Evaluation Capability Building
We help organisations build the skills, systems and confidence to evaluate their own work, not just depend on external consultants to do it for them.
From one-off workshops to ongoing coaching, we meet your team where they are and build from there.
Talk to us about your teamBuilding evaluation from the inside out
The best evaluation happens when the people closest to a program understand it well enough to ask the right questions, collect meaningful data, and use what they find to improve their work. That takes skill, and skill takes time to develop.
We have worked with government agencies, community organisations, peak bodies and research institutions across Australia to build genuine evaluation capability. This means more than running a workshop. It means understanding where your team is starting from, identifying the gaps that matter most, and building capability that actually sticks.
Whether you are new to evaluation or looking to deepen existing skills, we design our support to fit your context, your team, and your goals.
What we offer
Our capability building support takes many forms. Here are the most common ways we work with organisations.
Workshops and training
We design and deliver workshops on evaluation planning, program logic, monitoring and evaluation frameworks, data collection, and making sense of findings. We run these for groups of all sizes, from small teams to large sector gatherings, and tailor the content to your level and needs.
Mentoring and coaching
We provide one-on-one or small group mentoring for evaluators, program staff, and evaluation advisors who want to build their skills in a supported way. Mentoring is structured around your specific challenges and goals, whether that is developing a framework, analysing data, or writing a report that people will actually read.
Evaluation frameworks and MERI plans
We work with your team to develop monitoring, evaluation, reporting and improvement (MERI) frameworks that are genuinely usable, not just documents that sit in a drawer. We focus on building your team's understanding of the framework so they can use and update it independently over time.
Tailored learning programs
For organisations looking to build capability across a team or division over time, we design multi-session learning programs that combine instruction, practice, and feedback. These can cover everything from evaluation basics through to more advanced methods like social network analysis and developmental evaluation.
Review and strengthen existing systems
If your organisation already has evaluation systems in place but they are not working as well as they should, we can review what exists and work with your team to strengthen it. This might mean revising a framework, improving data collection processes, or building better habits around learning and reflection.
Building a culture of learning
Sometimes the biggest barrier to good evaluation is not knowledge, it is culture. We help teams and organisations build the habits, norms and structures that make learning from evidence a natural part of how they work, rather than an add-on that only happens when someone external is watching.
How we approach capability building
We start with understanding before we start building. Every engagement follows the same basic sequence.
Understand your context
We start by understanding your team's current skills, your program context, and what good evaluation would actually look like for you.
Co-design the approach
We work with you to design something that fits your timeline, budget and team. There are no off-the-shelf packages here.
Deliver and practise
We deliver the learning through workshops, coaching, or structured support, building in real practice with your actual work wherever possible.
Apply and reflect
We help you apply new skills to real projects and reflect on what is working, adjusting our support as needed.
Build for the long term
We aim to leave you more capable than when we arrived. That means documenting what we have built together and making sure it is yours to run independently.
Sectors we work in
We have delivered evaluation capability building support across a wide range of sectors, in Australia and internationally.
What makes our approach different
Plenty of consultants can deliver a training workshop. Fewer take the time to understand why your team is not already doing evaluation well, and design support that actually addresses the real barriers.
We work with your real examples
Training built around your programs, your data, and your questions lands very differently from generic case studies.
Accessible, jargon-free facilitation
We know how to make evaluation concepts accessible to people who did not study research methods and who are time-poor.
Practical, not theoretical
We prioritise application over abstract frameworks. By the end of our work together, your team should be able to do something they could not do before.
We leave something behind
Every engagement produces resources, frameworks, or tools that your team owns and can continue to use after we have finished.
Our capability building experience
Capability building in practice
A selection of projects where we have helped organisations build their evaluation skills and systems.
Local Public Health Unit Capacity Support Program
VicHealth, Victoria
Victoria's nine Local Public Health Units took on expanded responsibilities for disease prevention post-pandemic. As the evaluation stream of a three-part capacity support program (alongside leadership and systems thinking), we worked individually with each LPHU to identify their specific needs. This spanned training workshops, developing evaluation frameworks and plans, building data collection tools from scratch, and facilitating Community of Practice sessions. We also developed an overarching framework and a partnerships monitoring approach across the full nine-unit network.
Evaluation Capability Building for FOGO and Circular Economy Programs
Metropolitan Waste and Resource Recovery Group, Victoria
MWRRG had been supporting Melbourne councils to roll out food organics and garden organics (FOGO) collection programs and other circular economy initiatives, and wanted to build councils' own capacity to monitor and evaluate how those programs were running. We designed and delivered training workshops for 50 council staff across three sessions — one full-day in person and two half-day online. Content covered monitoring and evaluation fundamentals, building program logic models and key evaluation questions, and hands-on support for designing data collection tools, with templates councils could take away and use immediately.
Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture, Tasmania
Evaluation Training — Organisation-wide MER System
We worked with TIA to review their monitoring and evaluation framework and train 30 early adopters of evaluation across the organisation as it implemented a new MER system.
Victoria University, Victoria
Devolved Aspire Program
We built evaluation skills directly with the young Muslim women taking ownership of the Aspire Program — covering data collection, analysis and reporting alongside the formal evaluation.
Resilience NSW, New South Wales
NSW Disaster Risk Reduction Program — Evaluation Plan
We drafted the evaluation plan collaboratively with the DRR Program team, building their skills in evaluation planning, program logic, indicators and monitoring throughout the process.
Emporium Creative Hub, Victoria
Evaluation and 'How to Guide' — Emporium Creative Hub
Alongside evaluating the Hub's programs, we created a practical evaluation How to Guide so the Bendigo-based organisation could run its own evaluation independently going forward.
