Areas of Work

Our team has worked on hundreds of initiatives to create greater positive impact for people, place and planet. That represents a wealth of experience that you can tap into when working with us in Australia and internationally.

Measurement, Evaluation & Learning

With over 1000 bespoke measurement, evaluation and learning (MEL) frameworks under our belt across a range of social justice and environmental areas, our experts offer insight, experience and practical know-how.

We work collaboratively with your teams and communities to understand your unique context, and measurement and learning needs. We work with theory of change, with rigorous story techniques such as MSC (Most Significant Change), and with quantitative data. We provide you with evidence-based learnings and recommendations via accessible reports, infographics, and dashboards.

But most importantly, we’ll work in partnership with you, tailoring our level of engagement and approach to meet your specific needs and budget.

Articles

Reflections from the AEA24 conference

November 13, 2024

Creating conditions for systems transformation: How principles-focused evaluation can help

May 30, 2024

What are the digital MEL trends for 2024?

December 19, 2023

Rethinking Evaluation to Support Systems Transformation

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November 23, 2023

Co-creator of Australia’s ‘game-changing’ Place-Based Evaluation Framework, Dr Jess Dart shares what these approaches are and why they’re the north star for community impact.

Hands Up Mallee – The community taking children’s wellbeing into their own hands

February 17, 2023

We’ve all heard is takes a village to raise a child. But what does that look like in practice? Hands Up Mallee offers us a glimpse – bringing together the community, organisations and services to support children and families to thrive. Here’s how we’re helping them achieve greater community health and wellbeing outcomes.

The 9 Most Common Measurement, Evaluation and Learning Questions – Answered

January 25, 2023

Properly planned for and used, your impact measurement system and the thinking that comes with it can be one of your most powerful tools for driving and amplifying change.

My Career in MEL – Part 1

January 28, 2022

Thinking about a new career? You’re not alone according to research, which shows during COVID around a third of us have seriously considered alternate employment. And one thing that’s keeping people in their current roles? Feeling engaged with their work. We recently spoke to evaluation experts Zazie Tolmer and Dr Jess Dart to get their insights on what skills they started with, what they’ve needed to build, and what you should be considering for a career in the changing MEL landscape.

Challenges in MEL: Valuing Women’s Voices and Experiences

March 11, 2021

I won’t lie – it’s been difficult to feel positive about…

What it takes to build a Liveable Company

December 18, 2020

If this year has proven anything, it’s that we are capable of change and of rising to new challenges. In that spirit, we’re challenging ourselves to better walk the talk and build a liveable company. But what does that mean?

The Cook and the Chef – How Designers & Evaluators can Collaborate or Clash in the Kitchen

September 18, 2020

What happens when Designers and Evaluators start cooking up social innovations together? Is it a case of the Cook and the Chef, where there's collaboration throughout, or is it more My Kitchen Rules, with paring knives out? Here are four kitchen scenarios we've observed - but we want to know: which kitchen are you cooking in?

We can help you design, test and deliver innovations that are effective and that stick. Working as “design facilitators” and “developmental evaluators”, we combine participatory design with our strong evaluation credentials and facilitation skills to support your efforts to create positive impact.

Together, we can diagnose and understand the system and opportunities for change, as well as surface and clarify the principles that underpin your models and undertake principles-based evaluations. Specifically, our skilled consultants can help you:

Develop and clarify your theory of change and/or theory of action with stakeholders
Design strategies and initiatives
Embed developmental evaluation services across the innovation cycle, and help you evaluate and learn from your innovations in real-time
Facilitate and support your co-design process, from design research right through to prototyping, piloting and scaling
Help clarify your principles and conduct principle-based design and evaluation
Build readiness and capability to move from program delivery to systems change.

Articles

Hands Up Mallee – The community taking children’s wellbeing into their own hands

February 17, 2023

Developmental Evaluation – the approach designed to support and accelerate social innovation.

August 25, 2021

A conversation with Dr Jess Dart, Anna Powell and Dr Ellise Barkley about the challenges and opportunities presented by systems change and place-based approaches, and why evaluators in the space are truly the jazz players of the evaluation world.

