Background
The Ministry of Welfare and Social Affairs and the Ministry of Education operate several models of after-school programs for children at risk. This report focuses on two primary models: the rehabilitative after-school program and the interministerial welfare-education after-school program, both serving children aged 6 to 12. These programs aim to promote the well-being and healthy development of at-risk children across emotional, social, behavioral, and academic domains, and to strengthen the relationship between the children and their parents.
Objective
The Myers-JDC-Brookdale research team was asked to support the development of a logic model for these after-school programs. A logic model is a tool used in outcome-oriented thinking that helps formulate a theory of change. It presents the key components of a service – its characteristics, needs, outputs, inputs, and outcomes – in a visual format that illustrates the relationships between these components. The model serves as a data-informed planning tool for policy makers and helps improve the programs by tailoring them to the children’s evolving needs in a changing world.
Methodology
As part of the study, a logic model was built for the programs. The logic model was developed as part of a collaborative process between the researchers and the program development team. This process included three meetings to collect data to inform the model. Additional information was gathered from official documents of the service and as well as from interviews with key stakeholders, including program providers, headquarters and district administrators, and representatives of NGO’S that operate the after-school programs. The data were analyzed thematically and used to construct the logic model.
Findings
The logic model developed presents the theory of change for these after-school programs at the service level (rather than at the level of the individual child). During the process of formulating the logic model, it emerged that alongside the current strengths of the service– such as providing a warm, protective environment together with the training component of the welfare-education program – it also reveals gaps between desired outcomes, in seven key life domains related to aspects of child development and well-being, and the program’s current outputs and inputs.
Recommendations
It is important to clearly define the service’s goals according to possible outputs and inputs and to provide the staff with the knowledge, tools, and support needed to achieve these goals. Moreover, to ensure tailored responses in a changing world, an organizational system for systematic data collection should be established together with the development of a data-driven work plan.