Systems & Place-Based Evaluation

Many of the programs we evaluate operate in complex environments where change happens through relationships, networks and systems rather than through linear cause and effect. We bring specialist systems practice methods and place-based evaluation approaches to help organisations understand how their work creates change in these settings.

Our team has deep expertise in Social Network Analysis, System Effects, Ripple Effects Mapping and systems mapping, as well as evaluating programs that take a place-based approach to community change.

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Evaluation / Systems & Place-Based Evaluation

What is systems and place-based evaluation?

Traditional evaluation approaches work well when a program has a clear logic model with defined inputs, activities and outcomes. But many programs operate in environments where the picture is more complex: multiple organisations are contributing to shared goals, change happens through shifts in relationships and networks, outcomes emerge over time and across different parts of a system, and context matters as much as the intervention itself.

Systems evaluation uses methods drawn from systems thinking, complexity science and network analysis to understand how programs contribute to change at a systemic level. This includes mapping causal relationships, measuring shifts in networks and partnerships, and identifying the factors that enable or constrain progress within a system.

Place-based evaluation applies these and other approaches to programs that are designed around a specific geographic community or region. Place-based programs typically involve partnerships across sectors, respond to locally identified needs, and aim to create change that is embedded in and relevant to a particular place. Evaluating these programs requires methods that can account for local context, multiple stakeholders and the non-linear ways that change happens in communities.

We also draw on established systems change frameworks to structure how we think about and measure systemic change. Frameworks like the Water of Systems Change and the Action Scales Model provide a shared language for understanding the different levels at which change occurs, from shifts in policies and practices through to deeper changes in relationships, power dynamics and mental models. We incorporate these frameworks into evaluation designs to help programs articulate what kind of systemic change they are seeking, track progress at the right level, and tell a credible story about their contribution.

Methods and approaches we use

We draw on a range of specialist methods depending on what your program needs to understand. These can be used as standalone approaches or combined within a broader evaluation design.

Social Network Analysis (SNA)

Quantitative mapping and measurement of relationships and connections between organisations, people or groups. SNA reveals how networks are structured, where strong and weak ties exist, and how partnership patterns shift over time.

System Effects

Our proprietary methodology that centres lived experience in systems mapping. Using fuzzy logic and cognitive mind mapping, System Effects identifies the systemic factors that influence an outcome from the perspective of those most affected, and can be used as a pre-post measure to track how systems shift.

Ripple Effects Mapping

A participatory method for capturing the wider, often unexpected impacts of a program. Ripple Effects Mapping works outward from direct activities to trace how effects spread through communities and systems, capturing outcomes that conventional indicators might miss.

Systems Mapping & Change Frameworks

Visual and analytical mapping of the components, relationships and dynamics within a system, informed by established systems change frameworks such as the Water of Systems Change and the Action Scales Model. These frameworks help structure evaluation around the different levels at which change occurs, from policies and practices through to relationships, power dynamics and mental models.

Place-Based Evaluation

Evaluation approaches designed for programs anchored in specific communities or regions. We account for local context, multi-stakeholder dynamics and the ways that community-level change unfolds differently from place to place.

Partnership Mapping

Mapping and analysing the partnership landscape around a program or initiative to understand who is connected to whom, how partnerships are functioning, and where there are opportunities to strengthen collaboration.

When are these approaches useful?

Systems and place-based evaluation methods are particularly valuable when you need to understand change that goes beyond the direct reach of a single program.

Multi-stakeholder initiatives

Programs involving multiple organisations working toward shared outcomes, where understanding how partnerships function is as important as measuring results.

Place-based and regional programs

Initiatives designed around a specific community or region, where context shapes delivery and outcomes look different from one place to another.

Programs seeking systems change

Work that aims to shift underlying conditions, structures or relationships rather than deliver services directly, where traditional outcome measures may not capture what's changing.

Understanding wider impacts

When you need to capture the ripple effects of a program beyond its immediate participants, including how it influences the broader community or sector.

Grant and investment programs

Funding programs where multiple grantees are contributing to portfolio-level outcomes and you need to understand how the collective effort is creating change.

Identifying systemic barriers

When you need to understand the underlying systemic factors that enable or constrain an outcome, from the perspective of those most affected.

Systems & Place-Based Evaluation Projects

Examples of our work using systems practice methods and place-based evaluation approaches.

Featured Project

Safer Cities Program Evaluation

Transport for NSW

We evaluated Transport for NSW's $30 million Safer Cities program, which trialled place-based interventions across 19 local government areas to improve perceptions of safety in public spaces for women, girls and gender diverse people. The evaluation captured outcomes across 460 interventions delivered through 21 projects — from lighting upgrades and public art to events and co-designed amenity improvements.

Place-Based Gender Equity Community Safety Co-Design

Read the Impact Report

Featured Project

Adapted SNA and Ripple Effects Mapping Evaluation Tool for Systems Change

Paul Ramsay Foundation / The Front Project

We developed a bespoke evaluation tool that blended Social Network Analysis and Ripple Effects Mapping to measure systems change in early childhood education. The tool was designed to capture how The Front Project's work was shifting relationships, practices and conditions across the early childhood sector, going beyond what either method could reveal on its own.

