INFLUENCES SHAPING EVALUATIONThe Farm Business Resilience

Program

Rebecca HeathJohn Noonan, Roy Murray-Prior

Christine Storer, Melanie Strawbridge

The FBR ProgramFBRFarm

PlanningStronger

Rural Commun-

ities

Farm Social

Support

Farm Family

Support

Farm Exit Support

Beyond Farming

Pilot of Drought Reform

MeasuresBuilding

Farm Businesses

• 1 of 7 programs

• Risk management approach

• Develop strategic plans

• Grants to implement

The FBR Program

• Five modular workshops

•Addresses environmental, social, financial & production aspects

•Optional ‘kitchen table’• Facilitated adaptive

process

The Evaluation

•Coordinated by an evaluation team• Three key purposes

– Provide data to help improve– Monitor program progress– Provide evidence to justify program

The Evaluation

Owen JM (1993) Program Evaluation, Forms and Approaches.

A: Development National Review of Drought Policy

B: Design Program logic

C: Process

Questionnaires

Debriefs

Structured feedback sessions

D: ManagementQuestionnaires

Output / process indicators

E: Impact

Immediate•Questionnaires•Interviews

Mid-long term•TBA•Masters project

Continuous improvement

Justification

Monitoring

• 60 facilitators• 170 workshops• 700 participants (400 farm businesses)

• 700 participants (400 farm businesses)• 170 workshops• 60 facilitators

Western Australian Government(Department of Agriculture and Food)

Farm Business Resilience Program Management Team (Curtin Uni)

M&E team

Program delivery

team

Program development

team

Policy team

Facilitation T&D team

Farmer liaison team

Farm business selection & grant

management

Australian Government(Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry)

Complexity

•Agricultural setting• Issue being addressed – drought and a

changing climate•Ultimate success reliant on participant

decisions and actions

Rapid roll-out

Jan Feb Mar Apr May June July Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan - Apr 2010 2011

6groups

26groups

4 pretests

Training

Planning

Expectations

•Program outcome vs policy outcome•Program = immediate ‘attitude’ change•Drought policy = social, environmental,

economic change•What was wanted vs what was funded

Learnings

• Integrate evaluation into program at start• Fund medium to long-term impact• Shared evaluation understanding• Stakeholder needs vs expectations