Violence Prevention in Practice

keep your effort on track

Hexagon icon titled 'Create an Evaluation Plan'

Hexagon icon titled 'Select Indicators and Identify Data Sources'

Hexagon icon titled 'Conduct Process and Outcome Evaluations'

Program evaluation is an evidence-based approach to assess the value and impact of prevention programs, practices, and policies. It includes the continuous monitoring or routine data collection on implementation and outcomes over a regular period of time. It provides an in-depth look into how you carried out your plan, and whether or not you achieved the desired goals and outcomes.

Collaborating with community members and program participants can help guide the evaluation process. Community input can help you consider how your evaluation design and interpretations may be impacted based on lived experiences.

Planning and carrying out a comprehensive violence prevention plan takes time, attention, and resources. Evaluate your efforts as a whole and also measure the impact of individual policies, practices, and programs. Evaluation allows you to:

Demonstrate the contribution and impact of your plan.
Improve your overall plan.
Help make adjustments to your approaches during implementation.
Maintain accountability to stakeholders.
Make the case for funding.
Ensure your program is affecting participants and communities fairly.

Circle image listing out Standards, Utility, Feasibility, Propriety, and Accuracy

Your evaluation plan will help you:

Stay organized.
Use financial and staff resources wisely.
Stay accountable along the way.

Evaluation Plan Checklist

Use the steps below from CDC’s Framework for Program Evaluation to develop your plan.

Circle image highlighting 'Engage partners'

Start with those involved in the planning phase. Building and strengthening relationships and engaging community members and the organizations that support them are important components of the evaluation.

Engage partners from diverse sectors and community members with lived experience of violence in all steps of the evaluation process.

Engaging partners can help broaden understanding of historical, structural, and cultural contexts that may affect your evaluation plan.

Identifying Key Stakeholders

Apply Evaluation Standards

This helps ensure evaluations are sound and fair. The best evaluations are designed to be:

Useful and serve the information needs of various audiences.
Feasible, realistic, cost-effective, and practical.
Conducted legally and ethically, with regard for the welfare of the affected people, groups, and communities.
Accurate, revealing, and conveying correct, truthful information.

For more information on the Framework, visit CDC's Approach to Program Evaluation.