SNA Ripple Effects Mapping Systems Change

Featured Project

Growing Healthy Communities Grant Program Evaluation

VicHealth

We led a systems-focused evaluation of VicHealth's grant program supporting Victoria's children, young people and families to overcome structural barriers to good health. The evaluation used System Effects to understand the systemic factors influencing health outcomes and systems mapping to visualise how the funded initiatives were interacting with the broader system. This approach captured how the program was shifting underlying conditions, not just delivering activities.

System Effects Systems Mapping Public Health

Climate Partnerships Project Evaluation

Jesuit Social Services

Using Social Network Analysis to evaluate a three-year climate justice initiative, mapping how partnerships between community legal organisations were developing and strengthening over time.

SNA Climate Justice

Creative Futures Fund Outcomes Evaluation

Creative Australia

Using Ripple Effects Mapping to understand the wider impacts of a national cultural policy fund, capturing how investments in Australian storytelling and creative engagement were spreading through the sector.

Ripple Effects Mapping Creative Industries

Healthy Loddon Campaspe Initiative Evaluation

City of Greater Bendigo

Evaluating a regional place-based health partnership (2023 to 2026), including partnership mapping to understand how organisations across the Loddon Campaspe region are connecting and collaborating to improve community health outcomes.

Place-Based Partnership Mapping

It's Your Move — System Effects Pre-Post Evaluation

ACT Health

Using System Effects as a pre-post measure to evaluate a school health promotion program, mapping how systemic barriers to physical activity shifted after a major infrastructure and support intervention.

System Effects Pre-Post Design

Healthy Kids Advisors Program Evaluation

Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation

Evaluating a place-based healthy eating initiative across 13 targeted local government areas, where dedicated Advisors work with local councils, health agencies and community settings — with each LGA taking a locally tailored approach.

Place-Based Food Systems

View on SAKGF website

Women in Energy Program Evaluation

Gippsland Women's Health

Evaluating a program supporting women's participation in Gippsland's new energy industry, including a System Effects component to understand the systemic factors influencing women's ability to obtain employment in the sector.

System Effects Gender Equity

Related evaluation services

Developmental Evaluation & Innovation

Program Evaluation

All Evaluation Services

Working in complexity?

If your program involves systems change, partnerships or place-based approaches, we can help you understand what's shifting and why.

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Transport for NSW

Safer Cities Program Evaluation

Place-Based Evaluation Gender Equity Community Safety Co-Design NSW Government

Transport for NSW's Safer Cities program invested $30 million across 21 projects in 19 local government areas to improve perceptions of safety in public spaces, with a focus on the experiences of women, girls and gender diverse people. The program tested and trialled 460 on-the-ground interventions — from creative lighting and public art to events, seating and accessibility upgrades — co-designed with local communities across metropolitan and regional NSW.

We evaluated the program across its initial phase, capturing outcomes against three objectives aligned to the UN Safer Cities for Girls framework: enhanced safety and access, active and meaningful participation, and autonomous mobility. The evaluation drew on community surveys, observational counts, co-design session data, partner interviews and the Evaluation Tool for Public Space and Public Life to track before-and-after changes across project locations. The published Impact Report shows a 59% improvement in daytime perceptions of safety and a 37% improvement after dark, with more women staying and moving through project locations following the interventions.

Methods & Approach

Pre-post community surveys Observational counts Evaluation Tool for Public Space and Public Life Co-design and walkshops Partner interviews Document review

Read the Impact Report

Paul Ramsay Foundation / The Front Project

Adapted SNA and Ripple Effects Mapping Evaluation Tool for Systems Change

Social Network Analysis Ripple Effects Mapping Systems Change Early Childhood Education

The Front Project (TFP) addresses disadvantage and improves outcomes for children and society by realising the benefits of quality early childhood education. Within the existing Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Strategy is a goal of assessing the extent to which the organisation's work is shifting systems that influence outcomes in the early childhood sector.

We were engaged to develop a bespoke evaluation tool that blended Social Network Analysis and Ripple Effects Mapping. SNA provided quantitative measurement of how relationships and connections across the sector were changing, while Ripple Effects Mapping captured the broader, often unexpected ways that TFP's work was spreading through the system. The combined tool gave TFP a way to track systems change that neither method could achieve alone.

Methods & Approach

Social Network Analysis Ripple Effects Mapping Document review Workshops Tool development

VicHealth

Growing Healthy Communities Grant Program Evaluation

System Effects Systems Mapping Public Health Food Systems

The Growing Healthy Communities Grant Program was VicHealth's funding initiative supporting Victoria's children, young people and their families to overcome structural barriers to good health. The evaluation followed a systems practice approach to understand how the funded initiatives were contributing to change at a systemic level.

We used System Effects to identify the systemic factors influencing health outcomes from the perspective of community members, and systems mapping to visualise how the funded projects were interacting with one another and with the broader system. This approach allowed us to assess not just whether individual projects delivered their activities, but whether the program as a whole was shifting the underlying conditions that shape health in these communities.