Australian Pro Bono Centre, Australia-wide
Impact Measurement Chapter — Australian Pro Bono Manual
We wrote the evaluation and impact measurement chapter for the fourth edition of the Manual, making complex evaluation concepts accessible for law firms with no prior evaluation experience.
Ready to build your team's evaluation skills?
Whether you have a clear brief or are still figuring out what you need, we are happy to have a conversation about what capability building could look like for your organisation.
Get in touch
VicHealth, Victoria
Local Public Health Unit Capacity Support Program
Victoria's nine Local Public Health Units were established during the COVID-19 pandemic and from 2022 took on expanded responsibilities for disease prevention and population health across their regions. VicHealth designed a three-stream capacity support program in partnership with the Department of Health, covering leadership (Professor Rob Moodie), systems thinking (Deakin University) and evaluation (FPC).
We led the evaluation stream. Working with each of the nine LPHUs individually, we identified their specific needs and delivered tailored training workshops, evaluation frameworks and plans, data collection tools, and facilitated Community of Practice sessions. Across the network as a whole, we also developed an overarching evaluation framework and an approach to monitoring partnerships.
Methods and approach
Metropolitan Waste and Resource Recovery Group, Victoria
Evaluation Capability Building for FOGO and Circular Economy Programs
MWRRG had been supporting Melbourne councils to design and implement food organics and garden organics (FOGO) collection programs and other circular economy initiatives. Wanting councils to be able to monitor and evaluate their own programs, MWRRG engaged FPC to design and deliver training workshops for council staff.
We delivered training to 50 participants across three sessions — one all-day in-person session and two half-day online sessions. Content covered monitoring and evaluation fundamentals, a guided process for developing program logic models and key evaluation questions, and hands-on support for designing data collection tools. Participants left with templates and materials they could use immediately in their own programs.
Methods and approach
Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture, Tasmania
Evaluation Training — Organisation-wide MER System
The Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture is a specialist agricultural research, development, extension and education organisation. In working towards its aim of supporting prosperous and sustainable rural industries, TIA was implementing an organisation-wide Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting (MER) system to improve decision-making, communication and strategic planning.
We worked with TIA staff to review the conceptual framework for the MER system, support staff in drafting an evaluation framework, and train 30 early adopters of evaluation within the organisation — giving them the skills and confidence to use the new system effectively from day one.
Methods and approach
Australian Evaluation Society, Australia-wide
Practicing Systems: Introduction to Social Network Analysis
We deliver this flagship workshop for the Australian Evaluation Society one to two times per year. It has evolved over multiple iterations but the core remains a one-day session centred on the foundations of Social Network Analysis.
The first part of the day covers core theory, requirements and the mindsets needed to apply SNA effectively. The second part puts this into practice using two example data sets, so participants leave equipped to start applying SNA in their own context. The session is highly regarded and consistently draws practitioners from across the evaluation sector.
Methods and approach
Victoria University, Victoria
Devolved Aspire Program
The Aspire Program aimed to provide professional development and governance training for young Muslim women in Victoria. With a grant from the Lord Mayor's Charitable Foundation, Victoria University was funded to devolve ownership of the program to the Muslim community itself, training and empowering past participants to become the program's new holders.
We were engaged to provide both the formal evaluation and capability building support. A key component was building the evaluation skills of the young women taking on ownership — covering data collection, analysis and reporting so they could evaluate the program themselves going forward. The evaluation found clear outcomes related to social connectedness, empowerment, leadership, and a growing passion for social change among participants.
Methods and approach
Resilience NSW, New South Wales
NSW Disaster Risk Reduction Program — Evaluation Plan
The NSW Disaster Risk Reduction Fund was established in 2020 to support the state's progress against national disaster risk reduction priorities. FPC worked with the core DRR Program team to develop the evaluation plan using a deliberately collaborative approach — building the team's capability at the same time as producing the plan itself.
Through a series of workshops and consultations, we enhanced the team's skills in evaluation planning, program logic design, measuring impact, drafting indicators and key evaluation questions, and monitoring and reporting. This ensured the team had genuine buy-in and understanding of the plan they would be using. We recommended that all future Resilience NSW programs build in similar participatory review processes when developing evaluation plans.
Methods and approach
Emporium Creative Hub, Victoria
Evaluation and 'How to Guide' — Emporium Creative Hub
The Emporium Creative Hub is a place for creative practitioners, entrepreneurs and businesses in Bendigo to connect, build skills and expand their networks. It runs a coworking space alongside social events, programs, workshops and mentoring for the local creative community.
FPC was engaged to both evaluate the Hub's programs and create a practical evaluation How to Guide so the Hub team could run their own evaluations independently in future. The evaluation drew on existing data analysis, focus groups with Hub participants, and a stakeholder survey.
Methods and approach
Australian Pro Bono Centre, Australia-wide
Impact Measurement Chapter — Australian Pro Bono Manual
The Australian Pro Bono Manual is a practice guide and resource kit for law firms establishing or running a pro bono legal service program. FPC was engaged to write the evaluation and impact measurement chapter for the fourth edition — a resource directed at law firms that typically have no prior evaluation experience.
The key challenge was making evaluation concepts genuinely accessible for a non-evaluation audience without oversimplifying them. Feedback from the Pro Bono Centre noted the content was pitched at the right level and well-contextualised for the pro bono environment. Because the Manual is used by law firms to design programs that support communities, getting this chapter right has direct flow-on implications for how those programs are evaluated.
Methods and approach