Department of Justice Component of Canada's Action Plan Against Racism, Formative Evaluation

1. INTRODUCTION


1. INTRODUCTION

The federal government established Canada’s Action Plan Against Racism (hereafter the “Action Plan”) in 2005, the first-ever horizontal, coordinated approach across four federal government departments (Canadian Heritage, Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Human Resources and Social Development Canada and Justice) to combat racism.  The Department of Canadian Heritage is responsible for the overall coordination and administration of the Action Plan, resources for which include a total of $56 million over five years (2005-06 to 2009-10) as well as $12 million in ongoing funding.

1.1. Context for the evaluation

Each partner department (including Justice) is responsible for undertaking a summative evaluation of the initiatives it delivers under the Action Plan and is expected to report to Canadian Heritage on the results by June 30, 2009.  The Department of Justice Evaluation Division received funds in 2007-08 for summative evaluation activities.  The Evaluation Division used a portion of these funds to undertake a formative evaluation, which is intended to help inform the final summative evaluation. This document constitutes the final report of the formative evaluation of the Justice component of the Action Plan.

1.2. Scope and objectives of the evaluation

The evaluation focused on departmental activities funded through Canada’s Action Plan Against Racism from its implementation in 2005-06 to the end of the 2006-07 fiscal year.  New work relevant to the Action Plan did not really occur during the 2005-06 fiscal year as a Justice Coordinator for the Action Plan was not appointed until March 2006.  With a view of broadening the scope of activities covered by the evaluation, activities completed up to the end of the 2007 calendar year (when the evaluation commenced), were also examined.

The objectives of the evaluation were three-fold:

  1. To examine, assess and report on early results and progress towards long-term results achievement (information that will inform the summative evaluation) and determine what adjustments, if any, are required to any aspect of the initiative to better achieve its expected impacts;
  2. To examine and assess the progress and success of implementation of the Justice component of the Action Plan to date, whether it is effective and according to plan; and,
  3. To review the RMAF's performance and evaluation strategies to ensure that they are still relevant and that there is a focus on indicators that will demonstrate clearly the achievements of the Justice component of the Action Plan.

1.3. Structure of the report

This evaluation report contains five sections, including the introduction.  Section 2 describes the Justice component of the Action Plan, and Section 3 describes the methodology used to complete this evaluation.  Section 4 summarizes the findings of the evaluation, and Section 5 presents the conclusions and recommendations.