neighbour. We meet our commitments to beneficiaries, partners, donors, our employees and volunteers - today and tomorrow.