Measurement of PYD Constructs:
How do we best measure the implementation of PYD approaches at the program, system, or agency level?
- What (if any) measures currently exist to evaluate the extent to which a program is PYD vs. not PYD?
- How can we evaluate the impact of efforts to increase the capacity of a system or agency to implement PYD programs and policies?
One significant advancement in measuring at a system a program or agency level is The Youth Program Assessment Tool (YPAT)
FHI 360, with funding from USAID, recently published an assessment toolkit designed to help youth serving organizations to examine their programming and practices to identify areas for improvement. As far as we know, this program assessment tool is the first designed specifically for youth-serving organizations in LMICs that is explicitly focused on measuring PYD strategies and implementation. The Youth Program Assessment Tool (YPAT) is made up of two components (and two guides for implementation) which ensure that a variety of stakeholders are involved in the evaluation, and that youth participants are strongly represented and engaged in the assessment process. The Assessment form is completed by a five to eight-member Self-Assessment Committee (with at least two youth members) and is organized around the PYD domains (i.e., assets, agency, contribution, and enabling environment). Youth being served have a separate Youth Feedback form completed during Youth Reflection Groups that allows for extensive feedback on their experiences. The YPAT sets standards of best practice with clear steps and examples for how to operationalize PYD in youth programming and identifies how PYD could be better integrated into the organization’s programming. The toolkit was developed through an extensive process of reviewing available measures, consultation with experts and program implementers, and then co-created and pilot tested in Jordan with subsequent pilot testing in Jamaica. As a self-assessment tool for programs and organizations YPAT opens the door to measurement for research purposes as well as program development. This toolkit is a promising first step toward answering the question of how we can measure PYD at a program or agency level.
Next Steps Towards Answering this Question
The YPAT is a huge step forward in providing PYD benchmarks for program developers and implementers and a process of self-assessment for program stakeholders, which can lead to meaningful improvements in PYD programming. Below are additional steps that should be taken:
- We need appropriate toolkits for assessing the capacity of large international organizations and government agencies to deliver PYD strategies, programs, and policies across their wide array of resources and areas of impact.
- These assessment tools should be sensitive to change over time and based on appropriate benchmarks, which can be achieved through higher levels of management and leadership.
- Efforts are needed to support high-quality implementation of the tools within the YPAT and to keep clear documentation of the results of each repeated evaluation.
- Studies using qualitative and quantitative research methods to determine the predictors of improvements in the PYD approach at the program level across multiple implementations and sites of the same program over time.
