Family Violence Initiative Evaluation, Final Report

5. RECOMMENDATIONS AND MANAGEMENT RESPONSE

Dissemination of Public Legal Education and Information materials

Several representatives noted that the Justice FVI has been effective in developing PLEI materials, particularly materials in layman’s terms, but efforts to widely disseminate these materials have proven less successful. In the past, Justice utilized the National Clearinghouse on Family Violence for the distribution of PLEI material. However, effective June 30, 2011, the Clearinghouse no longer disseminates hard copy publications.

Recommendation 1:

It is recommended that the Director, FVI, in consultation with departmental partners, explore options to disseminate PLEI materials.

Management Response

We agree with the conclusion and the recommendation. We will consult with partners to determine the best strategic options for disseminating individual publications, and evaluate the effectiveness of those options when considering future dissemination strategies. In keeping with the “greening” of government, the primary focus will be on electronic distribution.

Performance Measurement Strategy

The Justice FVI is a modest, well-run program, with highly experienced staff. Given the limited resources available to it, the program has reached out to partners in the Department, other federal departments, provincial and territorial governments and NGOs. However, the capacity of the Justice FVI to measure the results attributable to its work has proven to be challenging.

In 2004, the Justice FVI developed a PMS to monitor the effectiveness of its activities and to collect the related data. More recently, the logic model was updated and as a result, the current PMS does not reflect these changes. There is a need to align the PMS with the updated logic model. Where possible, the new PMS should focus on measurement of the impact of the program more than on documenting its activities. In so doing, any changes made to the departmental PMS should reflect the modest resources available to the Justice FVI and support its performance measurement and evaluation.

Recommendation 2:

It is recommended that the Director, FVI, in consultation with departmental partners, revise and update the PMS to reflect the recent changes to the Justice FVI logic model.

Management Response

We agree with the conclusion and the recommendation. We will consult with partners and work with the Evaluation Division to develop a PMS to reflect the most recent logic model and facilitate, where possible, systematic performance reporting of the impact of the Initiative.