Directorates
·	Director General's Office
·	Data Development
·	Strategic Evaluations
·	Partnership and Continuous Evaluations
Publications
·	Evaluation Reports
·	Evaluation Briefs
·	Labour Market Development Agreement Series
·	Lessons Learned Series
·	Evaluation Tool Kit Series
·	Evaluation Forum Newsletter
·	From Theory To Practice

• Introduction
• Project description
• Evaluation approach
• Key findings
• Summary of findings

Introduction

This brief summarizes the findings from an evaluation study, of Investing In People, a Strategic Initiative funded by the governments of Canada and the Northwest Territories (NWT). The evaluation was jointly managed by a Federal-Territorial Committee with territorial representation from NWT Department of Education, Culture and Employment (ECE) and NWT Financial Management Board Secretariat and federal representation from Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC), Northwest Territories Directorate, and Evaluation and Data Development at National Headquarters.

Project description

The Strategic Initiatives Program, announced in the Federal Budget of February 1994, is a two-year federal-territorial cost-shared program to test innovative ideas about social security reform. Pilots considered for funding include those that are intended to improve job opportunities for Canadians and help individuals adjust to the demands of the labour market. The evaluation of these pilots will provide important information on what works and what doesn't work for specific target groups.

Investing In People is funded under an agreement between the Minister of Human Resources Development Canada, and the Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT), represented by the Minister of the NWT Department of Education, Culture and Employment.

Investing In People, implemented in September 1994, is a two year project. Investing In People costs, up to $8M, are to be shared equally between federal and territorial governments for the two-year agreement.

The rationale for the program is founded on the need for the federal government and the GNWT to assist people prepare for future economic and social challenges. This is best achieved by ensuring that both the people and communities of the North have the skills, training and experiences they will need through the coming years. The Investing in People program is one part of the strategy and is designed to address the low skills and educational levels and the high rates of unemployment which characterize many NWT residents who are at risk of long term dependency upon social assistance.

The objectives of Investing In People are:

• to provide social assistance recipients with the education, job search, job continuation skills and effective support systems needed to compete more effectively for jobs or to continue formal education;

• to develop programs which increase the effectiveness of initiatives aimed at social assistance clients;

• to enable project participants to develop and implement realistic personal career plans;

• to develop partnerships with other levels of government, land claims groups, other GNWT departments, as well as private and non-profit sectors; and

• to support community development.

To be eligible for Investing In People, individuals must be in receipt of, or eligible to receive, social assistance, and need further training or work experience. Priority is given to individuals who have been receiving social assistance benefits for at least three of the past twelve months. Participation is voluntary.

Investing In People provides for the development and delivery of specialized employment and education experience to social assistance recipients through community work and training projects. Community social service workers, career counsellors and educators, by working together, inform and help clients become involved in an employment or education focused project available in their community. Employment focused projects are called Work Activity Projects (WAP). Education focused projects are called the Northern Skills Development Program (NSDP).

All the projects use a combination of education and work experience, counselling, life skills and other social services to enable working age adults who are at risk of long term dependency upon social assistance to contribute to their maximum potential as productive members of society.

The initiative will test the effectiveness of social assistance clients to achieve self-sufficiency through education, work experience and support services.

Evaluation approach

The issues for the evaluation of Investing In People are a mix of formative and summative issues. Formative issues focus on process concerns related to the administration, management and operations of the project, e.g. relevance and implementation, design and delivery, clarity of roles and responsibilities, selection criteria, lines of communication and contingency plans. Summative issues address the outcome and longer term impacts and effects of the project.

For the first year of Investing In People seventeen projects (10 NSDP and 7 WAP) in fifteen communities were approved.

Logistic constraints necessitated the creation of two categories of communities for the evaluation.

The Evaluation Committee selected five Category I projects, with the remaining twelve projects being categorized as Category II. The Category I sites were selected on the basis of the following criteria:

• regional representation;
• good representation of employable male and female social assistance recipients;
• project continuation into the second year of the Investing in People program.

The primary differences between the categories were the survey sample sizes, the number of key informants interviewed and that the principal researchers visited the Category I communities to carry out meetings and in-person interviews with participants and key informants. In the Category II project communities, the work was conducted by research assistants.

The primary evaluation activities undertaken included:

• the review and analysis of administrative data, and GNWT studies relating to the demographic, socio-economic and labour force situation of the NWT;

• surveying Investing in People project participants (sample size was 38 for Category I project participants and 61 for Category II);

 

• conducting key informants interviews (43 Category I and 36 Category II); and

• interviewing key GNWT, government of Canada and project sponsors involved with Investing in People.

Key findings

• Overall, 47% of participants were female and 53% male. The average age of participants was 29 years.

• The education level of participants was very low, with 52% of those in NSDP projects, and 64% of those in WAP having less than a grade 9 education.

• Participants used social assistance to a much greater extent than do other residents of the NWT. About 80% of participants had been on social assistance in the past year while 71% of NSDP participants and 50% of WAP participants received social assistance for at least 10-12 months during that year.

• Over 50% of those who entered the program did not complete it, 60% of whom were female and 40% male. Most frequently those who left the program early cited, as reasons, family responsibilities, not getting along with the instructor and personal issues. Approximately 18% of WAP participants and 12.5% of NSDP participants left the project early because they had found a job.

• More than 75% of the participants were generally satisfied with the program - and 38% ""very satisfied"" - while 81% believed that it met their expectations. The largest group (31%) described the job skills component as being the most useful while 20% the life skills component. Conversely 10% found the $10/day incentive allowance to be least useful and another 10%, the recreation components. Over 40% of participants left the program without a career plan.

• Over 90% of the key informants who were surveyed believed the Investing in People goals and objectives were appropriate for their community and 67% believed that other community organizations were involved to an appropriate degree. Key informants also were generally satisfied with the different aspects of the program and over 90% thought that the projects provided participants with useful experiences and skills.

• Key informants identified the most serious problems in the program as its inability to overcome certain barriers, participant attendance and the skills and literacy level of participants.

Summary of findings

Many of the Work Activity Projects (WAP) are clearly innovative and quite unlike employability enhancement programs targeted to social assistance recipients operating elsewhere in Canada.

Survey respondents generally expressed their satisfaction with the design of the projects, with the different components of the projects and with the supports that were available. There is a clear contradiction and dilemma within the findings however. On the one hand, participants expressed their satisfaction with most aspects of the projects and the program. On the other hand, almost 50% of participants (and 37% of survey respondents) did not complete the program.

The organizational structure of the Investing in People program was one of its strengths. Key informants had few complaints about the organizational structure of Investing in People and certainly did not identify reporting or accounting requirements as particularly onerous. In a similar vein, participants indicated that the projects were able to meet most of their needs.

The Investing in People program and projects were successful in developing partnerships among the various governments and agencies involved in the different aspects of programming.

The data suggest that the projects indeed constituted an effective expenditure and commitment of financial resources. In total, direct program expenditures in the first year of Investing in People were approximately $1.3 million. The expenditure per participant was less than $5,000 overall. These figures are in line with expenditures in other parts of the country for similar, quality programs. That is quite remarkable given the higher costs associated with everything in the NWT.