Effective evaluation for cross-cutting programs

As program budgets face increased scrutiny and cuts, public health organizations are examining ways to make efficient use of resources, both financial and human. One such method is to organize their programs more holistically, but looking across programs at systems level support and integration. While there are many benefits to such a structure, including shared resources, knowledge, and efficient program management at both the funder and grantee levels, there are also a number of challenges to changing the model from the historical way of doing business. High on this list of challenges is the ability to evaluate the effectiveness of cross-cutting programs. Utilizing traditional evaluation methods that look at specific health outcomes presents challenges, but even in this more systems approach there are key evaluation considerations to address. This presentation will provide an overview of some of the leading practices, variations and considerations when designing and implementing a cross-cutting program evaluation vs. a more traditional health topic focused evaluation. We will also identify the spectrum of performance measurement and program evaluation and identify components of each that are important to enable success.