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Dr Jean Ellis, freelance researcher and evaluation consultant

BA Hons, London School of Economics

PhD, School of Oriental and African Studies, London University

Jean has been a freelance consultant since 2013, formerly lead consultant for Charities Evaluation Services (CES). As well as providing evaluation consultancy, Jean has developed bespoke quality systems for a number of national organisations, and has played a key role in the development of CES’ PQASSO quality system.

Jean is the author of CES’ comprehensive guide: Practical Monitoring and Evaluation: a Guide for Voluntary Organisations, now in its third edition, and of Performance Improvement: a Handbook for Mentors, two third sector standards, as well as of a number of other publications on monitoring and evaluation and quality. As well as providing evaluation services, she has developed or co-developed training courses and training materials, for example on focus groups, questionnaires, theory of change, and monitoring and evaluation for funders. Jean has also provided coaching and mentoring support to individuals and teams.

Consultancy

Jean is skilled in managing large-scale projects, as well as more focused consultancy. Between 1996 and 2000, Jean led a core CES team of four and numerous local consultants developing a program audit function for PLAN world-wide, working with the international Board, managers, field staff and communities in a number of the 44 countries in which PLAN works. During this time she was responsible for over 12 extensive reports. She has worked in a number of countries, including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Cameroon, Mauritania, Kenya, Uganda, Burkino Faso and Zimbabwe.

Recent quality work has included:

development of quality assurance standards for the children, young people and families VCS, Simply the Best (2012)

technical input to the development of quality systems for Relate, Action for Prisoners’ Families and Macmillan(2011 and 2012).

Evaluation work includes the following:

2012-2014 A programmatic evaluation for the Church Urban Fund, including a baseline, interim and impact report.

2013-2014 Evaluation of LB Hounslow’s Voluntary and Community Sector’s commissioned services (2011-2015)

2014 Developing an outcomes-focused approach for Norwood’s children’s services.

2013 Developing outcomes-based systems across all of Mencap’s services.

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2013 Development of an evaluation diagnostic tool for third sector organisations as part of the Inspiring Impact project

2012 Evaluation of Cerebra’s grant-funded work to research into brain injury (Academic chairs)

2012 Developing monitoring and evaluation practice in London’s BME infrastructure organisations

2011 Developing and editing an SROI guide for commissioners, A Guide to Commissioning for Maximum Value.

2011 Berkshire Community Foundation’s online development worker post

2011 Evaluation of Red Hen home/school project

2010 Evaluation of Hanover Foundation’s Level 2 Award in Mentoring for Young

Learners

2010 Evaluation of Drinkaware’s grants programme

2009-2010 Evaluation of Capacitybuilders’ Regional Networks Fund.

2007-2008 Evaluations for Thrive, Contact a Family and Hope UK.

2006-2007 An evaluation of Barclaycard’s Horizons three-year programme, a partnership with four national family and single parent organisations

2003-2005 A three-year evaluation of CEMVO’s capacity building programme for

black and ethnic minority organisations.

2002 CASE Europe: Evaluation of the Spring Institute

2001/2002 Best Value Review for Westminster City Council

2001 Review of Brook’s outreach services

2001 Help the Aged: Evaluation of information services

2000/2001 RedR: Evaluation of the international security management training

programme (including field work in Pakistan)

1990/2000 Safe in the City: Evaluation of the set-up of an SRB funded programme

for the prevention of youth homelessness across eight London boroughs

2000 Safe in the City: Evaluation of the first year of an SRB funded programme for

the prevention of homelessness in London

1996-2000 Programme evaluations in India, Cameroon, Uganda, Bangladesh,

Honduras

1997 Evaluation of PLAN’s Programme Unit.

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Pre-1996 consultancy includes evaluations for the Impact Foundation, MIND, Community Development Foundation, Directory of Social Change, Working for a Charity and Citizens Advice.

Research

Jean is experienced as a researcher, and in delivering findings and recommendations to a policy audience. Jean’s large-scale research study (with Tracey Gregory) of the development of monitoring and evaluation practice in the third sector was published in September 2008 as CES’ Accountability and Learning report together with a separate briefing document.

In 2009 she completed a research report (with Tracey Gregory) for the National Performance Programme on the use of health checks by infrastructure organisations in their capacity building work.

Publications

Jean has provided technical and editorial input to numerous publications. Apart from evaluation reports, her authored publications, articles and papers include the following:

Writing better questionnaires: Getting better data (2014)

Information collection methods: Choosing tools for assessing impact (2013)

The CES Resource Guide: Evaluating outcomes and impact (lead author) (2nd edition 2013)

Simply the Best: Quality assurance standards and toolkit written for Children England, for organisations working with children, young people and families, with Eve Blair.

Making Connections: Using a Theory of Change to Develop Planning and Evaluation (2011), with Diana Parkinson and Avan Wadia, CES

Demonstrating the Value of Arts in Criminal Justice (2011), with Tracey Gregory, Clinks and Arts Alliance

Does Your Money Make a Difference? Good Practice in Monitoring and Evaluation for Funders (2010), CES

‘Healthy Health Checks’ in Circulation issue 413 (2010), NAVCA

‘Demonstrating Impact’ in Charity Finance Yearbook 2010, with Colin Nee

How Are You Doing? A Review of Health Checks used by Voluntary and Community Infrastructure Organisations in their Capacity Building Work (2009), with Tracey Gregory, CES

Monitoring and Evaluation in the Third Sector: Meeting Accountability and Learning Needs, Research paper to the VSSN/NCVO conference, 8 September 2009, winner of the Campbell Adamson prize.

Are Voluntary Sector Organisations Getting Better at Using Outcomes Approaches? Paper for panel session at VSSN/NCVO conference 7/8 September 2009

The Case for an Outcomes Focus (2008), CES

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Accountability and Learning: the development of monitoring and evaluation in the Third Sector (2008), with Tracey Gregory, CES

Practical Monitoring and Evaluation: a guide for voluntary organisations (2008 – third edition), CES

‘Monitoring and evaluation in the voluntary sector: a report on research’ (2007) in The Evaluator. Winter.

Your Project and its Outcomes (2007) (lead author Sally Cupitt), CES

Performance Improvement: a Handbook for Mentors (2006), with Diana Parkinson, CES

Recognising Quality (2004, with Sam Matthews) a quality and evaluation tool prepared for Action for Prisoners’ Families for use by prison visitors’ centres. This tool was revised in 2011.

First Steps in Quality (2002; 2011, with Eileen Murphy, CES)

Citizens Advice Bureaux Service to Black Clients, CAB Research and Development Paper 22, 1992

Meeting Community Needs: A study of Muslim communities in Coventry (1991), Monographs in Ethnic Relations No. 2

‘Local Government and Community Needs’ in New Community, Vol 17 (1991)

Breaking New Ground: Community Development with Asian Communities (1989), Bedford Square Press

‘Management Committees and Race Equality’ (1985) MDU Bulletin