An evaluability assessment of a nutrition promotion project for newly arrived refugees

Issue addressed This paper reports on the benefits of conducting an evaluability assessment for a nutrition promotion project for newly arrived refugees to Perth, Western Australia. The assessment was the first step in a planned outcome evaluation. It was undertaken to contribute to the body of knowledge regarding nutritional health and promotion for newly arrived refugees to Australia. Methods Using semi‐structured interviews with stakeholders, observation, presentations of early drafts of the program logic to key stakeholders and a review of the documentation, the analysis of qualitative data was used to make the project logic explicit and to better understand the project's underlying cause and effect relationships. Results The analysis alongside a review of contemporary health promotion literature revealed that the original underlying project logic needed refinement. A more complex and relevant project logic was developed which confirmed that the project had the potential to achieve its goals of improving the nutritional status of refugees. Conclusions The evaluability assessment gave stakeholders the opportunity to reflect on the project and its implementation issues. Importantly, it made more explicit the complexity of the context of the project and the need for a diverse range of strategies to improve nutrition. Finally, the diagrammatic representation of the reconstructed project logic provided a powerful advocacy tool for a multi‐sectoral approach. So what? An evaluability assessment tests the assumption that the program's theory is sound and allows program managers to decide whether it is possible to undertake meaningful outcome evaluation or whether changes are first needed to the program design.