
FEM Education Foundation NPC (FEMEF): a longitudinal impact programme evaluation of the Columba Leadership Programme
Mthente Research and Consulting Services (Pty) Ltd successfully bid for an evaluation commission by the FEM Education Foundation NPC (FEMEF) for a longitudinal impact programme evaluation of the Columba Leadership Programme.
The purpose of this evaluation is to assess the baseline outcomes in year 1 and provide a progress evaluation of the outcomes against the baseline at the end of year 2 and 3, as well as provide a detailed endline asssessment of the educational impacts against the baseline in year 4. This evaluation will include two components. Firstly, a desktop analysis of all existing evaluations conducted on Columba to date and a review of research conducted on similar interventions. Secondly, a longitudinal assessment of the outcomes and impact of the Columba Leadership program in accordance with its theory of change. A classical pre-post and group-comparison will be used to draw conclusions on progress within the control group and as compared to the treatment group.
It is expected that the customised indices developed during this evaluation to measure school culture and youth resilience will continue to be used past the life of the evaluation. As such, the tools developed will be designed with this consideration in mind. The customised indices will take into account the School Culture Index and Youth Resilient Leadership Index – both developed by Columba – as well as the theory of change, logic framework and other relevant literature from the desktop review.
It is expected that this report will be widely shared. This includes being published on the FEM and Columba websites. The final evaluation report might be used to influence government and other stakeholders.