Investing for Impact

Tackling youth unemployment is a priority. Over 1 million young people are not in employment, full time education or training — almost 1 in 7of all young people in the UK. Transitions to adulthood have become increasingly difficult as a result of the economic outlook and the breakdown of traditional pathways into work.

To be prepared for work, young people need to develop a range of personal assets and skills, and gain experience. They may also need to address issues relating to their personal and family circumstances. This framework is designed to help organisations that work with young people to understand and measure the impact they have on a young person’s journey to employment. It identifies the factors that affect young people’s journeys to work and presents a model that can be used by organisations to help them think about their impact, map the outcomes they aim to achieve, and decide how to structure an evaluation. It also provides a list of tools that can be used to evaluate programmes.

This framework was produced with input from charities and funders. It is designed for practitioners for whom understanding and measuring impact may be all or part of their job.