The Cook and the Chef – How Designers & Evaluators can Collaborate or Clash in the Kitchen

September 18, 2020

Part 2 – Jazz Players of the Evaluation World: Meet our experts on Systems-Change and Place-Based Approaches.

August 21, 2020

In this article, we ask Dr Jess Dart, Anna Powell and Dr Ellise Barkley about their top tips for overcoming some of the key challenges of evaluating systems change and place-based approaches, and how to get everyone on the same songsheet.

The Jazz Players of the Evaluation World: Meet our experts on Systems-Change and Place-Based Approaches.

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August 13, 2020

Logan Together – “Game-Changer” for Place-Based Evaluation

January 16, 2020

Clear Horizon was commissioned by the Commonwealth and Queensland…

Resilient Sydney

December 6, 2019

Clear Horizon’s Sustainable Futures team are working with the Resilient…

Human Development Monitoring and Evaluation Services contract for 2019-2023

July 30, 2019

Clear Horizon in partnership with Adam Smith International has…

Logan Together Progress Report released

June 5, 2019

Last week the Queensland Government released the Progress Report and 'Statement…

What’s missing in the facilities debate

June 5, 2019

Both facilities themselves and debates on their effectiveness…

With tools to support you to effectively track your progress, communicate outcomes and magnify your impact, we can help you keep pace and benefit from the latest in impact and data technology.

Whether you’d simply like support moving to digital data collection tools and secure online storage, or you want to take full advantage of data analytics and visualisations through our dashboard solutions, we offer:

Advice and support for migrating your impact measurement data collection, storage and reporting to secure and efficient digital processes and platforms.
Engaging digital dashboards, reports and communications to share with funders, staff, board members and clients.
Access to real-time data to support evidence-based decision making and agile ways of working.
Ability to engage with and provide feedback to clients using real-time results, and demonstrate impact and scalability to funders.

Depending on your needs, can we provide strategic advice and products to complement your existing measurement framework, or work with you to design an end-to-end digital solution.

Articles

5 Key Learnings on Digitalising Evaluation

December 21, 2021

Before taking on a new role, our Chief Digital Officer Jenny Riley shares insights from her time building a new business area for Clear Horizon – evaluating digital interventions – learnings which have rapidly become all-too-applicable to anyone working in today’s evaluation and social impact space.

Why I’m Chairing a conference on Social Outcomes – and why I think you need to be there.

July 15, 2021

Jenny Riley, our Chief Digital and Data Officer is gearing up to chair next week's conference on Measuring and Evaluating Social Outcomes, where the focus will be on adapting to complex change & using digital tools to measure impact. Find out why she thinks you should go.

We are passionate about building evaluation capacity as it not only helps with maximising the use of evaluation – it leads to better programs and outcomes.

Whether you engage us to support your program or initiative, or you join our formal learning community through the Clear Horizon Academy, you’ll have the chance to benefit from our extensive experience.

We offer a range of targeted courses designed by evaluation and impact and learning experts for social change makers. We also offer bespoke mentoring and training packages to build your professional expertise and respond creatively and effectively to any challenges as they arise. And if you need a trusted advisor at the senior leadership level, our directors are available to provide diagnosis and strategic advice for your organisation.

Articles

Tips for developing a theory of change that you and your team will love

August 31, 2023

Properly planned for and used, your impact measurement system and the thinking that comes with it can be one of your most powerful tools for driving and amplifying change.

The 9 Most Common Measurement, Evaluation and Learning Questions – Answered

January 25, 2023

Properly planned for and used, your impact measurement system and the thinking that comes with it can be one of your most powerful tools for driving and amplifying change.

Our Community

September 2, 2021

Sometimes it can be challenging being the only evaluation or impact measurement specialist in your organisation. You might enjoy a unique bird’s eye view across all of your organisation’s activities and impact. But you may also sit (virtually, these days) slightly apart from the teams knee-deep in design and implementation. And so when you run into a really sticky MEL issue – where do you go to for advice?