Update from ALES training event:evaluating projects

Those of you who were able to attend the ALES training event, Not just for the Children, in Hull last week will have heard Jane Avison’s interesting talk on evaluating projects. Jane focussed on four essential components to successful evaluation:
Listening to stakeholders’ requirements and speaking their language
Understanding what drives the stakeholders and being aware of what they need to achieve and how it will be measured
Setting clear boundaries so that partners know precisely who is doing what
Collecting the right evidence at the right time so that the project can be mapped from start to finish

In relation to the first of these components I would draw your attention to a new paper that has just been issued by Scottish Government: Strategic Guidance for Community Planning Partnerships: Community Learning and Development. It can be accessed as a pdf at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/0039/00394611.pdf, and provides an introduction to the language that community events in Scotland will need to speak over the next few years.

Those of you who couldn’t make the conference – commiserations! But the papers will hopefully go up on the ALES pages of the ARA website (http://www.archives.org.uk/si-aelg/news-and-events.html ) in the near future.

Alison Diamond
Chair, ALES

School Pupils Create Their Own Archive

2012 is an important year for Livingston. April marked  50 years since the designation of Livingston as a new town.  The celebrations have provided West Lothian Archives with the opportunity to both celebrate and promote the recent history of the town.

Back in 2011, we started to think of ways in which the archive could permanently document this important year in Livingston’s history. We came up with the idea of creating an archive of Livingston life  in 2011-2012 and it seemed like the perfect opportunity to work with schools.  With that in mind, last August we went out to talk to local primary pupils about archives and to show them some of the archives material of the Livingston Development Corporation. Pupils were provided with archive boxes and were invited to start putting together their own archive of life in  Livingston. They started collecting pictures of school events, writing diaries and collecting other materials. Once pupils had collected the material, we went back out to visit the pupils to talk to them about archival appraisal. Pupils were then supported to go through the collected material, making appraisal decisions on what would form part of the finished archive. The material will shortly be transferred to the archives.  The pupils have really enjoyed working on the project and in doing so have become the creators of history. In fifty years time, we all hope that our new Livingston archive will form part of the Livingston 100 celebrations.