The ever increasing need to demonstrate results in relation to resources invested. We are committed to demonstrating that the project not only succeeds in achieving the objectives and targets we have set ourselves, but that it also makes economic sense in terms of outcomes. This is especially important in the work we undertake in relation to heath, education, accommodation and youth development. We will adopt an evidence-based approach to showing value for money in this respect.

Secondly, we are aware that impacts of the project go beyond the benefits to individuals participating in our programmes. There are also clear benefits for their partners, their children, and members of their community. Funding providers do not always request information or evidence in relation to these wider benefits (funding of educational courses, for example, often confine their requirements to numbers receiving qualifications; or measurement of success in training can be restricted to numbers accessing employment etc.). While these are important indicators in their own right, we are also committed to demonstrating related outcomes for participants in the longer term; as well as for their families and communities. We are also committed to using evidence to demonstrate the benefits of a more inclusive approach for mainstream service-providers and Irish society generally.

Thirdly, we are also strongly aware that successful outcomes are very much dependent upon the approach taken by project workers and volunteers. Our evaluation efforts will not only show what we have achieved; we will also focus on how these achievements have come about. We are committed to ongoing critical reflection on what works well and what may not – informed at all stages by participant and service-user feedback. As a result we will be able to demonstrate (and share) our ‘model’, and show how particular approaches and interventions can contribute to particular results.

Finally, we see lessons and insights emerging from the work as being of significant importance in shaping effective mainstream responses to social exclusion, education, health and other key challenges faced by the Traveller community. Our evaluation and review process provides a mechanism through which these lessons are captured, and then shared with our working partners within mainstream service provision and policy development.