Methods & Approach

System Effects Systems mapping Logic model workshop Methodology design

Jesuit Social Services

Climate Partnerships Project Evaluation

Social Network Analysis Climate Justice Systems Change Partnerships

The Climate Partnerships Project is a three-year initiative led by Jesuit Social Services' Centre for Just Places, in partnership with several community legal organisations. Funded by Australia's National Emergency Management Agency through the Disaster Ready Fund, the project aims to build partnerships at the intersection of climate change, emergency management and social justice.

We are using Social Network Analysis to map and measure how the partnership network is developing and strengthening over time. SNA provides a quantitative picture of the connections between organisations, identifying where strong ties are forming, where gaps exist, and how the structure of the network is shifting as the project progresses. This is combined with qualitative methods to provide a comprehensive picture of the project's contribution to systems change.

Methods & Approach

Social Network Analysis Document review Virtual interviews

Creative Australia

Creative Futures Fund Outcomes Evaluation

Ripple Effects Mapping Systems Mapping Creative Industries National Policy

The Creative Futures Fund is a significant action within the 2023 National Cultural Policy, Revive: A place for every story, a story for every place. The Fund supports the creation and sharing of Australian stories and new ways for people to engage with them, representing a new approach by Creative Australia to fund and support the arts.

We used Ripple Effects Mapping to understand the wider impacts of the Fund beyond its direct outputs, tracing how investments in creative projects were spreading through the sector and generating broader outcomes for the creative industries. This was combined with systems mapping and other methods to provide Creative Australia with a comprehensive picture of the Fund's effectiveness and reach.

Methods & Approach

Ripple Effects Mapping Systems mapping Virtual interviews Document review Online survey

City of Greater Bendigo

Healthy Loddon Campaspe Initiative — Phase 2 Evaluation

Place-Based Partnership Mapping Public Health Systems Change

The Healthy Loddon Campaspe (HLC) initiative is a regional partnership that aims to improve the health of community members living in the Loddon Campaspe region through a place-based, systems-change approach. We are providing evaluation support for Phase 2 of the initiative between 2023 and 2026.

The evaluation includes a partnership mapping component to understand how the diverse organisations across the region are connecting, collaborating and contributing to shared health outcomes. This helps the initiative understand the strength of its partnership infrastructure and identify where there are opportunities to deepen collaboration or extend reach to new partners.

Methods & Approach

Partnership mapping Document review Phone interviews Online survey

ACT Health

It's Your Move — System Effects Pre-Post Evaluation

System Effects Pre-Post Design Public Health Place-Based

We evaluated an updated version of ACT Health's It's Your Move Program, which centred on addressing systemic barriers to positive health behaviours in a school setting. The program involved a radical upgrade to outdoor infrastructure combined with wraparound support for teachers.

We used our System Effects methodology as a pre-post measure, collecting data from students, parents and teachers at two points. Based on fuzzy logic, cognitive mind mapping and graph theory, System Effects centres lived experience in a systems mapping approach. We found that the outdoor environment was a key barrier prior to the program and was significantly less influential afterwards, but that social barriers such as peer pressure became more prominent. This insight — that systemic barriers shift rather than simply disappear — provided evidence that could fundamentally improve health promotion programming and policy.

Methods & Approach

System Effects Fuzzy logic Cognitive mind mapping Phone interviews Pre-post design

Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation

Healthy Kids Advisors Program Evaluation

Place-Based Food Systems Community Health

Vic Kids Eat Well is a collaboration of the Achievement Program (delivered by Cancer Council Victoria) and Healthy Eating Advisory Service (delivered by Nutrition Australia), funded by the Victorian Government. As part of Healthy Kids Healthy Futures, the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation supports 13 targeted local government areas through the Healthy Kids Advisors initiative, providing hands-on support for healthy eating in places where children and families gather.

A key feature of the initiative is that it is place-based. Each of the 13 Advisors works directly with their local council, child and family organisations, health and food agencies and community settings. Despite similarities in how Advisors work, there are important differences across LGAs reflecting diverse community makeups — one size does not fit all. Our evaluation captured both the program-wide outcomes and the locally specific ways that change was happening in each place.

Methods & Approach

Focus groups Surveys Document review Phone interviews

View on SAKGF website

Gippsland Women's Health

Women in Energy Program Evaluation

System Effects Gender Equity Workforce Development Energy Transition

Gippsland Women's Health received a grant from the Victorian Government Office for Women to deliver a program promoting gender equity and participation for women in the new energy industry in Gippsland. With the region transitioning from traditional energy industries towards renewable technologies, the program aimed to attract and retain women in this traditionally male-dominated sector through mentoring, career progression support and networking.

Our evaluation included a System Effects component to understand the systemic factors that influence women's ability to obtain employment in the energy sector. This went beyond measuring program activities to identify the structural and cultural barriers and enablers operating across the system — providing evidence that could inform not just this program but broader workforce equity efforts in Gippsland and beyond.

Methods & Approach

System Effects Document review Online survey Virtual interviews Methodology design