Building evaluation capacity: experiences from the NSW centre for road safety

The Centre for Road Safety (the Centre) is increasing its capacity to evaluate. The Centre has thus embarked on a process of placing evaluation at the core of how we do what we do. The paper outlines the evaluation practices we are seeking to foster at the Centre. The significant measures we have taken to foster these evaluation practices include:
· the creation of a Research and Evaluation Unit;
· the development of Guidelines for evaluation practice at the Centre for Road Safety;
· a custom-made, co-designed and co-facilitated two-day training course on evaluation;
· the development of templates and guidelines to support ways of working, which entail a commitment to prioritising and resourcing evaluation; and
· the management of a number of significant evaluations.
The paper also outlines the next steps on our evaluation practice agenda.
With these combined changes, in a short period of time, the Centre has moved to a more systematic practice of evaluation, where evaluation is core activity, expected for every new initiative, and considered from the outset of the design stage. This will further embed and consolidate an evidence-based approach to policy and program development.